General A Weighty Issue

[Miket12]

Those of you who have met me in real life know that I was/am carrying far too much weight.

After years of not really doing anything about it, I decided (well, truth be told, my wife decided and I agreed) that it was time to do something about it.
For those of you who haven’t seen me, I’m in my late forties and weigh over 130 kg which is far too much as I’m just under 6 foot. For those who follow the BMI index, that makes me morbidly obese.

So, while ago I cut out as many carbs and fats as possible (and no more Fish&Chips, Maccas or Nandos ) to have mainly green veges and low fat meat like skinless chicken and beef.

The journey so far is a loss of 16cm around my chest, waist, hips, arms, thighs and calf’s and I’m just on a ¼ of my way to my goal weight of 95 kg (my wife wants under 90kg, but we’ll have to see).

Anyway, that’s the story so far.

 

[¿N. ig-mah¿]

Good job. Its hard work, but feels good to get there.

I gave up smoking just over 2 years ago with a workmate. I piled on 22 kilos in a matter of a few months (I was underweight before I gave up at 75kgs and 6ft 1, but felt that it was unacceptable to break 100kgs). Luckily for me, my workplace have a gym, and also have recently become proactive about healthy lifestyles. We ran a "Biggest Loser" comp from Christmas to the end of April. All the staff of my department spent our lunchbreak at the gym everyday. It was an absolute killer to begin with, and the weight refused to budge, but eventually it started to move (took a major diet change as well as the gym work to start the process). After the Biggest Loser comp (which I came in the top 10) work signed us up for "The Global Corporate Challenge" (which involves teams of 7 wearing pedometers for 5 months and recording steps every day. I'll be honest and say that my lifestyle has not remained changed, but I am a little more cautious about being inactive and have an idea how much crap food I can get away with eating.

I'll be honest and admit that I changed my goal a couple of times along the way. My original goal was to get to 80kgs (which I now believe was still a little too light), then 85kgs, but have now amended that to staying on or below 90kgs. I am happy with the way my physique is at 90kgs, and it seems easy now to maintain it, so will try to remain at that goal weight. I know it doesn't seem much to drop 7 kilos, but it was always impossible to put weight on before I gave up smoking, and it was frustratingly hard to actually stop the increase and start the weight reduction at first. I believe that my giving up smoking also came at an age where my metabolism was starting to slow, which made it tougher to drop weight.

I commend you for your determination and ambition. Keep us up to date on your successes. Remember there will be times when you "fall off the wagon" with the wrong food or too many beers, but as long as you do something even slightly active to keep up the momentum for the better, you will succeed and won't lose heart.

Good Luck.

 

[ToiletDuck]

Excellent work Mike, send us some before and after pics!

But in all seriousness, good on you. Taking responsibility for your own health can actually be a difficult thing to do, especially after years of bad habits. I'm sure you know already, but losing that weight will in all likelihood add years onto your life. There aren't too many obese 70 and 80 year olds running around the place...with good reason.

Be sure to keep us up to date with your progress!

 

[Gee]

Well done Mike , keep up the good work. As you know I went threw a similar experience around 10 years ago. I was 125kg which was a bit much for my 195cm frame. I gave up the smokes and alcohol , changed diet and returned to playing sport. I dropped my weight to 95 kg and for a few years , while still playing Football( the beautiful game) maintained it to below 100. Unfortunately 2 knee operations curtailed my sporting career at in my late 40's the body was no longer saying time to retire it was screaming it. Slowly the weight started to reappear and this I pretended not to notice until I saw the photos taken when I was Chosen as Super Fan at Mount Smart. Came home and weighed myself and found the scales at an alarming 119kg again ( Disclaimer - I had just spent a week on holiday in Sydney).
Back on the Diet and now down to 107 kg and falling. Will keep going until I get closer to 100kg.
Good luck Mike and keep us posted on your progress.

 

[surfin]

Good effort but I have discovered the ultimate weight loss system, get a job in PNG the food is total crap and luckily enough too expensive to be able to afford. Just to add to the benefits a box of 24 of some of the worst beer in the world costs around $80 -100 depending on which one you buy. Head up and just watch the weight fall off, for the more extreme dieter some locals would be more than willing to chop off any unwanted appendage. Perfect for those instant results.

 

[Buck777]

Good stuff mike. Really interested in how much you lose. Have a fitness test in November so I've put myself on a go slow myself. Surprising how much your appetite goes to war when you decide to use a bit of self control.
Hope Shaun Johnson reads this thread lol

 

[Miket12]

Thanks guys - hit the 30% lost mark during the week and just under 30cm.

 

[Akkerz]

Great effort Mike. Should be a little bit easier with summer salads on the way. It's hard to give up the junk stuff in the cold weather.

 

[Sup42]

Good on you Mike , inspirational.

 

[Miket12]

20 kgs gone this morning half way there

 

[RobRoyMcCoy]

20 kgs gone this morning half way there

Great stuff Mike!

 

[Akkerz]

That takes determination, Good on you.

 

[mt.wellington]

20 kgs gone this morning half way there

Holy shit, what an amazing effort mate. Keep it up...

 

[David James]

That's awesome mate, well done.

4 years ago I went from 120kg down to 77kg, the motivation being my wedding.

Nowadays I compete in bodybuilding competitions! Never would have thought I would do that, but I loved having control over my body again.

Best of luck with the rest of the weight loss.

*written from a stationary bike*

 

[HD]

Congrats mate. Just started making an effort to get healthy myself on advice from the doc, veering towards high blood pressure, could have told him that myself with the old receding hairline making inroads these last few years . Quitting smoking I found surprisingly easy much to the detriment of my waste line. Laziness is harder to defeat. Aiming to drop 4 stone.

 

[PolarBob]

Just a big up to all in this thread, particularly Mike, who are putting in the effort.

Keep fighting the good fight over the silly season.

 

[Miket12]

Congrats mate. Just started making an effort to get healthy myself on advice from the doc, veering towards high blood pressure, could have told him that myself with the old receding hairline making inroads these last few years . Quitting smoking I found surprisingly easy much to the detriment of my waste line. Laziness is harder to defeat. Aiming to drop 4 stone.

Went and saw the doctor before Christmas. My blood pressure was to the point where I was almost needed to start taking medication because of how high it was. He's now concerned that it may be getting to low now - guess you just can't win . Congrats on giving up the smoking.

Put on a couple of kgs over Christmas but that's all gone again (and then some).

 

[surfin]

Started my journey back to fighting fit yesterday Mike.

You are an inspiration Bro.

The Type of work i do requires that you can handle yourself in a scrap.

Lately ( the last three years lmao ) I have put on 20kg and relied on the young Gym Bunnies at work to back me up.

The other day we were dealing with an armed fullah and Me being the old bastard I thought it only fair to take the lead with another old head in my team....bit like league i guess, experience and using your smarts is better than big biceps.

Anyway to cut a long story short the old fullahs took him down, but it got me thinking I'd better do some serious speed work coz the bugger was fit and Quicker.

So My start out weight is 115kg.

Goal Weight is when the pot belly is gone.....around the 100kg mark.

I'm just using dumbells at home and good diet, Walking hills and practising some basic hand to hand combat stuff in the back yard with the sounds on.

I hope you've stopped bad mouthing the wifes cooking, if not you might keep more fry pan to head combat than you can handle.

 

[Sup42]

I hope you've stopped bad mouthing the wifes cooking, if not you might keep more fry pan to head combat than you can handle.

Churchill said something similar ' we will fight them in the kitchens '

Good too see you've survived working in a war zone , some crusty Warriors fans are hard to kill off.

 

[surfin]

Churchill said something similar ' we will fight them in the kitchens '

Good too see you've survived working in a war zone , some crusty Warriors fans are hard to kill off.

Unfortunately I'm flying back in Monday morning, besides it's not really a war zone they chop people up for reasons far less important than that.