I joined CC a year ago today... before/after

Shield Your Eyes! My one year CC anniversary, before/after, etc.

A few disclaimers:

1) I know I don't have a perfect body, and I came to grips a long time ago with the fact that I likely never will. Oh, well!

2) Yes, I know I need to clean the mirror. I just moved into this dorm room on Saturday, and cleaning isn't very high up on the totem pole o' priorities, so to speak.

3) I know 179 lbs isn't my ideal weight according to CC, but I'm starting to think I'm really not supposed to be 162 lbs. Maybe I am, but as slow and greuling as the weight loss has been in the past two or three months (trying to shed the last 10 lbs), I think my body is sending me a stark message: let's stop here. A 20 year old 6 foot male at 175 lbs is on the high end of "healthy weight," anyway. I'm content to maintain there.

Before CC #1

Before CC #2

Before CC #3

After CC #1

After CC #2

After CC #3

After CC #4

The Rundown:

Start date: September 15, 2007

Today's date: September 15, 2008

Start weight: 255 lbs (34.6 BMI)

Weight today: 179 lbs (24.3 BMI)

Blood pressure at 255 lbs: 170/90

Blood pressure today: 110/60

Stamina at 255 lbs: It took all my being to jog a whole mile

Stamina today: Just finished a comfortable 6 mile run, preparing for
my half marathon next month! :)

Acne, complexion, and skin tone at 255 lbs: horrible

Acne, complexion, and skin tone today: 150% improved

Energy, self-esteem, outlook on life at 255 lbs: low, lower, lowest

Energy, self-esteem, outlook on life today: well, you get the point..

So there you have it, folks. That's what 76 lbs lost looks like, and I couldn't be happier about that. I tell all my friends and family that I laugh now looking back on how easy it was and that I should have done it a long time ago. It's true: with will power, diligence, and religious commitment to get there, you will get there. And you will be so gratified when you finally arrive.

Please let this motivate you. Last September, I was in this very forum looking at before/after posts for motivation and feeling very envious and sorry for myself. But they had an indelible impact on me; they kicked my once-lethargic, lazy butt into gear and now, one year later, I'm posting a before/after of my own.

I owe an immense debt of gratitude to this website and the community here. I've made some great friends and had an amazing journey, and now it's time to start leading a so-called "normal" lifestyle for the first time. I look forward to another year here and seeing many, many more people add their CC success stories to this long and ever-growing list.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Calorie Count. Thank you.

Justin Roller

CONGRATS!   So can you provide us with a short summary of how you did it?

yeh please tell us how you did it, what you ate what exercise you did, the whole thing.

i really hope thats me a year from now showing others how well ive done.

Yeah sure! I did this by limiting myself to around 1800 calories per day (1000 deficit). Your deficits probably won't allow this much because I was kind of a big boy :)

A typical breakfast: Kashi Go Lean! cereal and soy milk or a bowl of high fiber oatmeal made with skim milk, wheat toast, and a class of fruit juice.

Snacks: apples, honey/oat granola bars, baby carrots, lowfat yogurt, red grapes, bananas

A typical lunch: turkey or ham sandwich on wheat bread with swiss cheese and mustard, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers...any other veggies I felt like, or a broccoli/spinach salad with lowfat ranch dressing, baked potato crisps or sun chips.

Dinner: anything reasonable as long as it wasn't blatanty in violation of calorie restrictions (I eat at my university union, so I'd eat things like steamed rice/vegetables, salads, some type of cooked meat, etc).

Every day I kept up with taking my multivitamin and on days when I exercised I would make a whey protein shake.

Workouts:

I ran my butt off! Started out just running as much as I could until failure. Probably couldn't taken it a lot easier than I did. I also played a lot of basketball and went swimming often.

The other important part was weight training! Train it all! Arms (biceps, triceps, forearms, shoulders), back, abs, obliques, legs... do squats, exercise ball, etc. Mix it up -- I didn't have a personal trainer or a specific plan or anything like that, I just made sure to get a total body workout as efficiently as possible in an hour's time. I believe weight training is crucial to fat loss though and I'm glad I didn't get the "cardio only" disease I've been hearing about.

If you have any more questions please feel free to ask!

Wow, you look absolutely FANTASTIC. 179 really sits well on you; good for you for listening to your body (your instincts are much more valuable than any online calculator.) Congratulations on all your achievements, and good luck with your half marathon!

Wow, what an amazing difference! You look great, good work. I agree with you, and think you look absolutely fine at the weight you are now.

CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS!!!! young man :) very good job. Now you make me look forward to my march 1 year anniversary :) Your pics are crazy lol. You look like your 15 or so not 20, weight loss will do that though. Anyhow, stay safe and again congrats, hope you stay around and give some advice to the newbies :)

(I think I may have the cardio disease lol, I weight train in for what I think is enough but its definately not enough...Im worried that Ill look too muscular which does easily happen for my body type....squats are great though)

Way to go! Congratulations on making such a major life transformation at such a young age - you must feel fantastic. You don't look like you need to loose any more weight - muscle weighs more so you likely have more muscle than the standard calculations are assuming.

Good luck on your first half marathon!!

What a fabulous boost of motivation! 

It just goes to show that you don't need anything fancy to be fabulous!  My son is also a big boy for his age(almost 16 and weighs 200 lbs.) but so am I.  I realize that through the years, he has gone up and down a bit and now I am getting concerned...not only for him but also for his sister and myself.  My husband can eat anything and basically stay thin.  He's put on some meat lately because he doesn't work out...none of us do actually.  So, it is my hope that I can somehow inspire a bit of motivation in our children and I believe your story is just what we needed to see!! 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR STORY AND CONGRATULATIONS!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! You look great!

You look so healthy and amazing now! you should be so proud of yourself! congratulations! now go show it off!

Happy Anniversary!!!

:) It's great when you come to terms with the fact that you might not necessarly need to weigh the "ideal" weigh this website gives you. You've gained SO much health, now let your body rest at this new weight and keep treating it with respect.

Great photos!

Wow - you look great.  Your confidence really shines through in your 'after' shots.  Way to go! :)

Good on you! Thanks for the inspiration!

Carol

Wow. You look a billion percent better, this is really motivating : )

Thanks for posting this and good job and all that

wow, what a hottie! :) you look fantastic! Way to go! and I say listen to your body, everyone is different and we'd all be better off just being healthy and not listening to what other people tell us we should look like. Numbers don't really mean anything.

Original Post by getfreejewelry:

What a fabulous boost of motivation! 

It just goes to show that you don't need anything fancy to be fabulous!  My son is also a big boy for his age(almost 16 and weighs 200 lbs.) but so am I.  I realize that through the years, he has gone up and down a bit and now I am getting concerned...not only for him but also for his sister and myself.  My husband can eat anything and basically stay thin.  He's put on some meat lately because he doesn't work out...none of us do actually.  So, it is my hope that I can somehow inspire a bit of motivation in our children and I believe your story is just what we needed to see!! 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR STORY AND CONGRATULATIONS!!

Go for the gold, never say never, etc etc! That's really the mindset you have to adopt to make it work. Rigorous dedication and willpower will get'cha there.

And yeah I agree with everyone when ya'll say that "numbers aren't everything." My next and final goal is to get down to about 175 ("healthy" BMI) and then it's pure maintenance from there on. I'd sure like to tone up the midsection, but I've got many many years ahead of me to do that. Certainly no rush :)

The #3 after pic (my profile pic) still makes me smile. That shirt is so big on me and only a year ago I used to feel self-conscious about wearing it because it fit so tight. I love this website!

Rock on, CC'ers.

Congratulations! What you have accomplished is so amazing and inspirational. You will always have this experience as something you thought was impossible when you started and it ended up being not so bad in the end... I agree with stopping at your current weight, your body definitely knows!

WOW!! i think you look A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! good call on staying the weight you are now though.. i think the way your body is shaped you should deff not lose anymore because you look really healthy now!!