47 and the Healthiest I've Ever Been

So this is the photo of me, taken in October 2013, that started my journey to get healthier. Like so many others I knew I was a 'little' overweight but I was shocked to see this photo. With a strong family history of high blood pressure and heart problems I realized that I needed to do something.

I had stopped the gym due to the cost and although I walked quite a bit I knew I needed to do more, along with being more mindful of how much I was eating. I love my food so I didn't really want any restrictions so from a food point I just made sure I stayed within my daily allowance. I had previously used this site but only half heartedly. This time I was determined to make a change and logged most days except when my computer was playing up and I couldn't log in.

For exercise I started jogging. The first few weeks I would jog a lamp post, walk a lamp post between work and home which was just under 3km. It was hard work but I stuck at it and as it became slightly easier I increased how many lamp posts I was running between. By the middle of January of could slowly run 5km and discovered a love for running. I loved the mental and physical challenge of it. Last month I run my first 1/2 marathon in a time of 2 1/2 hours and will shortly up my running in preparation for another 1/2 in early April. The last few months I have added in some swimming and a couple of days of 30 day shred to tone up a bit but I have managed to maintain now for a couple of months with no tracking food and just checking my weight on the scales to make sure I don't slowly gain again.

I started at 74kg and now weigh 53kg. More importantly I am healthier and fitter than at any other time of my life. The after photos were taken a couple of days ago.





(Sorry I'm not sure how to make the photos smaller)