A Year of Change

So, short and sweet:  This post is simply going to be a reflection / overview of some of the change I've been through over the past year (starting with a smidge before hand) - mostly physical, mostly pictorial -- A LOT of pictures, heads up, apologies for potential slow loading.  So enjoy!




Let's take things all the way back to April 2013 - when I FIRST started putting in any work on my health and well being.  I believe I was sitting around 238-245 area, around the time these pics were taken.  (I know I was sitting around 245 ish before I started changing up my eating habits, etc..)

  

Here's the only other picture I can find during that era - from October 2013:

April 2014 -- Screw it....lazy....etc...

Somewhere during 2014 or 2015 I started to develop the issues with my hands (this kind of explains the hands bit: https://2016.techrob99.me/2016/05/apparently-im-not-normal.html )  So Here's a pic from March 2015.

At this point, I've certainly started gaining weight back that I had initially lost - I was out of shape, etc..  I also was very much not in a happy space.

So let's fast forward to 2016.  First, I did blog a good portion of my progress and everything I went through back in 2016.  Yes, I fell out of practice with doing so, but it's mostly there.
( https://2016.techrob99.me/ )

Here are a couple pictures as I started my 2016 journey - in the middle is me at the gym putting in work. (yes, they're clickable if you want to make them larger...if you haven't figured that part out)

     

I was around the 230 area at the time.  Damn....so this is what a diet of rum/beer and calzones will do to ya.  Definitely had issues I was dealing with, but finally got motivated to make some changes.

Not that you can see a lot of change, but here's some images of May 2016 (down 15-18 lbs) on the left , and one from June 2016 on the right (down 20-23 lbs - from the above pics)

May 2016

June 2016

  

Okay....so here's the deal.... Summertime I got discontented, and dropped the ball for a bit... went from around 207 back up to 220 there abouts....  Fall came in and I got back in gear.  Managed to get my weight down to 184 in January / February 2017.  Then, the unhealthy relationship I was in got the better of me in every possible way - back to old bad habits.  Summer of 2017 I got into another relationship and that was nice.  Although, my weight slowly started going up - I was doing my best to stick with good eating habits , but wasn't completely on top of that.  At this point I figured I would do some "different things - I let my hair grow out (to see how it'd look, and to save money), and grew the beard out.

November 2017

     

The one in the green shirt, I think was the longest the beard got.  These pictures from March (green shirt), and May (the other two), 2018.

Well, I'm back working out at this point, and going balls to the walls and taking things very seriously.  No junk food, no alcohol, calisthenics at home, bike and eventually weights at the gym (weights didn't happen until late summer).  So, I'm working on about 217(?) and pushing things down... May 12, 2018 I was down to 207.5 .....2 weeks later I'm down to 203.3 ...finally could tie my hair back a bit too!

     

Above: May 23, 31, and June 8th - respectively.  At this point I'm feelin' pretty damn good!

(June 16th) Okay, I made a weight goal - time to trim the beard down.  I really had no idea it was as long as it was.  First pic, I was goofing around - I knew it wouldn't get nearly that long again, so I had to "pony tail it" , followed by freshly trimmed (hair down) ... and ending with out of the shower and cleaned up (technically the next day)

  

July 11th, I finally broke the 190 lb barrier!  Hit 189.2 to be exact. :)  .... No pictures, but a few days later on July 14th I took a few snaps, pretty sure it was after a nice long walk.  The fun part of that walk is you can see where evidence that the fat demons were not happy...

well, I got a good laugh at this....yes, those are sweat spots after a loooong walk

Here are a couple pictures I took afterwards, but before a shower - I like the look I have going in the first one....less than thrill about the gut (at the time I was stoked about everything though)

  

• July 17: 187.7 lbs
• July 19: 186.5 lbs
• July 24: 185.6 lbs

Speaking of July 24.......

     

I just want to take a moment and point out the bulge from my left side (see center pic) - it's noticeable in every picture (to me anyway), and just gets more pronounced as I lose weight...

Okay, so another weight goal met, and during my year of change comes another pretty big change.  My first tattoo - which carries some solid meaning to me, ultimately:  "Reach for the moon" ...4 pictures of that - first three are the stages of the tattoo:
1- the decal .. 2- the line work .. 3- filling it in.  ....4th pic is a 'mirror' pic - I only have the one tattoo (so far).

   

I want to take a moment and just say that this was an amazing experience!  Brit, the wonderful young lady that did the work, was amazing!  Yes, first time doing this, but she helped keep me calm and was - in my opinion - super gentle (hahahaha), and had a great sense of humor.  Afterwards, it was as she said:  like a gnarly sunburn  Otherwise, it wasn't bad at all.  Still love it.

• August 01: 183.7 lbs
• August 21: 179.8 lbs -- wooho!  Broke the 180 mark!

Here are some pics from August 23....

 

Oh yea!  Goal reached!  Time to shave clean! ....probably won't do this ever again for a really long time.... So just before I start, then 'pre-shave', and 'cleaned shave'...

   

Next up - Haircut time!

   

So on September 12  I managed to get down to 176.7 ... I believe that is the lowest I have recorded - and is most likely the lowest I've been since my Senior year in high school "You'll never be down to your high school weight" - ya'll , I was not exactly a small kid ....now my Junior year, I was down to 152.5 at my lowest - highly doubt I'll ever get near that though (I wasn't feeling good when I was).

Okay, so being low in weight, fresh off a 3 week vacation, time to continue the trend of new me....  These pictures are not the most flattering, but they're meant to show off the clothes a bit more than anything - even though the lighting doesn't show the colors correctly....

   

...yep...I typically wear a tie to work now....

Okay, September 27 was surgery time!  Getting that lump (lypoma) and several others removed!  First pic was day of, after I got home; first two side pictures were the next day, last two are the day after that...  "I got in a bar-fight ya'll" ...no, not really...but it should could pass as true :)

       

Okay...since that surgery, all of my habits and routines have been wrecked.  Well, mostly... Also it was during my healing period that the girlfriend (from Summer 2017) and I broke up.  Anyway, I've put on some weight since the surgery.....averaging between 183-186 ...considering it's been 3 months, and that's the worst of it?  I guess it's nothing to be super upset about.  I mean, I was legit sidelined for a couple weeks...  I'm working on slowly getting back into the grind of things, mostly because my "new me" threads are getting a bit snug and I can't stand tight clothes.

That sums up my year...roughly - from a personal standpoint.

October 29th - and the facial hair is back, and staying about there.

Just the other day, clowning around.