BodyBlitz Challenge Measurements Before Height – 167.5 cm Weight – 80.7 kg Chest – 94 cm Waist – 80 cm Calves – 39 cm Arms – 33 cm Thighs – 53 cm After Height – 167.5 cm Weight – 76.2 kg Chest – 96.5 cm Waist – 75 cm Calves – 40 cm Arms – 30.5 cm Thighs – 53cm

I grew up an active kid. Being an only child, my parents encouraged me to get involved with team sports. Growing up, I’ve never had to think about exercise as something ‘extra’ I had to do, as my interests centred around sport anyway. When I wasn’t playing football or doing karate, I was surfing and riding my bike in my spare time. I moved away from the coast when my wife accepted a job in the alpine region. I was looking forward to a change, as her contract was for three years, with the intention of moving back when it finished.

Initially, things worked out well for me; I found a permanent job and for a while everything was exciting and new. Although it wasn’t long before feelings of missing home and the lifestyle I’d known for so long started a steady slide down into what I later realised to be depression. We stayed longer than three years, and my feelings of helplessness grew as I struggled to accept the fact that we were living in a place away from my passions and the rest of my family. I made a lot of bad lifestyle choices — and being a pastry chef didn’t help! My weight, which I had never had to watch before, slowly began to increase.

When our daughter was born, we began to read about how children use methods such as thumb sucking and special objects to suppress their emotions when they do not feel safe to express them. These then become control patterns that are repeated when feelings surface as a way to suppress what is going on inside. This got me thinking about the emotions that I had been suppressing in my life with alcohol, smoking and eating. I began to pray and reflect, to try and find the cause of how I ended up overweight and unhappy with my life.

Now I’m not saying I have solved all the issues in my life, but with God’s help, I have started to accept and change the things I can in my life. As I started to deal with things and make some changes, I found I was happier with myself.

I watched my wife pick up running and enter fun runs, and I saw that she became happier as she lost weight. I had never really liked running but thought I’d join her purely as a way to start losing weight, and I found that I enjoyed it. We trained together and I entered my first fun run — a half marathon!

At the same time, she was also going to the gym, Jenfit, building her strength through weight training. I’d tried the gym in the past, but without encouragement I had never maintained my commitment. [Personal trainer] Jenny and [my wife] Bree changed that, helping me build muscle and my weight started to drop. I lost 9 kg and then Jenny, a former BodyBlitz winner, mentioned the BodyBlitz 12-week challenge to help shift the extra kilos I wanted to lose. I thought, what a great incentive to motivate me. Fitness is now an important part of my life again, and I enjoy all the benefits of healthy eating and exercise. IM