Hi all.... Like others I have been lurking on here for a while using these before and after posts as motivation for my own
weight loss. Thought I would be a good idea to start one of these as mainly a record for myself so I know if I have been good or bad this week
Slightly embarrased to post photos of myself - a year ago I would have died rather than post pics of myself on the net.....now I just think..sod it... if this helps me improve my
body more then its only a good thing.
I started to try and change the way I looked around a year ago. Im 27 years old, male, just over 6 ft tall and have had weight problems all my life. Ive always been active and had a good social life ect but definately suffer from eating the wrong things at the wrong times. I play lawn bowls at national level and last september I qualified for the national championships. At that stage I weighed around 19
stone to 19 st 10. I have a big build naturally as do my parents so I sort of carried the weight ok- most people wouldnt have thought i was more than 17stone visually but I was getting to the point where I was unhappy in myself being that weight. Feeling out of breath real easy and just losing confidence-- buying nice clothes was becomming impossible too.
SOOOO... I started educating myself on the best way to get in shape. I took alot from what Steve had to say on a couple of forums and in conjuction with some friends(who are not unfit but wanted to train for football season) we bought a
weights bench, two bars, two sets of dumbells and a selection of
weights.
From September 2008 to May 2009 I alternated between resistence trianing one night, to squash, soccer or table tennis the next night and tried to cycle at least 2 miles every day. I cut down slightly on what I was eating, but more importantly changed the times of day I eat and cut out the late night, mid morning snack binge. I have always liked healthy food but concentrated even more on eating lean meat, fruit and veg ect. I find I can not eat regular small meals, and struggle to get anything down in the mornings... I have always been like this. I read up on the benefits of eating small regular meals(the perceived best way to lose weight) and found it was actually a bit of a
myth..... I prefer an eating habit where I have lunch at around 1pm, dinner at around 6-7pm, a fruit snack at 8pm- then I dont eat untill 1pm the next day. I have a large starbucks skinny latte coffee in the morning but no food- so im basically fasting from 8pm untill 1pm = 17 hours. I find this allows me to control my food intake better, eat less
calories and makes me feel better in myself- more able to work out. Also means I can eat a decent amount in the evenings which is where i always used to binge. I know many people say fasting for hours is bad when your trying to lose weight but the research I have done simply doesnt support that theory.... your metabolism isnt effected that much by frequency of meal... its about calory control and i can control mine better in this way.
This resulted in me dropping from 19 st 10 lbs to 15 st 12 lbs. Then the bowls season started which means I am pretty much working from 9am to 5pm, then travelling round the country to play bowls and not getting home till midnight.... clearly not much time for training. I have always put weight on during these three months of the year...sometimes up to 2
stone. This year I kept my
diet in check and at this moment in time I weight 16
stone 8 lbs.
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Heres a few pictures of my progress.......
First one is from sep 2007- weighed about 18st 4lbs -
These two are from may 2008 - probably just under 19st
Then this is from Sep 2008- at my heaviest weight of 19st 10- kind of love/ hate thing going on in this photo....im actually disgusted by the sight of the fat that is hanging off me in this photo.... but i kind of like the really bad before photos as it gives you such a boost to look back on once you start to get control over your body.
Me from dec 2008 - down to 18st here- can see some fat gone in face
And this was me yesterday at 16st 7lbs
So winter is coming.. time to train hard again. I am doing resistence one day, followed by
cardio the next.... not religious about that order but thats my aim.
My goals over the winter are to up the amount I can lift at least every fortnight, and start training for a long distance cycle ride some time next summer. Will try and post up some regular progress pics.
The
weight loss is slowing down dramatically now- so im really working hard on the resitance training - I still have plenty of areas of my
body im not happy with(all of them lol) but im getting there.
Would like to thank everyone who has posted so honestly on this site...it really does provide major inspiration to go out and do it yourself. Trust me if I can lose 4
stone anyone can... I have been hopeless at losing weight all my life- hopefully this time ive cracked it.... really have changed my habbits, routines and mindset and that is the only way you can get sustained success imo. Diets just do not work-- its got to be a permanant change.
Cheers for listening.
Linear Mode
