Here I Go Again........

Week 1 Round 3 – Here I go again. Cue Whitesnake music here!!!!! But I am not on my own as their lyrics state.  I have my wife and my 12WBT family along for the ride.
New round means new goals and new challenges, but we can’t forget the past either.  I have set myself the goal of losing 22.6kgs this round purely so I can see my weight being displayed in double digits.  That would be an amazing achievement for me and something that I would have thought a long way off only 15 weeks ago.  What a great Christmas present to myself. My goals have been re-assessed after my results for the last round which were honestly mind boggling.  I managed to lose 24.5kgs and 86.5cms off my body.  Who would have thought that possible?  Not me that is for sure.

Looking back on what I have achieved I can only really take on board all the comments I have received from friends, family but mostly colleagues.  There are 2 ladies in particular at work that they have been so inspired by my transformation they have signed up for this round.  That is a true reflection of how people can see that this program works and that it is possible if you want to put in the effort to make a change.  One comment that was made to me which I laugh about every time I think of it was from an Asian lady whom obviously did not know how to phrase it.  She said to me “OOH you have lost weight, there is so much room in your clothes now!” which I had to laugh at because it was true.  I had not been out to buy any new clothes, but everyone else would simply say that I had lost a lot of weight and was looking great.

Thinking about this I regretted the fact that I had not taken any photos of myself during the round.  I had nothing to compare myself to moving forward.  My wife then sent me a photo this morning of us at her work Christmas party last year and asked “who is this fat man?”  Looking at it I could not believe the size of me or how bloated I looked.  I then took a photo of myself for you all to see the comparison.  I now do not have a double chin and I have a skinny neck.  Yes there is more to come off but I can now see what others have been talking about.  I am not a vain person, but I do like what I see.  Can’t wait to see the changes in another 12 weeks also, but here is the photo I was referring to. 

Now, one of the most daunting parts of this program is taking a before shot and actually looking at them.  These are not compulsory but if you want to be considered for prizes at the end of each round you need to upload them, but more importantly they are a great tool for really seeing yourself for what you have let yourself become and also for being able to compare at the end of the round and see how far you have come and the amazing changes you have made to your body.  I was always going to upload my photos as it was not going to be seen by anyone except the admins of the site and I jokingly told my wife I wanted to win.  Yes I am competitive, but also realistic.  I was not of the belief that I would win, but used it as fuel to keep me focused and the ultimate end goal of losing as much weight as possible. It seems to have worked for me in order to lose 24.5kgs, so I am not complaining. Now I have to wait until tomorrow to see if my boast comes to fruition as Michelle is sending an email out to the top 20 in the morning.  I looked back at these photos with pride as I could clearly see the change my hard work had produced.  Yes I still have a considerable amount of weight to lose, I am not kidding myself here, but I am determined to do this and become the fit healthy person I WANT to be and DESERVE to be.

I have never been a shy person, but putting yourself out there for the world to see is a very different kettle of fish.  You have to be supremely confident that you can handle the backlash or be honest enough with yourself that this is how you are now, deal with it, and that I am never going back there.  For this reason I have decided that I will put my before and after photos up here.  Yep, that is right here they are for all to see. There is nothing pretty here, so if you have a weak stomach please change the channel now, but this is the old me, which will never be seen again.  Since this photo was taken I have lost another 900grams, so it is technically the old me.  People may be horrified by these pictures and that is fine, I certainly was in the beginning, but this shows me that I am moving in the right direction and they will start to look better over the coming weeks and months.

Part of this journey is about being in the right mindset.  For me I felt that putting these photos out there show that I am proud of where I have come from, where I am now and where I am heading.  I WILL never go back to that point in my life, no matter what.  I have worked far too hard in the last 13 weeks to get rid of the lard, I will not put myself through that again.  I am becoming a new person, I will finish what I have started and I will be fit, healthy and more importantly happy with what I am when I am finished.