Monday 29 July 2019

Choose Life

It was almost five years ago, on the 4th August 2014, when I suffered my heart attack, a life-changing event in a lot of ways.  Although I'd already started to lose weight (as I wrote about here), it focused my attention and I decided my "Fall Guy" summer (which I wrote about here) was a chance to make some changes as I realised what was important to me.
Me & Dude, July 2019
At my heaviest, I weighed 18st 6.75lbs (258.75lbs or just over 117kgs) and at 5ft 11 my BMI was 35.9 putting me well into the “obese” end of things.  Within a year, having cut the crap out of my diet and walked a LOT, my weight was down to 13st 11.5lbs (193.5lbs - a total loss of 65.25lbs) and my BMI was 27, slightly off the midway of overweight.

Five years on and I'm maintaining that weight loss (as of today, I'm 13st 10lbs).  I'm still walking between 20-30 miles a week and I've also recently become a convert to Park Run, introduced by Alison and our friend David, hitting a good pace regularly (my pb's 27m 46s).  I feel better, I'm as fit as I've ever been and I'm definitely embracing life which, although it was a tough way to figure it out, is the lesson I took from the incident.

Life's too short, people, embrace it!
Me & Dude, on the patio, June 2014 - part of the batch of photographs that made me realise I needed to do something about my weight...
David & I at the Kettering Park Run, May 2019, picture by John Woods


2 comments:

  1. You certainly look a lot better in your more recent photos, that's for sure. I'm currently 14 stone and would like to lose a stone or two, so you've inspired me to renew my efforts. Trouble is, I've got balance problems (no, not mentally) so walking isn't really an option for me as I tend to veer all over the place. I'll work something out. Glad to hear you're feeling fitter than ever.

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    1. Thanks Kid! Good luck with your own efforts.

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