Igor's Weight Loss/Fitness project

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Side by Side:

Before Weight Loss -- May 2003 Florida Vacation -- 223 lbs

When I saw these pictures, I realized that my life was bad. My weight was 223 or 224 lbs, my BMI was 31. I had hypertension, heartburn, and my feet were very tired by the end of the evening. Pants size 38 barely fitting in.

I decided to change my lifestyle. Click here to see my approach to dieting and changing over to a healthier lifestyle.

Later note: I changed some of my dieting approaches later, as part of maintenance strategy.

During Weight Loss -- July 2003 -- circa 198 lbs

Weight down to 198, hypertension gone, no heartburn.

During Weight Loss -- August 23 -- only 5 lbs left to go.

I was at 185 lbs then, I started running, no health problems appeared, still no heartburn and no hypertension. When I was fat, I thought that my knees were bad due to 15 years of prior running. Now I run 35 minutes almost every day and my knees are doing great! Pants size 32.

After Weight Loss -- Sep 26 -- 176 lbs.

Weight loss done... I will still keep walking as I actually like it... I bought a climbing rope (1 inch braid-on-braid) and will practice rope climbing.

Update: today is June 1st, 2004. My weight is 173 lbs right today, I am still on a diet (maintaining my weight loss), doing some calisthenics every day and walking to train.

Spring 2004

A few pictures of me as of Spring 2004. I exercise mainly by walking 100 minutes per day, doing at least 30 pullups per day, and pushups.

Summer 2004

I added a few exercises, such as self-resistance exercises for legs (see this link ). Also lots of pullups and pushups. I also started deadlifts, starting with a puny 110 lbs weight and progressing (June 30) to 130 lbs.

Fall 2004

On Jul 20, I experimentally switched to a paleo diet, to see if I could maintain weight while being less hungry and thinking less about food. So, I discontinued eating grains and starches.

Exercise wise, I am up to 50 pushups per set and 12 pullups per set. Still walking to train every day

September 10 -- anniversary of my weight loss.

Weight a year ago: 178 (normal weight). Weight today -- 174. See this post for my reflections of that year. Read this post to see how I ran for one hour and 35 minutes while low carbing.

September 26 -- I ran a half marathon today, details here. I ran a half marathon in 2:08, while being on low carb.

March 10 -- 1.5 year anniversary of my weight loss.

Weight a year ago: 173.8 (normal weight). Weight today -- 173.6. Not much has changed compared to last september, except that I run much more.

June 1 -- 2nd Anniversary of start of my weight loss

Sep 2005 -- 2 years since reaching normal weight

This is a big milestone for me. Several authors classify people who kept weight off for two years, as successful dieters. It is nice to realize that, at this point and given my current diet, maintaining this weight is easy, as long as I stay away from carby foods. I can actually be busy with other interests, without thoughts about food interfering.