So 8 months ago I started a low carb diet, weighing in at 442 lbs...
My original aim was to reach 17 st and lose 204 lbs in those 8 months and this morning, on my final weigh-in for this part of my weight loss, I weighed in at 248 lbs - 10lbs above what I'd hoped to achieve, making a total loss of 194 lbs.
I'm not disappointed or annoyed for not reaching my goal though, because my doctor believes I have in the region of 25-30 lbs of excess skin on me at the moment, which when taken into consideration, means I weigh approximately 16 st or lighter.
I still have tonnes of work to do in terms of losing weight, rebuilding muscle, then preparing for surgery for the loose skin, but today marks a milestone for me. I'm about half the man I used to be =p

Well guys, today is my birthday, so I'm going to enjoy a few beers and a curry with my friends tonight, I'll post a picture today of what I look like for you all to see =]
Good luck to everyone out there working towards a goal.
Kick life in the face and make no excuses for not being awesome =D

here is my original thread from December when I joined this site
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=448593

Picture of me at the end of the diet
http://forum.lowcarber.org/gallery/...age.php?i=36284





- 4 months on -

So 4 months on from my Low carb Journey and I can honestly say I know more about my body now than I ever did before or during The diet.

After My low Carb diet and brief spell of eating junk food, I put on about 10 lbs - of which most of it was water retention.

Since then, I've had a 6 week spell of a balanced diet (I.e. plenty of soup and veg and chicken, milk etc) and I stayed at about 4 lbs over my finishing weight from the low carb diet.
I used these 6 weeks to give my muscles a BREAK, which severely shrank due to how I approached my Low carb diet (less than 5g of carbs a day)

After these 6 weeks I began dieting again, only this time it wasn't a low carb diet.

I started of the morning with 500ml of semi skimmed milk and whey protein powder, then I'd swim 3-4km or so in about an hour, then immediately have another 500ml of semi skimmed milk and whey protein powder.
For lunch, I'd have 200g of chicken and 2 cups of whole wheat pasta - Half of which at 11am, the other half at 2pm
and for dinner I would have 2 cups of whole wheat pasta plain.

This made my muscle recovery accelerate and regain all the muscle I'd lost from low carbing (See my photo's of my arms)
http://forum.lowcarber.org/gallery/....php?i=36397&c= and now I'm consistently weighing in at 10 lbs under my finishing low carb diet weight, but with all the muscle I had lost, my excess skin had worsened.

Now, 53 weeks from the start of my diet I am awaiting the first of 3 operations to remove excess skin, which is less than 2 weeks away In Brno, Czech Republic.

After Consultations with several Surgeons, It was concluded that I have between 40-50 lbs of excess skin.... now If you take even the lower of those 2 figures, that puts me at around 185 lbs.... which is Ideal for my height / build.

The reason I selected to do it in Brno is mainly the Price - the surgeon and facilities are great over there too.

But all 3 operations over here would cost in the region of £22500+
and over there, including hotels and flights it's about £10500...

For me, there is no comparison =]

So this time in 2 weeks, I'll have had the skin on my chest and arms removed.

Second operation is going to be in around February on my tummy
Third is in around May, which will be on my back and legs.

Then, once I've healed, I can finally start training to play Rugby again and take up MMA like I've always wanted to.

I'll post updates whilst I'm over there and pictures so people will know what it's like to have skin removal surgery done.

Regards =]

James x

Happy Brithday and Huge congrats on your impressive weight loss.
Keep it up and enjoy your curry