How i lost 24 pounds in 12 weeks!

My weight gain/weight loss story started at the age of 18 when i left home and went to university. Within a 2 year period i ballooned from a size 8-10 to a size 14-16. My initial weight was 7 stone and 10 pounds and at my heaviest i weighed 11 stone and 8 pounds. So what was the main culprit? Well it was a combination of things. The main thing was living on a diet of large quantities of pasta, (as many students do) eating my main meal late at night which inevitably meant skipping breakfast (due to not feeling in anyway hungry) and drinking around 1.5 litres of concentrated juice every day which needless to say caused havoc with my blood sugar levels making it near in impossible to lose any weight. I managed to gain a whopping 3 stone and 12 pounds within two years. I remember seriously thinking and believing that i wasn't overeating and that i was just meant to be that weight - it was my natural adult weight afterall most of my dads side of the family who i take off were overweight and therefore i just had to accept it. However, after saying this to myself at 9 stone, 9 and a half stone, 10 stone and every other half a stone, i realised i could be saying it forever. So at 11 stone 8 when the scales had finally tipped over that 11 and a half stone mark which i had always promised myself i wouldn't go over. I decided i had to make some radical changes to my lifestyle (eating habits and exercise).

As most people desperate to lose weight do i started off with extreme dieting. Not knowing how to control my cravings i started the first few days of my diet off by eating just white bread. I think i lost a couple of pounds doing this but i felt pretty miserable and soon fell ill due to not getting all the right nutrients to keep me fit and healthy. So i decided to ditch this diet and go for a low carb diet which i'd heard about. Normally, when people are gaining weight i believe the balance in their diets is just tipped and it's often the food group they are eating most of which is the culprit and just needs to be replaced by another food to bring the balance back. As my diet was heavily loaded with refined carbs i opted to up the protein and the fat and lessen the carbs and the amount of sugar i was consuming. Within days i felt like a new person i started to lose that tired sluggish drained of energy feeling that i used to so often get after lunch and was therefore able to do more exercise (even if it was only walking) and by cutting down on my carbs and my portion sizes i no longer craved the amount of sugar i was used to having. So basically my weight loss success was down to a combination of bringing the balance back to my diet by identifying what food groups i was having too much of and portion control. I believe humans work best on the 'alot of a little' approach to eating. 3-5 small meals spread evenly throughout the day to keep sugar levels at an optimum level for energy and your digestive system and metabolic rate at their best.

I like the fact that i'm still curvy but i still need to lose about 10 pounds to be in my best physical shape and as my weight has plateaued the only way i believe i can do this is by using weights which inevitably means going to the gym (needless to say why i haven't yet started this part of my regime!) but i am determined to get down to 106 pounds so i will make sure i do this and when i do i will then upload my final 'after photo'.

Since writing the above i have gone on to lose a further 6 pounds (only 4 pounds off my target!!!) Will upload some more pictures soon.