What a difference a month can make... (with pics)

"I know every mile will be worth my while"
-- Roger Bart, "Go the Distance"

It's interesting how often I see posts in here of people who swear they see no difference in their appearance in spite of losing a lot of weight (and their pictures always show a huge difference). On the other hand there are the posts from people for whom the scale hasn't moved much (but major signs of success are there if they would just look at something other than the scale).

It's hard for me to pin down a goal weight because my real goal is to get to between 17% and 20% body fat. I love to see the scale move downward, but I dig on the other changes. So to help out any MFP folks who are frustrated by the changes they do or don't see, I did an experiment. I took pictures of myself -- a rarity in a house with much cuter 4 and 2 year olds to shoot -- on July 28 and again on Friday. That represents essentially 1 month of work that was dominated by a cardio and strength training program to prepare for my first 5K. I ran it today on a trail system near Lake Tahoe. It was like running on a roller coaster with all the ups and downs, but this former fat man did it in 30:17 and finished 17 out of 33 runners. Here are the pictures.




Sure the gut is still there, but if you look closely, you will see abs -- real abs -- starting to show. You'll see better upper arm definition. You'll see collar bones and better neck definition. You'll see less flab on the sides. And yes, you can see the Spongebob pajama pants. (And can you blame me for smirking just a little?)

I know it can be hard to see your own progress; we are our own worst critics. But if you are committed, the changes and the NSVs and the scale movement will come. IT WILL. You just have to give yourself a chance to see it.