Looking back at photos & my weight loss journey

It's amazing how a simple photo can transport you back in time. It is almost a cliche moment that is frequently used in movies and television. The character finds an old photograph of themselves or of a long lost family or friend. The character flashes back to that moment in time. We've seen it many times.

A while back, I was looking for some old photographs of my bicycles. I was looking to upgrade my clydeswimmer web site and have the photos handy for posting on social media and on the Bike Forums. I wasn't sure of the date, as the age of these photos weren't correct, as they would have been either scanned from a print or taken with an old digital camera or one of my first cell phones.

As I going through my bicycle photos, I came across a few photographs of myself that I hadn't seen in a long time. I don't know how accurate my guesses were for the years, but I found these three photographs of myself, either on the bike or, in the case of the last one, taking a break during a ride on a bike trail.

2010

2010

2011

At this point in my life, about 13-14 years ago, I was probably around my heaviest, somewhere on the low side of 400 lbs. In that time period, I had hit my peak weight at 420 lbs. I was struggling with so many things in my life and my health was one of them. A few years earlier, I had purchased that bike on eBay for the purpose of getting back into riding and getting healthier.

By the way, that bike is my 1997 Klein Pulse Pro. As I mentioned earlier, this bike I found on eBay. I was looking for a sturdy bike that I felt could make me feel safe and get me down the road. I would ride her off and on for many years, but she was temporarily retired when I built the Cannondale M700.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. The thing that struck me about these photos was looking at me back then. It is quite rewarding to see how much weight I've lost and how you can see some of the progress in these photos, even with the over-sized clothing.

I need to make a commitment to myself to revisit these old photos and remind myself about where I started and how much progress I've made. Hopefully it will help when I get to those weight loss plateaus.