For those who know me well over a long period of time, they know I’ve always had weight issues throughout my adult life. I’ve partied a lot over the years, struggled with diet, alcohol, irregular sleep, and an unhealthy lifestyle. What can I say? I love having fun!
Additionally, being in business for myself across multiple businesses and freelance jobs for the better part of 25 years has contributed greatly to my weight gain. I’ve managed to lose a lot of weight at times, only to relax and put it back on straight after.
This is in stark contrast to growing up, where I was usually the runt of the class, being one of the smallest and thinnest. I played competitive junior representative cricket, then Churches state cricket for 10 years or so until my late 20’s.
Aside from my obsession for cricket, I was always into doing weights, long distance running, rugby league, tennis, golf and basketball (at various skill levels), so I was always moving, and always at the gym doing weight training. This doesn’t sound like the type of upbringing of someone who would end up overweight.
In 2005, I married the love of my life Fiona, and we’ve got have 2 amazing children, Cayden is 12 and Madison is 9. Looking back, this is really where things began to change incrementally, over time. When I started my own business in 2003 at the age of 24, and essentially fell in love with the rock n roll lifestyle so to speak, I soon after at the 2006 national Churches Cricket championships in Adelaide, played what would be my last competitive games of cricket.
Over the last 5 years there has been some major change in my life, I closed my studio business of around 14 years, and just when I thought I could make a fresh start, Covid-19 happened and the world changed. Everyone remembers those first 3 months or so of Covid-19 in 2020 where we were being told the world was gonna end, you would die if you went outside your house, and we were all to just stay inside and hibernate for an unknown period of time. During this time I packed on the weight, sat at my computer, ate and drank all day every day, and I have to admit I used the ‘pandemic’ excuse to do so.
I ended up at 138kg by November 2020, and decided I had to make a change. And change i did! I totally changed my eating habits, went totally dry on alcohol, walked 10k steps a day minimum, and was in the gym and sauna literally every day of the week. Within 3 months I was down to 110 kg and feeling great. 2021 stagnated for me a bit, as the world opened up, and vaccines started rolling out, I wasn’t putting on weight, but I was finding it hard to go further and lose more, probably cause I relaxed, got complacent and started eating and drinking again.
I did react quite badly to the second covid jab, which gave me a terrible dose of bronchitis, was coughing all the time, and couldn’t exercise. Everything my doctor prescribed didn’t work, and I had to simply wait for it to go away all by itself, which didn’t happen til November 2021, extremely frustrating. by this time, I had gotten out of my good habits, and when I did train, I seemed to get injured all the time.
2022 I spent focusing on my studies, getting back into freelancing my services, and trying to get consistent money rolling in. In that process I really lost the motivation to look after myself, similar to when i was in business pre 2020. I seem to not be able to focus heavily on more than one major thing.
Fast forward to July 2025 and I’ve been in the same rut. I’m now back to 138 kg, which is basically where I began back in 2020, and I guess I’ve finally reached that point again where I need to do something drastic to get the weight off and realise my goal of 90kg.
My wife fiona has a life long and great friend Merran, whom I’ve known over the years through her, and I’ve always been aware she is a keen gym junkie, struggles with weight issues of her own (prob not to the degree I do) but we got talking at a bqq back in 2023, about getting back into shape again, and that perhaps we could do it together. Internally I wasn’t that keen, and had to battle myself a little but I am a bit of a yes man, so I said yes, and start training again. Very glad I did.
S
So enough self loathing, it’s time to change. I do have all the knowledge to lose weight, I’ve done it before many times, and despite the weight loss industry trying to over complicate it, its relatively simple. I’m no dietician or exercise physiologist, but all you need to do is eat unprocessed meats, salad and veggies, get enough protein and carbs, and drink stacks of water.. If you do all that and start moving around, walk lots, work out, and get decent regular sleep, your body has no option but to start using fat stores for energy and you’ll get smaller.
My goals are to reach 90 kgs which is around 45kgs, a tough ask, but I I know can do it, 1 kg at a time. I’ve done it before, and can do it again.. It won’t be easy, it’ll be uncomfortable, painful, and I will have to sacrifice much time in order to achieve it. I will be walking at least 10,000 steps per day with a planned walk, and will be working out, with high intensity at least 3-4 times per week for a minimum of 45 mins per session. To go along with this, I will be in the sauna for 20-30 minutes per day, usually after a workout, but also on rest days which I find really helps with recovery.
I must get back to my former self, at least in the looks department, and make my wife, kids and friends, and most of all MYSELF to be proud of me again. Below I will post a number of pics and videos from my journey and keep the updates coming! Sorry for the long blog post, I needed to get my thoughts out on the table so I can move on and get this done! My Fight Starts Now!
It’s amazing how you’re body responds when you give it a chance.
Lets Create 