Graham lost over 2st in Just 3 Months!

Graham, Age 53, Height 5'7"

	Weight	Waist Size
Start	13 stone 7 lb (86kg)	40 inches (99cm)
Current	11 stone 4 lb (72kg)	36 inches (92cm)
Graham's Lost	2 stone 3 lb (14kg)	4 inches (7cm)
Time Taken	3 months

A bit about me and my lifestyle...

I’m 53 years old and I’m a Chartered Surveyor by profession. I started my working life as a Quantity Surveyor working for Wimpey Construction in the North West of England.

I left the UK in 1995 when I transferred internally to a project in Dubai, which I was told would be a 6 to 12-month assignment. Anyway, 26 years later I’m still living in Dubai and now married with 2 children (son aged 4 and daughter aged 2).

My wife is from the Philippines, and both our children have dual British/Filipino nationality. I’m also a permanent resident of the Philippines which is where we have our main family home and where I intend to retire, hopefully within the next 10-years!

Dubai is an easy place to live and has a very westernised outlook, with plenty of bars, restaurants and night clubs. It’s famous for it’s long Friday brunches...

"it’s very easy to put weight on here with too much food and wine readily available."

This is particularly so if your job involves you sitting behind a desk for 11 hours a day, as mine does.

Working hours here are longer and with a young family waiting at home, I have limited time available for keeping active.

This isn’t helped by the fact that daytime temperatures are over 40 degrees for 5 or 6 months of the year!

I’m a keen golfer and play all year round, despite the heat, and I also enjoy cycling... even though that involves getting up at 5am so that I can get 30km before heading off on the school run.

How I've tried to lose weight in the past...

I’m not really into what I call ‘fad-diets’, as I like my food and drink too much and enjoy the social life here in Dubai.

"I do recall trying the Atkins diet once, but it didn’t work for me, having to cut out certain food groups."

I struggle to lose weight when I have to deprive myself of certain foods, and I particularly enjoy foods that are high in carbohydrates (bread and pasta etc) so it wasn’t really for me.

How my weight affected me...

Although I was overweight at 86kg (the healthy weight range for my age and height being 55kg to 73kg), it didn’t really affect my lifestyle. I didn’t look or feel particularly unhealthy and It was only when I had a full wellness medical last year and I found out that although my cholesterol was just within acceptable limits, I did have high triglycerides.

I suffer from ‘white coat’ hypertension so the medical also involved an ambulatory blood test, where I had to wear a monitor for 24-hours and this confirmed normal blood pressure over the test period, despite the excess weight.

My motivation to lose weight...

My primary motivation to lose weight was based on medical advice following the wellness examination at the end of last year – doctor’s recommendation was a change of lifestyle, cutting down on alcohol and exercising more.

With a relatively young family, I need to be around for a while yet, and the dangers of heart disease and diabetes are particularly high being overweight and with a BMI of 29.

However, I was spurred on even more when it became clear that we would be facing a relatively long period at home due the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Our office closed in March 2020 and we began working from home, which meant even lower levels of daily activity."

I thought that if I continued with my current lifestyle and combined this with sitting at home all day, I would soon be pushing 90 kg so I decided to take action and make the change that the doctor had recommended.

"I also had a wardrobe of clothes that didn’t fit me anymore and I was determined to get back into some of my old golf outfits!"

How wlr helped me reach my goal...

I’ve always believed that losing weight is a simple equation: calorie intake must be less than calorie burn, and this combined with a moderate level of exercise should result in successful weight loss.

The only way I’ve been able to monitor this successfully is by using a food diary and calculating calorie consumption, together with my fitness watch where I can track calorie burn.

This led me to WLR... I find that being able to record and monitor calorie intake and calorie burn using the WLR website makes it easier to lose weight.

"I’ve certainly become more aware of what a regular sized food portion now looks like and how much we tend to over-eat."

I set my initial goal to drop my weight to the top of my healthy weight range, 73Kg. Using Weight Loss Resources enabled me to achieve that goal within 3-months, losing weight at the recommended weekly rate.

I then decided to see if I could maintain that weight for about 4-weeks and as I’ve become more aware of how many calories are in certain foods that I enjoy, and what the correct portion size is, I’ve found this relatively easy.

This change in lifestyle and a better understanding of how many calories are in the food that I’m eating has been invaluable in losing and maintaining my weight.

"And I’m still eating and drinking everything that I like!!"

I now plan to lose another 4kg and get down to the middle of my healthy weight range at 68kg.

The wlr tools that helped me the most...

I use the food diary daily to track my calorie intake and also add the additional calories from any exercise that I’ve done during the day.

I enjoy cooking all types of cuisine, and I’ve started entering the recipes I cook into wlr more often so that I can keep track of the calories when necessary.

The food database is the most invaluable part of WLR, and I particularly like the fact that it’s possible to enter nutritional information for food products not contained in the database...

This is useful as many of the filipino food products we use at home were not in the database and I would have struggled without this facility.

"The food diary is simple to use and makes it very easy to track and monitor calorie intake."

I’ve also found the assistance and support from the WLR team very helpful, particularly when I’ve tried to enter food products and there was an error in the nutritional information.

How I stayed motivated to keep losing weight...

I have to say that I’ve not really struggled with my weight loss journey, once I became accustomed to the size of food portions that I would need to eat to maintain the calorie intake, I found it relatively easy...

"I think this is due to the fact that I’ve been able to eat and drink whatever I like, just in smaller quantities, so I didn’t feel deprived of anything."

Monitoring weight changes and body dimensions on a weekly basis kept me motivated to achieve my goal.

How my life has changed since losing weight...

Since losing weight, I certainly feel a lot more healthy and have become more active.

My cycling performance has improved, and I’ve also experienced a noticeable difference in my golf swing with improved ball flight and distance.

I guess I can turn through the swing more easily without all the weight round my middle!

I started cycling more often to supplement my lifestyle change... I’m also cycling further and maintaining a relatively lower heart rate at similar speeds to before.

My personal weight loss benefits...

I’m certainly more confident with how I look and less conscious when we’re at the pool or on the beach at the weekends.

"I love the fact that I can wear my old clothes again and now have about 10 pairs of golf trousers that I can fit into again!"

It’s great to go into a shop and able to fit into small or medium sized clothes again, instead of heading for the large or extra-large shirts that were required previously to hide the weight!

My 'Top Tips' for losing weight

Don’t deprive yourself of anything...

Eat and drink everything in moderation and use the WLR food database and diary to track calorie intake for everything you eat...

Even if you go over your allowance on one or two days, using the diary can help you easily bring the week back on track.