Mohamed was overjoyed after the birth of his son. But there was one photo that would soon bring him crashing back down to Earth – causing him to make huge changes to his life.
The 34-year-old, from Failsworth, found he piled on the pounds after spending years in a desk-bound job. As his health and diet habits worsened, Mohamed, who asked that his surname wasn't used, quickly ballooned from 13 stone to 21 stone.
But it took just one picture for him to turn his lifestyle around for good. Shortly after his son was born, Mohamed and his family were taking photos in the hospital. When he was shown a photo of himself holding the tot, Mohamed was horrified by what he saw.
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“When my son was born we were in the hospital taking pictures of each of us holding him,” he said. “I saw the picture of myself holding him and I couldn’t recognise myself. I knew then that I had to make a change.”
Mohamed sought the help of a professional trainer and began his weight loss journey in February this year. He’s set himself a mission of losing 100lbs – or seven stone – and is so far five stone down.
“I am now in a position where I’m close to my year-end goals and have developed an increased interest in fitness,” Mohamed said. “I started this journey with the idea of returning to my previous ‘normal’ physical appearance. However, I now view this as only the start of the journey.”
Mohamed has so far managed to lose 70lbs by following a fitness plan and a whole food diet. His personal trainer Chris, who is based at Absolute Body Solutions in Manchester city centre, said: “Mohamed told me in our first session that he wanted to be in better shape for the second half of his 30s. After a long conversation about how that might look for him, we set out some hefty goals and milestones for the year ahead.
“We set a goal to drop over 100lbs in total over our time together, but by the end of 2022 we wanted Mohamed to have lost over 80lbs. As of writing this he has achieved an incredible drop of 70lbs and is well on track to hit his 80lbs goal by December. Next year I have no doubt we will cross the 100lbs mark, which will be such a moment for Mohamed.
“It has been tough at times for Mohamed but he’s pushed on regardless and he is continuously reaping the rewards of his hard work. At the very beginning we worked together to find an approach to his nutrition that worked well for him.
“This took some time, however, sometimes simple is better and we eventually landed on a wholefoods diet that prioritised protein and vegetables but still allowed him the flexibility to eat well with his family in the evenings by keeping in the foods they enjoy to eat together.”
Mohamed and Chris are now focused on their long-term goal of crossing that 100lbs lost mark. Absolute Body Solutions owner, Connor O’Brien, said of Mohamed’s results: “What Mohamed has achieved here with Chris is nothing short of life-changing. He has given everything to his training with us. Mohamed has been determined from day one to achieve the very best results he could and he has achieved this and more.
“We’re honoured that Mohamed has trusted us with this very personal goal and we look forward to working with him over the coming weeks and months to get him over the 100lbs mark.”
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