Week 286

0.4lb & 0.8lb gains

The past couple of weeks has included 2 trips away for 2-3 days at a time, as well as excessive tiredness and illness, resulting in precious little physical activity.

The upshot is gains (as well as a missed blog update), but cruicially (for my own self esteem at least) I'm still under 12 stone. And everything should be back on track, as from this morning.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 11st 13lb - 167lbs
Body fat: 21%
Total Weight Loss: 108lbs

Week 284

0.2lb gain

Although it's a gain, I'm delighted with it.

Last week it was my wife's birthday, so in addition to a huge slice of chocolate cake, we'd also had ice cream earlier in the day when we went out for a picnic, and popcorn in the evening when we went to the cinema to see Toy Story 3.

Consequently I had fears of putting on a pound or more. So to have only gained 0.2 of a pound is a good result in my book.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 11st 11.8lb - 165.8lbs
Body fat: 22.1%
Total Weight Loss: 109.2lbs

Week 283

0.6lb loss!

Still heading in the right direction. After the larger losses of the previous couple of weeks I wasn't expecting much, so to still lose over half a pound feels good.

Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 11st 11.6lb - 165.6lbs
Body fat: 22.1%
Total Weight Loss: 109.4lbs

Week 282

1.4lb loss!

Well that was a surprise. I'm still doing what I've been doing every week so given the 1.4lb loss last week, I wasn't expecting the same level of drop this time.

So this puts me in sight of losing 8 stone - only 3.2lbs away from that figure - and 8 stone is 112lbs which is a hundredweight in British measurements, not the US 100lbs.

I never expected to get down this far


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 11st 12.2lb - 166.2lbs
Body fat: 22.1%
Total Weight Loss: 108.8lbs

Week 281 - under 12 stone

1.4lb loss!

Not only is that a good amount to lose in a week, but highly significant for me is it takes me under 12 stone.

For those who measure purely in pounds or kilos, I know stones are an odd scale. 1 stone = 14 pounds. Don't ask me - I didn't invent it, I just grew up with it.

However, because I grew up with it, each time I cross a stone it has much larger significance than crossing, say a 10lb or even a 10kg marker.

But to have reached a point where there is an 11 in front almost makes me weep, for it puts me in the realm of the weight I was as a young man, before I started gaining.

As well as being the upper limit of the "normal" range for my height, according to the BMI charts, 11st 4lbs is the weight I have in my head as what I was around the ages of 19 to 21 years old. I am now 11st 13.6lbs.

I do not expect to get down to 11st 4lbs, but to be within the same "stone" almost makes me dizzy.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 11st 13.6lb - 167.6lbs
Body fat: 22.2%
Total Weight Loss: 107.4lbs

Week 280

1lb loss!

Phew! After last week's unexpected gain I had a moment of fear that it was going to unravel. However, it was just a blip and if I'd lost 0.4lbs last week and another 0.4lbs this week then I would have ended up in the same place and felt quite content.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 1lb - 169lbs
Body fat: 21.4%
Total Weight Loss: 106lbs

Week 279

0.2lb gain :(

OK, I know 0.2lbs is little more than the weight of a good fart, but unfortunately it breaks the 15 week run I was whooping with joy about last week.

I really cannot think of anything I have done differently this week, so I'll just have to put it down to a blip and hope I continue in the right direction next week


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs
Current Weight: 12st 2lb - 170lbs
Body fat: 21.7%
Total Weight Loss: 105lbs

Week 278 - under 170lbs

1.6lb loss!

This is a bigger loss than expected, but then the thing is always to look at the trend in preference to the individual weeks.

And the trend is, over the past 10 weeks I've lost 9.2lbs. But the main thing is I've been consistently losing something every week for 15 weeks in a row, and that accumulates.

My 34" jeans are no longer tight and my baggy shirts are becoming rather ridiculously large.

At some point I am going to have to go out and buy some clothes that actually fit, rather than drape. But to be honest, I have no idea where to begin.

As I got larger, my clothes choice was dictated by what I could buy that was large enough to fit. And as I've been coming down, other than jeans and underwear, I've carried on wearing the same clothes.

I still haven't really accepted the idea that I can in fact walk into any high street shop now and find clothes that fit. But I've never been a fashionista, so actually have no idea what would suit me.


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs  
Current Weight: 12st 1.8lb - 169.8lbs
Body fat: 22%
Total Weight Loss: 105.2lbs

Week 277

0.4lb loss

Although I still have at least 13lbs to lose before I would stop being "overweight" and into the "normal" range, at this stage, every loss feels like an unexpected bonus.

Last time I was below 175lbs I just considered myself in maintenance mode, but I'm begining to think a couple more pounds loss is still likely


Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs  
Current Weight: 12st 3.4lb - 171.4lbs
Body fat: 22.8%
Total Weight Loss: 103.6lbs

Week 276 - a new record low

I don't know what happened to last week's stats - clearly I forgot to write in week 275 and my 0.4lb loss that week.

However, the big news is this week I have lost 1.6lb. And this is highly significant for me

By taking me down to 12st 3.8lb or 171.8lb, it now means I'm the lightest I've been since I was in my early 20s.

My previous lowest point was back in July 2007 when for one week only, I was 12st 4.2lbs, or 172.2lbs. Then I bobbed back and forth around the 12st 7lb mark (which was the 100lb down point from my original starting point) for several months until Christmas, where I put on a few more pounds, never really lost them and a very slow creep back began.

By September last year I had risen above 14 stone to 197.6lbs and that was the point we managed to begin turning it round again.

In fact, if you scroll to the bottom of the page you can see quite visually the changes on the trackngraph.com chart

So I am now the lightest my wife has ever known me - I was around 185lbs when we first met, nearly 20 years ago.

Starting Weight: 19st 9lb - 275lbs  
Current Weight: 12st 3.8lb - 171.8lbs
Body fat: 22.8%
Total Weight Loss: 103.2lbs