I rarely have a great deal to say to people; most of the posts on this blog are the ramblings of someone talking to no-one in particular which is exactly what this post is going to be about. However, unlike the normal tech posts this is about a personal issue that I've finally dealt with.
Today, for the first time in probably 20 years i'm what the NHS would consider 'normal'. Not Obese, not overweight, merely normal.
When I started trying to lose weight I was 138kg (21st 10lbs, a BMI of 41.6)
Fast forward 9 months and I'm now 82.7kg (13st, a BMI of 25 exactly).
That's a loss of 55.3kg (8st 10lbs) or very nearly a third of my body weight.
What does this mean in terms in size?
Cliche pictures
Today, for the first time in probably 20 years i'm what the NHS would consider 'normal'. Not Obese, not overweight, merely normal.
When I started trying to lose weight I was 138kg (21st 10lbs, a BMI of 41.6)
Fast forward 9 months and I'm now 82.7kg (13st, a BMI of 25 exactly).
That's a loss of 55.3kg (8st 10lbs) or very nearly a third of my body weight.
What does this mean in terms in size?
- I started off as a 46 inch waist (which I wore below by stomach) and i'm now a 34 inch waist when worn over my stomach
- I've dropped 2 shoe sizes
- In a t-shirt I've gone from an XXL to a S/M depending on where it's from
- Jackets, from an XXL to a S/M again depending on where its from
- Aircraft seat-belts now fit and I no longer worry about needing an extension
- None of the clothes I had 9 months ago fit anymore
Things I didn't expect
- I get cold; where as before my excess fat was keeping me insulated I now get cold very easily and have to wear more layers to compensate
- I'm more fragile; if I knock myself the force hits my bones and is not absorbed by my fat layers anymore and is much more painful
- Seats are often less comfy; because again, more pressure on my bones without that insulating layer of fat to take off the edge
- More people talk to me when i'm out and about; it really does seem that a LOT of people in this country judge based on size
- Re-buying a whole wardrobe is expensive
How did it happen?
Exactly how you would expect:
- Ate less
- In all honest I probably ate to little as often I was on sub-1000 calories a day but I still had breakfast, lunch and dinner with a desert in the evenings
- Exercised more
- Started off as 15 minutes on the exercise bike
- Moved on to 30 minutes on the cross trainer
- Then 40 minutes Zumba on the Wii
- Now its a 1 to 2 hour walk every evening instead
- 45m swimming every week
- Found food I could enjoy and can continue to eat (thank you Hairy Dieters)
- If I had to go to somewhere like McDonalds I'd swap fries for a salad and have the lowest calorie burger available.
- Was still able to have fish and chips every weekend (and have done so since March!), the full swimming session would make up for it.
- Smart Scales (weighing myself daily, seeing the difference and logging it automatically really helped me)
What Now?
Weight maintenance - when I started this it was a change for life therefore even though I've finished losing weight I won't be going back to my old ways. That doesn't mean I can't have a McDonalds if I fancy it, but I have to question whether I really need fries with that. As for Lattes, black coffee (no sugar!) is the way I drank it and will now continue to drink it. These sort of choices are the ones that seem to have made the difference to me; Little big changes which i'm now going to stay with.
Cliche pictures
