Before and after!

[rsslldnphy]

This week has been the first week this year that I've gained weight rather than lost, so to counteract that disappointing result with some positivity I thought I'd share a before and after photo to celebrate how far I've come already thanks to this community!

On the left is a not particularly flattering photo of me taken in Scotland over Christmas (when I weighed around 90kg), and on the right is a photo taken of me in the HealthUnlocked office last week, wearing a cardigan I borrowed from Vesa 😊. My last few weigh-ins have been around 77-78kg, so getting pretty close to my target of 73-75kg.

Thank you to everyone who has given me support and advice over the past weeks, especially to the brilliant admins and event hosts who work so tirelessly to make this community as good as it is. It's been great not only to lose weight but also to get first hand experience of how HealthUnlocked is used in ways we programmers never envisaged - the weekly weigh-ins being my favourite example. Such a great way to keep motivation! I look forward to shedding those last few kilograms and then sticking around with you all as a maintainer 😊.

Onwards and downwards!

[IndigoBlue61]

Woohoo!! 😊👏🎉. Go You!! fabulous achievement, very well done 😊

[IndigoBlue61 in reply to IndigoBlue61]

Ps I notice you’ve not locked your post, was that deliberate?

[rsslldnphy in reply to IndigoBlue61]

Not deliberate in that I didn't consciously think "I'm going to leave this post unlocked"! Just that in general I don't make any of my posts private unless they contain private information - and I usually avoid posting private information anyway.

I've found this community so valuable that I would hate for other people in similar situations to miss out on it. As we don't show private posts to logged out users at all (and that includes Google), the community would just look like an empty space if every single post was private: not very inviting at all, and impossible to come across if you're Googling for an answer either!

I realise that you often apply more stringent rules to a lot of the posts on this forum, but for my own posts I'd be much much happier to leave them public, as my motivation for taking part in the community is as much to help other people as to get help myself 😊.

[IndigoBlue61 in reply to rsslldnphy]

I though so but wanted to double check asit has you photo in it 😊

[rsslldnphy in reply to IndigoBlue61]

Ah, thank you, but that ship has sailed I think! I wasn't allowed to put a picture of a dog on the HealthUnlocked team page 😹healthunlocked.com/about/team

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone]

Very satisfying rsslldnphy , you must be so pleased with the results. And a good reminder that, when things don't go well, take time to look at your successes, not just the downsides.

Losing those final few kilos, you could cheat and have a shave

[rsslldnphy in reply to BridgeGirl]

Ahahaha that's a very good idea BridgeGirl !

[rsslldnphy in reply to rsslldnphy]

Although if you saw what I looked like clean-shaven you might think otherwise...

[rsslldnphy]

I just sent the link to this post to my mum and my sister and my sister replied to tell me I should stand up straighter! 😹😹😹

[BridgeGirl Administrator 2 stone in reply to rsslldnphy]

That's what sisters are for. I'm surprised your mum didn't tell you the same

[rsslldnphy in reply to BridgeGirl]

😹

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

((((((WOLF WHISTLE))))))

Go you!!

Do you think, that now you have 'insider' experience, it'll change the way you develop the site?

Btw, as a programmer, I'd have expected you to have perfected the art of tagging, but I keep having to edit your posts! Poor Vesa will never get to see her cardi 'in lights'

Keep up the great work, you're soooooooooo close to your goal!!

[rsslldnphy in reply to moreless]

Thanks moreless ! Yes it will definitely change the way I develop the site. I think the weigh-ins are a great example here too. When I first joined the community I was thinking "wouldn't it be good to have somewhere you could go and enter your weight in your profile so you could track it each week, to help make the weigh-ins easier".

But I was so wrong! The weigh-ins are so much more than just posting your weight loss stats. They're about the support and celebration of the other people on the thread, who congratulate you when things are going well and give you encouragement and advice when they're not. This is so so much more important than tracking a number. So if we were ever to try to build a feature to make tracking your health stats easier, it would be at the forefront of my mind to make sure we did it in a way that didn't detract from the real value of the community, which is other people.

Re: tagging... oops, sorry! 😬

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to rsslldnphy]

Fantastic!! I'm absolutely delighted!!!

We have in the past, discussed the possibility of a template, so that we can get pertinent details filled in, start weight, last weight, today's weight, loss/gain/maintain, but with the ability to still have the general chit chat/support, that's absolutely essential!

LOL! No probs!!

[rsslldnphy in reply to moreless]

Yes I was thinking along the same lines! A template for a post so you can get them to follow the same structure without getting in the way of the conversation. I thought about trying to do it myself at the weekend, but building the parts of a website you can actually see are not my strong suit - it would be a disaster 😹. I'm much more specialised in the heavy lifting that goes on invisibly in the background.

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to rsslldnphy]

I've barely mastered being able to post, so to me, you're all geniuses (geniii??)

It would be fab if something like it could be developed, between all of you

[Vesa]

This has confirmed my suspicions that the cardigan looks better on you Russell!

Very well done on your hard work so far!

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to Vesa]

LOL!!!

[Florys]

WOW....! So visible !

Well done and be proud of your achievement! You deserved it !!!

[rsslldnphy in reply to Florys]

😊

[sloanranger55]

Yeah, looking good. Very well done and fabulous inspiration x

[Bong1968]

Great achievement and you look happy and well!

[Zest Healthy BMI]

Wow, rsslldnphy - fantastic! Great to see your before and after photos, showing your progress - you're looking good!

Good luck with shedding the final few kilograms - and looking forward to having you join the Maintainer's after that!

Onwards and downwards!

Zest

[rsslldnphy]

yes absolutely... it's been a bit of a disaster diet-wise this week!

[elliebath Maintainer]

You have done brilliantly and it is so good to see one of the HU team "in the flesh", as it were !!

Btw, liking the cardi ..,

[rsslldnphy in reply to elliebath]

😹thank you elliebath ! yes i'm quite partial to the cardigan myself 😊.

[elliebath Maintainer in reply to rsslldnphy]

You have youth on your side. I bought one recently for my old man... problem is, he IS an old man, so the cardi unfortunately makes him look moreso. Hey ho.