Weigh-in - Week 52

Well this weekend was, as expected, filled with opportunities to over eat and over drink, as a result I have gained weight at this morning's weigh-in - 1.4lbs, which brings me back up to 17st 1lbs. I am a little annoyed with myself for going back above 17st, but I know that I will get back below that weight fairly soon, although tomorrow night's Wedding Anniversary meal out might not help!

As promised, here are some pictures to show my progress, the first of them was taken when we were on holiday at the beginning of June 2011, as you can see I'm just one big mountain of blubber. Unfortunately it wasn't until I saw this picture that I realised just how big I had become! I should warn readers, if they are offended by photographs of large men in boxer shorts, do not scroll down the page!

This is the picture that made me realise I had to do something!

These pictures were taken in my second week of Weight Watchers on July 2nd 2011, I'd already lost a few pounds, I weighed 20st 9lbs on my second weigh-in on 5th July, having started at exactly 21st.

 

And these ones were taken on Sunday 24th June 2012 and I weighed 16st 13lbs.

 

While I'm still clearly too big, I am very pleased with the progress I have made in the last 12 months - my moobs are significantly smaller, my belly doesn't bulge out quite so far, I have a neck between my head and my shoulders and my arms and legs are smaller.

It's been a long journey and my weight loss has definitely slowed down in the 2nd six months, but I am confident that, if I stick to the WeightWatchers plan, I can continue to lose weight and get down, eventually, to a weight that I am comfortable with. According to the BMI recommendations I need to get down to 13st 6lbs to be in the "normal" range, so I've still got a lot to lose!

See you all again next week and, I promise, I won't frighten the women & children with any more photo's!

Weigh-in - Week 51 (Flatlining)

Well I managed to regain the 0.4lbs that I lost last week, so I am clearly on a bit of a plateaux at the moment, I hope I can fall off the edge of it soon!. I have managed to remain below 17st, so it's not all bad, especially as I had a tricky weekend to deal with - out to Dinner on Saturday evening and Sunday lunch with my parents. My regular reader will know that my mum cooks a fine Sunday lunch! I also struggled to keep up with my regular exercise regime, so I don't suppose that will have helped!

This coming weekend will also be a tricky one to negotiate as it is Mrs TBI's birthday on Saturday, so we are going out for drinks with friends on Friday night, we're going out for Dinner with our son (I bet he forgets his pocket money again!) on Saturday night and we're going out for Sunday lunch with The Outlaws (so called because they're wanted, of course)! Not only that, but the following Wednesday is our Wedding Anniversary and I shall be taking her to our favourite Italian restaurant - sensible dining choices will NOT be possible there!

I had a call from my doctor the other day, following the ECG which I had a couple of weeks ago to investigate my slow resting heart rate. Apparently everything was normal, but the cardiologist wants me to wear a monitor for 24 hours to get a better picture. I'm now waiting for an appointment to have the monitor fitted, but I will report the results when I get them. I'm certainly not noticing any symptoms that would suggest that there is actually anything wrong, I think I must just be supremely fit :-)

I had a comment added to last week's blog by Chris, who, it would appear, has been inspired by my prose and started his own weight loss journey (obviously he was inspired before reading my blog, but maybe it gave him a bit more inspiration). I wish him the best of luck and I have put a link to his blog,MuffinsMuses, in the list on the left.

I'll be back again next week, which will complete my first year on the WeightWatcher's plan - watch out, there may be photographs! If you're of a sensitive nature it may be worth staying away until the pictures have fallen to the bottom (or even off) the page!

Weigh-in - Week 50

Just a tiny loss of 0.4lbs this week, bringing my weight down to 16st13.2lbs. It's a little dissapointing as I had hoped to at leaset lose what I put on last week, but never mind - I'm still below 17st, which for me is quite an acheivement.

I have managed to restart my exercising and even managed a new personal best of 14.1 kilometers in 30 minutes on the Crosstrainer! Just remember, though, that distance on a crosstrainer bears no relationship to running distances - there is no way I could run sub 4 minute miles, especially not 8.5 of them in one go! I am still struggling to motivate myself to do the kettlebell exercises, though, hopefully I will regain the enthusiasm and get back on track with that too!

I phoned up my doctor's surgery yesterday for the results of the blood tests that I had last week and was told by the receptionist that all of my results were normal, with my cholesterol level being 4.8 (this is a good result as the last time I had my cholesterol levels tested, it was about 5.9, just on the edge of high). It would seem to me that the only explanation for my abnormally low resting heart rate is that I am, in fact, an athlete! I'm planning on uploading some photographs on my Week 52 blog, so you will be able to judge my athleticism for yourselves :-)

This weekend is likely to be another tricky one to to deal with - on Saturday I'm going to a barbeque in the afternoon, followed by a trip to The Mill at Sonning, which is a Dinner-Theatre, so lot's of opportunity to consume large quantnties of high points food! I will try and prepare for this by having a light breakfast of fruit. Luckily, as I expect to be driving to both events, I won't be drinking much beer or wine, so I'll have a number of weekly points available for the food.

I've been getting quite a few comments about my weight loss recently, mostly from people who haven't seen me for a while. This has been nice, except it always leads to the question "how much more do you want to lose" at which point I reply "oh, about 3 stone", my wife then chimes in with "No, you don't want to lose that much, you;ll be far to thin"! I then point out that even at 14stones I will still be classed as overweight. Eventually I just leave it at "well I see what I look and feel like as I get down towards that sort of weight". I'm sure I'm not the only one that gets those sort of comments from our wives/husbands/partners, but it can be a little annoying.

Anyway, that's anough of my gibberish for this week, I'll report back again next week.

Weigh-in - Week 49

A small gain of 1lb this week, but I'm actually quite happy with that as the Bank Holiday weekend was a tricky one - out for a few beers with friends on Friday night, Sunday lunch barbeque at my parents' house to celebrate my dad's 79th birthday, which obviously meant high value foods and drink, then we went to a Jubilee party on Monday, which meant more high value foods and more beer (The Rebellion Brewery Diamond Porter was especially nice!). I ended up not tracking at all on Sunday & Monday!

That small gain still leaves me below 17stones, so I really am pleased as I had visions of crossing that threshold again. Now this coming weekend should be easier, although not without it's challenges - namely South Africa v England on Saturday afternoon! I shall have to plan carefully for that.

I've been a bit lazy this past week as I haven't used the Crosstrainer or done my Kettlebell exercises since Wednesday. I WILL get back on the crosstrainer tomorrow morning! I don't really have any excuses for not exercising, I think I just felt a bit lazy and found it very easy to make up excuses to keep me from doing it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has the occational blip like this. It is really important that I start again right away, though, as I could easily get used to not exercising in the mornings and that would undo a lot of the hard work I've put in over that last year.