Simon's Success

Hi Andrew,

I would just like to say thank you for the help motivation and information that you have given me in your Blobmosis blog. Sorry I forgot to take a before and after photo but below is a little bit of history and the results I got from your program.

Picture this –I was an ex farm worker/laborer who had changed to be an Air Traffic Controller a few years previously but not changed the way I ate or drank which resulted in me going from a VERY fit 102kg to 112kg when I arrived in the UAE 6 years later in April 2004. Still relatively fit but needed to lose some weight. March 2009 due to high pressure shift work, bad diet, no exercise and excessive drinking I had ballooned out to a massive 135kg. It was the heart palpations and breathing difficulties whenever I tried to keep up with my 6 and 3 years old girls that spurned me on to try and lose the weight.

The following 2 ½ years had seen me exercise, reduce the drinking and sort out my diet. I got down to 112kg, slow I know but at least it was coming off. Then the weight loss stopped just after Christmas and I hit a plateau. I changed exercise patterns and eating habits but still nothing and worst of all despite everything I was doing it started going up again. My wife and kids tried to help as they saw how hard I was taking the gain in weight and how hard I was working to try and stop it but to no avail. My wife found your site on the interweb and said I should give it a go, even if just for a short while, as nothing else seemed to be working.

So weighing in at 116.5kg I started.

There followed 4 weeks of your diet with a few differences in some meals that were within the guidelines. I totally gave up the dairy(no latte with my breaky which was REALLY REALLY HARD) and stuck with just the water (no cordial). The weekly “debrief” we have at the pub was hard, not for the lack of beer but for the yummy bar snacks that I went without. Eating out was also difficult, not because I didn’t like the salads they had on offer, but because everyone of them came with lashings of cheese and dressings no matter how many times I asked them not to put it on. Over the course of the month I have had 12 meals out and sent 9 salads back to be redone with one place even having to do it 3 times (including me explaining to the chef what I wanted). They got it right in the end and were very nice about it all but the thought of someone actually eating at a café or restaurant and sticking to a diet was not something they understood. The exercise was also hard to give up. For the last 3 years I have been walking 5-6km every day plus other bits and pieces along the way to help with my fitness. Despite rain, fog, heat, holidays, sickness and hangovers I have missed less than 1 month of exercise in all that time and now to give it up for a whole month at once was HARD. It helps me deal with the stresses of my job and of life in the UAE. So thank god I can go back to walking. This morning was my first walk and despite feeling a little fatigued in the legs it felt great.


So was it worth it?

YES. The scales this morning read (drum roll please) 107.5kg.

So that equates to :

• · 9kg loss or just under 8% of my starting weight
• · 4 holes in my belt
• · The ability to fit in shirts that I have not been able to for the last 12 years
• · Being the lightest I have been since 1998
• · From my massive 135kg I have now lost 2 kg more the my now 6 year old daughter weighs
• · Most importantly it has kick started my weight loss again.

Very happy indeed and also feeling a lot better.

Where to now?

Well I will be mostly sticking with what has worked for the last month but with the following additions:

1. Latte with breakfast – don’t care if I have to walk an extra 4km each morning THIS WILL HAPPEN

2. No bread except for an occasional “mountain bread” wrap filled with all the salad stuff instead of just the salad lunches I normally have

3. 2 breakfasts replaced with cereal (the good sort not sugar coated bits of cardboard), bit more fiber in my “old” age is good for me

4. Occasional inclusion of cheese in some of the salads.

5. Limit myself to 4 pints of beer per week no matter what celebrations we are having that week and for each pint an extra 2km will be added to the next day’s walk


No. 1 & 5 will happen this week and if the weight is still coming off then each other part will be added in gradually over the following weeks. If the weight loss stops or plateaus then something will be removed (not the latte). I am hoping for 1kg per 10-14 days. I will also be doing a detox every 6 months (already scheduled in my calendar for the next 2 years). Lots of exercise. The walks have started (5km this morning) and will be up to 7km by the end of next week and I am scheduled in for some additional gym work in June/July/August while the family are away.

I still have goals to meet with the first being 100kg. When I hit this my wife has promised me the motorbike that I have always wanted. It will also mean that I will have lost what my now 9 year old daughter weighs and I will be the lightest I have been since 1994. After that the aim is anything below 95kg and I want to be below 95kg by my 42nd birthday at the end of the year which will mean I will be finally well and truly out of the “obesity” category and into the “overweight” category in the BMI charts.

Sorry for the longwinded story but I just wanted to let you know how I went with the experiment and how pleased I am with how far I have come since being a sweaty, wheezing stressed out, pickled 135kg lump.


Cheers.

****************

From Andrew at blobmosis...

Thanks Simon, 

They are some truly impressive stats, and I am so very happy for you. Comparing your weight lost to the comparative weight of your daughters really puts things in perspective.

Yay for the dangling motorbike shaped carrot - can't wait to see a photo of it!

For those of you reading Simon's excellent story, and are inspired to give yourself the gift of change I've added all the FAQ below or you can simply sign up. It IS free after all!

"Enough already - I want IN... I am totally up for this" I hear you say....

Really? Glad to hear it, click here and you'll be on your way.  or just scroll down to the bottom of this page.

Questions? Sure, here you go...

• So how does this work?
• What's with the email thing? If the information is free, why don't you just put it all up here on the Blobmosis blog?
• You are going to try to sell me something, aren't you?
• How did I find my “plan?”
• You are going to make me drink protein shakes and take a million different kinds of supplements aren't you?
• Am I going to have to give up everything? I don't want to give up everything. 
• I don't have the time to cook, what do you have to say about that?
• Won't I be hungry though? It's a diet, so I have to be hungry...right?
• No working out? No being flogged at the gym? Seriously?
• I'm a vegetarian, can I take part in the experiment as well?
• You lost almost 10kgs (22 pounds) that means I will too, right?
• I only like hamburgers and fries and deep fried cheese and beer and wine and pizza, and corn chips and peanut butter .... so, can you tell me how I can eat THAT every day and lose weight?