How a Photo Gave Tommy the Will to Lose More Than 30 Kilos

In this success story, Tommy Bley from Erfurt talks about his amazing weight loss. The now 27-year-old decided to transform his life from one day to the next.

“I always weighed a few kilos too many. But I was also really into training – I used to do a lot of sports, especially weight training. After my girlfriend and I broke up, I started going to the gym again on a regular basis. I was lifting more weight than ever and attributed my weight gain to doing more exercise and building muscle. I also tried to ignore the fact that I was eating more and more food every day and consuming a good deal of beer and cocktails. Most of the time, I tried to avoid photos that weren’t just headshots. But on the night of December 23 a photo was taken that really shocked me…

When I saw the photo the next morning, it really got me thinking. I decided to turn my life around right there and then.

I cancelled my gym membership because I realized that this was where all my problems started. My new plan was no longer to pack on as much muscle as possible, but to shed excess weight. I turned my diet upside down. I did tons of research on the internet, looked for mistakes in my eating habits and learned a lot about the importance of calories. But it’s not enough simply to say that you are going to watch your calories. Light products (containing aspartame) are sometimes just as bad for you as fast food. All that was missing at this point was the right motivation to get me running: This is where Runtastic came in. A friend showed me the Runtastic GPS Running app and I was hooked right from the start. Even though my first few runs were pretty tough, my steady progress pushed me further and further. Seeing my improvement from run to run (be it speed, distance or elevation gain) motivated me so much that I wanted more and more. Before long I was addicted to running and the pounds just started melting off! 🙂

I was even able to inspire my coworkers to go running with me. And so it happened that I organized my company’s participation in the Erfurter-Unternehmenslauf (Erfurt Business Run) in 2014 and 2015. I am confident that even more colleagues will join us this year.

Also, I haven’t lifted a weight at the gym since to keep from falling back into bad habits. I am a firm believer that the only fitness device you need is your own body. That’s why, in addition to my running, I also do workouts with my own body weight on a regular basis.

Finally, I even bought a Runtastic GPS Watch and heart rate monitor since I am currently training for a half- or even perhaps a full marathon.

Today I feel great in my own body! And I’m convinced that everybody can make this transformation. All you have to do is finally take a good look in the mirror and stop lying to yourself.”

Yours,
Tommy

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