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15th May 2010 - The Story So Far:

After the last Christmas break my weight had reached a scary 20 stone 3 pounds. I started a weight loss progarmme on Saturday 16th January, with the aim of losing 60 pounds this year (about 5 pounds per month).

I've managed to lose an average 15 pounds per month so far and reached my 2010 target on Saturday 15th May, having lost exactly 60 pounds in only four months!

So, I'm now 15 stone 13 pounds and I want to lose more weight, but it's getting harder all the time. I've set up this JustGiving page to enable friends / family / colleagues to sponsor me to lose the next 3 stone. It's a tall order, so please give generously. Your donation will help a very deserving charity and will give me the added motivation I need to stick to my programme.

Why have I picked Cancer Research UK? For my wife, Yvonne, who is a cancer survivor and in memory of a friend and colleague, Polly, and my uncle, Danny, who have both been taken from us before their time in the last few years as a result of cancer.

Cancer Research UK is the world's leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research. Their groundbreaking work has saved millions of lives and your donation will help them to save more.

23rd May 2010 - Update:

Wow! Thank you all so much for your incredible genorosity. One week into the challenge and I've already been sponsored for £496! That brings me within a whisker of my original £500 target. So I'm being optimistic and increasing my target to £600.

The other good news is that I lost 5.2 pounds this week - only 36.8 to go!

31st May 2010 - Update:

Another great week. I'm up to £630 now - so I've raised my target to £700. Ever the optimist! I lost 3.8 pounds this week - that's 9 pounds so far, 33 to go!

13th June 2010 - Update:

Two weeks since last update. I'm humbled by the level of generosity shown - I've now raised just over £900, so I've increased the target to £1000. If I can get there, Sellafield Ltd will hopefully add £200 of match funding!

I've lost 10.6 pounds in the last fortnight. I'm really pleased with my rate of weight loss - it's much higher than I expected at this stage of my plan. I have to say that a large source of motivation has been the incredible sponsorship and general encouragement from friends, family and colleagues. Thank you to all of you.

So, I've got 22.4 lbs left to lose for this sponsored weight loss part of my plan. In total, so far, I've lost 79.6 lbs (5 st 9.6 lbs or 36.1 kg) since the 16th January. I've lost 10 inches off my waist and 2.5 inches off my collar size. Also, my cholesterol has come down from 6.5 mmol/l in March 2008 to 4.42 last week. Needless to say, I feel much better!

27th June 2010 - Update:

Another two weeks since last update. My last appeal for more sponsorship has raised my total to an absolutley incredible £1250! Thank you so much everybody. I've lost 8.8 pounds since my last update, so still doing well. Just less than a stone to go before I'll be collecting the money in!

30th July 2010 - Update:

Yippee!!!

I've reached my sponsored weight target. I wanted to lose 3 stone to get to 12 stone 13 pounds (181 lbs). Today I was 12 stone 10 pounds (178 lbs). Hurrah!

Some statistics:

- a total weight loss of 7 stone 7 pounds (105 lbs) since 16th January;

- 16 inches off my waist (50" down to 34");

- 3.5" off my collar (18.5" down to 15");

- my cholesterol has dropped to 4.42 (from 6.5);

- my blood pressure is down to 106/66;

- my resting heart rate is down from 68 to 56;

- my body fat is down from almost 40% to 17.8%

Many thanks for your constant encouragement, it has truly helped me to stay focussed and stick to my weight loss programme.