Anyone can achieve what I have achieved!
I want everyone to know that they can achieve health and fitness, not matter what size they start.
I am proof that with hard work and consistency, anyone can lose weight.
When I started my health journey 18 months ago, I was too big to exercise safely.
At 185.5 kilos, I was double the size of the average guy my height.
Knowing that diet is critical, and the key to weight loss, I focused on my food rather than exercise.
I didn't need to exercise to lose weight, I needed to get my food under control, and I did.
I am not special.
I have not done anything special.
I am consistent in eating a healthy balanced diet, including breads, fats and even ice cream.
I am consistent in going for my hour long walk, six days a week.
I have not taken any short cuts.
I haven't starved myself.
I haven't had surgery.
Sure I've gone off track, I am human.
At a Melbourne Cup lunch I even reverted back to old habits and ate in secrecy hiding from my work colleagues as I was ashamed of what I was eating.
But that was a lesson.
I even focused on that in my blog - You can read it here.
This showed me that I was human, and that I am still addicted to food, and that I need to aware of this for the rest of my life.
Over the last eighteen months
- I have lost weight
- I have plateaued
- I have gained weight
But here I am, eighteen months later.
- 78 weeks into my journey.
- 78 kilos lighter than I was
99 % of the time I follow my three Golden Rules.
- Track everything I eat
- Measure everything I eat
- Meet but don't exceed my allotted 'food units' each day
Notice how I said 99% of the time.
That's because I am not perfect.
No-one is perfect.
But I know that if I follow those three Golden Rules 99% of the time, I will be successful.
My 18 month health review !
Before I get into my health statistics, I think it is important for me to compare my life before my health journey started 18 months ago, and how I am today.
- I was constantly worried about fitting in chairs or breaking them
- I took my own seat with me when visiting family and friends to ensure I wouldn't break their chairs
- I was constantly sweating, even when just sitting down
- I was out of breath walking just a few metres or up a flight of steps.
- I parked my car as close as possible to shops to minimise the walking distance
- I parked my car with extra space on the driver's side to ensure I could exit and enter the car easily
- I constantly avoided being in photos
- I avoided virtually all vegetables except potatoes, and they were usually fried or mashed
- I was constantly hungry even though I over-ate
- Most of my meals were high in sugar and fat and very low in nutrition
- I didn't care about the quality or quantity of food that I ate
- I never exercised
- I was anxious about flying as I knew I would not fit in the seat comfortably
- I was anxious about flying as I knew I needed a seat belt extender and the tray wouldn't go down
- I was pre-diabetic
- I had high blood pressure
- My joints hurt and I had trouble breathing sometimes just due to my size
- Food controlled me, I didn't control food.
- I lived to eat, I didn't eat to live
Today -
- I can confidently sit in virtually any chair without worrying that I would break it
- I no longer sweat just existing
- I now walk an hour a day six days a week and have no issues climbing stairs
- I now park my car further away to get more 'incidental' exercise
- I no longer worry about parking too close to other cars as I am close to regular sized
- I enjoy being in photos
- I now look forward to my daily pumpkin soup and veges in my lunches and dinners
- I feel full all day now due to the balance of low GI and high protein food in my diet
- All of my meals are nutritious, and low in fat and sugar
- I now care about the quality and quantity of food that I eat
- I ensure I do my daily walk six days a week as it gets me pumped for the day
- I now enjoy flying as I fit in the seat comfortably
- I now enjoy flying as I know I don't need a seat belt extender and the tray now fits
- I am no longer pre-diabetic
- My blood pressure is normal
- My joints no longer hurt and I breathe easily
- I control my food, food no longer controls me
- I eat to live, I no longer live to eat.
In summary,
- I now realise that I was killing myself by neglecting my health
- Living is no longer a chore
- I can now enjoy life with my family and keep up with them
- I now look forward to every morning, of every day
- I look forward to my meals, and I know that my meals will keep me healthy and happy
On to the Health Statistics !
It's now been exactly 18 months since I started on my health journey, and every three months I get my DEXA scan so I can review my progress on a medical level. A DEXA scan is a medically accurate full body scan. It is as accurate as possible without doing an autopsy (I think it is a bit early for one of those).
Unfortunately, I didn't discover the DEXA scan until three months into my journey, and I really regret I don't have the stats from day 1. Looking back now, those stats would have been mind blowing.
Historically, my week 52 scan was the first time I was able to fit within the line markers of the DEXA scan. Previously, I was too wide to get the scan, so the technician had to 'half' my body and replicate the stats for the other side so we could actually have a semi accurate scan.
It is a huge milestone to know that I can now fit within the line markers.
The stats below will show my stats at 3 months and 18 months (a fifteen month progression).
DEXA statistics - For fifteen months of DEXA scans
Note, I only started my DEXA scans at Week 13.
DEXA weights may vary from my official TWD weights as the scales are different and the DEXA scan may not be on my official weigh in days.
Scan image comparison -
The image above is quite confronting to me now.
It shows truly how obese I was on a purely medical level.
I was so huge, my body was too fat to fit into the scan area !
And that was three months into my journey!
Oh how I would love to have a scan from day 1 rather than from 3 months in.
The original scan would be even more confronting to me now.
But now I can, with free space on the sides.
And look at how much 'yellow' (fat) has melted away !
My body is so much leaner now.
I still have a lot of fat to lose, but my progress so far still astounds me.
--- My DEXA stats ---Weight transformation - DEXA
Week 013 - 167.8 kg
Week 078 - 107.9 kg
Summary -
Excellent weight loss of 60 kg in fifteen months!
Body Fat Kg - DEXA
Week 013 - 81.03 kg
Week 078 - 31.3 kg
Summary -
This is a great statistic. My body fat in kilos dropped a massive 50 kilos in fifteen months!
Body Fat % - DEXA
Week 013 - 48.3%
Week 078 - 29.1 %
Summary -
I love this statistic. My body fat % dropped 19.2% - in fifteen months !
Healthy body fat percentage for a male my age is around 22%
Lean Mass Kg - DEXA
Week 013 - 83.25 kg
Week 078 - 72.94 kg
Summary - It is virtually impossible to lose fat only, and it is remarkable to lose 60 kg weight in fifteen months and only have 10.3 kilos of that as muscle loss. That converts to around 17% of my weight loss being muscle and 83% of my weight loss being fat.
This shows that my high protein diet, with daily walks and resistance training are helping to maximise fat loss and minimise muscle loss.
The image below is a great visual to help understand just how much fat I have lost and how little lean mass I have lost at the same time.
VAT - (the dangerous fat around my organs) - DEXA
Week 013 - 387 cm2
Week 078 - 133 cm2
Summary - Healthy target is 100 cm2
This is a great statistic. The dangerous fat around my organs has plummeted from a staggering 387 cm2 down to only 133 cm2.
The healthy range is 100 cm2, so it is amazing that I am so close to being in the healthy range!
Note - If you follow my blog, you will remember that my last DEXA had my VAT down to 124.
Alas, this was a mis-reading by the technician and pretty much pissed me off as I use that stat to track my progress. But that doesn't change the progress over the last fifteen months.
Health stats update
No longer pre-diabetic - Blood sugar is 4.5 down from 5.5 eighteen months ago
Resting heart rate is around 48 bpm during sleep.
Blood pressure is now 122 / 83 - (Fifteen months ago it was 146 / 100)
Cholesterol is perfect
Measurements -
Week 000 - Shirt size - 9XL - 142 cm
Week 078 - Shirt size - XL - 112 cm
Week 000 - Pants size - 157 cm (62 inch)
Week 078 - Pants size - 112 cm (44 inch)
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Quick Christmas Party update.
Well, that didn't go too well.
I didn't think I overdid it TOO much, but my body said differently.
I lost 800g overnight, which was most likely due to my body processing my good work before the Christmas party.
But after that I had gained 1.2 kilos over the next five days !
And this is with me being consistent on my exercise and diet as well.
It was quite disheartening, but I knew it would take a while for my body to process.
This resulted in my first weight gain for 11 weeks.
This also pushed me away from my goal of losing 80 kilos by Christmas, and I was actually behind the point I needed to be for week 077.
Anyway, I battened down the hatches and I reduced my indulgences.
As a big guy, I am allowed 2 daily indulgences.
I reduced from 1.7 daily indulgences down to 1.0 daily indulgences.
I must say, it is mentally hard to restrict my nightly FroPro Salted Caramel dessert, but if I want to reach my goals, I need to measure that frozen gold precisely so I don't overindulge.
In conjunction with Pennie, my TWD dietitian, I also tweaked my protein units a tiny bit over the week.
This combination had the desired result and I am now perfectly back on track losing my targeted 78 kilos in 78 weeks.
I'd love to hear about your health journey, so come on and join my private Facebook Group (only members can see what you post).
There are over 350 members in this group and we would love to hear from you!
So c'mon and join me on my journey, I look forward to connecting with you via -
Facebook - @HealthJourneyOz - https://www.facebook.com/HealthJourneyOz
Facebook Community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/HealthJourneyOzCommunity
Facebook Videos - https://www.facebook.com/pg/HealthJourneyOz/videos/
YouTube channel - https://tinyurl.com/HealthJourneyPlaylist
Facebook Videos - https://www.facebook.com/pg/HealthJourneyOz/videos/
YouTube channel - https://tinyurl.com/HealthJourneyPlaylist
Don't forget to like, share and comment on the YouTube videos !
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Such fantastic results, bloody awesome ��. So happy for you and your family. That scan is so good. Congratulations Terry x
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