If a Picture Paints a Thousand Words...

...then why can't I just run my bod through Photoshop?  I promised before and current pictures at certain points along the weigh (sorry...sucker for a good pun).  So, being true to my word, here are some images.  This is a testament to the brutal honesty of this blog.  I hate all of these pictures.  In any other arena I'd have them deleted or burned and the photographer boiled in oil.  But since fried foods are out of my repertoire, here you go.  I used to joke that camera adds ten pounds or so and that my pictures were obviously taken with at least ten cameras.  I'm still not comfortable with looking at images of myself, but I do see vast improvement.  I'll try to focus on that positive side of things.  

This picture (left) was taken back in October of 2011 when, to the best of my estimation, I weighed around 370 lbs.  I know I must've had a few beers in me at the time, because not only did I allow it to be taken, but I am smiling to boot.  To the immediate right is a picture taken today by my lovely wife Tabitha.  Same clothes and the same approximate pose.  I'm keeping the clothes to pose in at minus 100 lbs. and goal weight.  Just for the record, the shirt is a 5X and the jeans are size 60" waste.  Even the size 60's were kind of snug back then.   I'm in mostly 3X these days and a size 54" pant, although some of those are a little loose.

I have to wonder if I will ever be all that comfortable looking at pictures of myself.  It's apparent to me that I have some faulty filter in my brain that shields me from actuality, until I see it in front of me that is.  Even at my heaviest of 483.5 lbs. I didn't see myself as big as I was.  On the rare occasion that someone did catch me on film (you see more pictures of Yetis than Mike circa 2000), my first reaction was always "I don't really look like that, do I?"  We will see if there will come a day when I don't feel compelled to tell the person behind the lens to "Shoot me from the shoulders up, would ya?"


Cya tomorrow and thanks for all of the congratulatory FB messages,
M


What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Egg Mikemuffin: 1 egg w/red bell pepper, onion and 1 chicken breakfast sausage on a multi-grain deli flat
Lunch ~ Homemade brown rice jambalaya (recipe soon)
Dinner ~ Sauteed mixed greens (kale, chard, spinach and more) with cannellini beans, topped with pan seared tilapia
Exercise ~ 30 minutes on the treadmill 
*Full disclosure: I never made it on the treadmill last night as reported. Shame shame shame...