6 Month Review

So I promised a few people I would post something up, and myself too on my profile today about how far we have come in six months. I got thinking about this on the train home and I think I define weight loss like a job interview, you go in with all the best intentions, it's something you really really want but something happens and you don't get the job.

I know that sounds wierd but I found it hard to define my weightloss journey to myself, being overweight from about 12 and seeing it go on and on until at my heaviest I was nearly 17 stone or 238 lbs and sitting there thinking 'I'm going to be like this forever' and you know, I got so close to accepting this especially after losing 3 stone or 42 lbs only to go to uni and put it allllll back on again.

What was it I hated about being overweight, having to pull the t shirt from in between my chest and gut when I got up or sat down, not being able to buy a suit in my size, not being able to swim or take off my t shirt, having a chest a glamour model would be proud of, eating my feelings, sweating, being told I smell or I was too big to do this that and the other, wishing I was someone else. All of these things and more besides that I had to deal with in order to overcome it, only at the time in 2006 I didn't know it so I just halted, coasted, accepted and said, yep this is me now, nothing changed for a while but the stark reality of photographs never lie;




I hated myself, and what I had let myself become, you start to look back or at least I did and say why did you let yourself eat 10 packets of crisps a full 20 deck of biscuits or even sit there with a bowl of cake mixture and just eat it. Nothing actually clicked then at all either I just carried on doing the same old thing eating the same food and wishing the same miracle.

This year I was 30, last year at 29 and while sat at Christmas eating away, and boy was I eating away, I looked back at the six months prior to my wedding when a PT and a great guy changed my attitude and helped me to rethink my gym routine and helped me for the first time in 2 years, shift 5kg in weight - this was my turning point but I didn't realise it until six months later. Men are slow on the uptake what can I say :laugh:

I decided I was going to do this, no one else could, I had to do it. First step.
I signed up on MFP thinking it would be another fad it'll never last
Then I started getting friends
Then I started working harder
Then I started getting really motivated
Then I pushed myself to the copper taste in your mouth fade to black limits every time I was in the gym

Why did I do this, what changed, how was this any different to 2008? My knowledge was fundamentally the same, strength and cardio, eat lots of protein blah blah etc etc
I decided I was ready for it, like the job interview, nothing was going to stop me getting it so I stood up to the challenge and pushed aside the defeatist attitude I used to have of 'well if I lose a little I will be happy'.

I remember one of the first things I said on here was I was doing it for the 14 year old boy from 16 years ago now who is there in front of me everytime I step into the gym motivating me to achieve more, to bust out that extra set, not rep, to break my own PB on the treadmill even though I suffer with knee problems.

Dropping nearly 40lbs in six months wasn't easy, it wasn't - i've suffered numerous injuries but my friends on MFP rallied and mended me with advice from physio's other peoples mental attitudes and a belief that I could do it which I never had before. I want you to know that I love you all, I value you greatly and more than once you've carried me when I needed it.

So now I have the job, my six month review is up and this is me now;





I have some shots for my anniversary on here in my boxers but I am not brave enough as yet to put them up on here, I salute everyone that does, you have my utmost respect for doing this believe me, I look forward to when I can.

So I now have less than six months on my Vegas or bust campaign and you know what, for the first time in a long time, I am actually being optimistic about it too.

I wanted to share some things I have learned myself along the way too so I can reflect on it when I come back;

1)Your friends and family can be your biggest admirers and your worst motivator - you've lost enough weight when you are happy where you are, take the compliment and use it to push harder and keep going
2)Your enemies are your biggest motivator, thanks to the girl who said, your arms are weedy, that was all I needed to really work my body hard and keep going
3)To the disabled guy at the gym, you have no idea how much you motivate me, how much I admire and respect you for working so hard in the gym. In six months I want to be able to say I told you that and keep going as hard as you
4)Don't do things by weight, do it by sizes and visuals, today I weighed 0.76 kg less than I did before my spin class, you will go up, you will go down, what matters is, keep going
5)Food and exercise are like credit and debit, you can't put something on credit without paying for it with debit but remember you have an overdraft some days, use it, keep going
6)Never do the same routine two days in a row at the gym, change every four weeks, there is no such thing as a plateau only loss and then maintenance, keep going
7)You are your biggest and only competition, harshest critic, best friend, stop comparing yourself to other people and keep going
8)Tell yourself who you're doing it for, why you're doing it, where you started and keep going

In six months, i'll still have this job.