170 days Final Target achieved

All through my life I have struggled with weight and can still remember being 16.5 stone at the age of 16 some 30 years ago, back when being overweight was not the norm (and caused much ridicule).

Over the years I have had some reasonable losses but have always been on the high side of normal.

2 years ago I picked up a health issue that lasted 18 months, during this period it contributed to causing anxiety and depression. Doctors found a medical reason for my illness but many of them also commented that I should do more exercise. With a BMI of 26.3 I thought that I was not particularly overweight and I was already a keen cyclist and walker. However my illness persisted and my stress levels peaked and I can still remember sitting in the doctors surgery 6 months ago with very high blood pressure, heart palpitations along with symptoms of my condition thinking I was going to die any moment.

The doctors yet again were of no help, so I decided to embark on a regime of exercise (cardio & weights) and diet to see if things improved (kill or cure). It took over a month for any health improvements but I managed right from the start to lose around 2 lb a week. I found using MFP made keeping track really easy and I would allow myself to indulge as long as I had done extra exercise to make up for the extra calories consumed, this made it easier to stay on track as nothing was off limits.

As time progressed the weight kept coming off and I was starting to feel a lot healthier.

After several months I decide to aim for a BMI of 21.5 as I had never been 'average' weight in my life, I know BMI is not a great indicator but at least it gave me a target.

As of last week I hit my target and lost 36 lbs, my blood pressure is at normal levels and my health issues are almost completely non existent.

I would thoroughly recommend MFP to anyone and I do not intend to give up logging as it gives me the guidance I need to hopefully maintain for the foreseeable future.