My fat loss story

As those of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter(@synergymichael if you are interested), the last 6 months have seen me shed almost 12kg of unwanted flab!  I'm now being asked on a regular basis how I did it and what what my secret is, and I'm embarrassed really cos to be honest,on the surface, I haven't done that much different.  Now I am finding my  loss is inspiring others, which is great, but apart from a few little tweaks here and there to my diet, I'm still basically eating foods I've always liked, and having a glass or 2 of wine in an evening and still achieving my goals.

So what prompted me to start losing the weight?  As someone who has always attended some gym or fitness club since the early 90's, I was of the mindset that I could eat what I liked cos I trained hard, so I must burn it all off. 

Over the years, yes I have gone up a few sizes in jeans, but you know I'm fit, I go to fitness classes, I must be building muscle. Friends & colleagues compliment you on how good you are looking cos you work out and eat fairly sensibly so the fact that I don't like seeing my body in tight clothing any more is not an admission of getting bigger, but a realisation that I'm getting older and dressing more age appropriate. Yes, my tummy does wobble a little bit and I don't like looking at myself in the mirror and I've bought a pair of Gok slimming pants for men, still does not mean I have a problem.  I was well and truly in denial. My other half even says that I need to lose a few pounds which I take as a personal attack. What does he know, he doesn't even train that often, I do, and I'm ok.  

What set my mind off that I was fighting a losing battle with the flab came after the International Fitness Convention at Blackpool in March.  All those fab looking fit people everywhere, me with my fleece on covering up my stomach despite it being a scorcher of a weekend, not because I was fat, but I had my business details on the back!  I saw a picture of myself taken with some friends, and the first thing I thought to myself was "FFS! You are a fat bastard!" Not as in huge but so unlike how I thought I was looking in my head.

Me on the left with friends at IFS March 2012. 

What happened then was a few weeks of "I'll start making a difference on Monday", Sunday would arrive the following week, "Oh tomorrow, for sure" etc etc.  A dear friend then put me onto a free app for my phone called myfitnesspal, which allowed you to monitor your exercise, food & drink intake, and stay below an agreed amount of calories.  Being slightly sceptical at the best of times, I downloaded it and thought I'd give it a try for a few days.  It has a bit of social media attached to it as well so would fit in with my Facebook/Twitter routine.  I have used it everyday since without fail; it has changed the way I view food, what I'm putting in, how I exercise etc.  The weight began to gradually come off, 1-2 lbs a week, I was amazed but thought it wouldn't last.  As the weeks progressed, others started to notice a distinct change in my shape which spurred me on.  I began to alter the way I exercised, and take on board nutritional advice from experts on twitter and whom I know personally such as Rachel Holmes and her clean eating/Kick start Fat Loss programme & introducing short high intensity workouts into my gym stuff on top of the other classes I was doing.  No longer was I downing loads of toast and low fat cereals for breakfast, I was, for example, having a chicken omelette.  Lunch- bye bye a good old fashioned plate of fish fingers or fish cakes, I was tuna steaks and veg.  I binned all the low fat/low sugar/fat free foods after watching a series of programmes on BBC2 due to the hidden sugars/chemicals etc in them. These programmes were both enlightening & frightening.  I have virtually given up bread as well as my all time fave baked beans, just to reduce the constant bloating I was experiencing. My incidences of attacks of IBS have reduced too.

So here I am, in October, 25lbs lighter, 5 inches off my waist, wearing clothes that have been sat idly in the loft for the best part of 10 years, feeling much better about myself (yes I think some of my anxiety issues were due in part to my weight but refused to admit to them as I couldn't look at myself).  A health check last month, told me I am at an ideal weight for my height & build and age, my risk of heart disease, diabetes etc is almost negligible and that I was fitter than I was 14 years ago!  This got me to thinking, how bad would it have been if i hadn't had that photo taken months before and kept my head buried in the sand!  Still, moving forward, I intend to continue with the app, the cleaner eating, the training more sensibly;I wish to lose another 8-10lbs for myself and prove that I can do it, not because I have to.  I put another one of my sources of anxiety and confidence bashers to bed this week;  Because i subconsciously knew I was bigger than I liked, I would never venture into the gym swimming pool.  10 years passed of paying for it and not using it.  6 years had passed since I'd swam anywhere, the last being at my cousins' pool in Memphis in 2006, and that had been a struggle to take my kit off in the Tennessee heat for fear of having to look at myself or anyone else having to also.

Here we are again at Big One North, September 2012

With the legendary Rachel Holmes after another 2 classes at Virginactive Nottingham

  

Several Mondays ago I finally did it, I went swimming in the gym pool.  I cycled for ages trying to talk myself out of it, trunks under my shorts, as I feared ridicule from others or self loathing from myself. To say my legs were wobbly when I eventually got in to change is a fair assessment of the torture I was putting myself through.  But I did it, and felt a rush of emotion that is hard to describe without welling up again, but a sense of achievement let's say.  I even did it in a pair of such skimpy speedos so part of my head was thinking positively somewhere.  30 lengths completed and out.  I'm now make it a weekly thing, as to quote the book, "I faced the fear and did it anyway". 

See, told you nothing earth shattering was the cause of my new shape, its been a journey of self rediscovery if I'm honest in some respects, and what has worked for me might not work for someone else.  I think I've learnt not to give up, persevere and be strong, and through sheer bloodymindedness you can achieve your goal, be it weight loss or anything else.  Don't beat yourself up if you have a cheat day and then think all your hard work is wasted, it's not.  Just get back on it the next day.  I was told to regularly have a blow out and eat what you want for 24 hours; your body, so used to being sensible that this shock of to the system encourages it to work harder.  I was dubious at first, not wanting to put the pounds back on and I'd levelled out and not lost for 3 weeks, but I had the huge tray of chips and kebab meat and when I weighed myself the following week, I'd lost 3 pounds!! So that's hat I do, every 2 weeks, I eat what I like for 24 hours.  Funny thing is now, my stomach has shrunk so much, I can't eat as much of it anyway :)

Don't be disheartened, small steps, be sensible and persevere, and you can achieve those goals.