Hi, my name is Jared, I am 26, from Whangarei. I started tracking my weight loss journey on 6 January, weighing 127kg. The heaviest I got to was 135kg. After going through a period of surgeries and medical misadventures, I had become very sedentary. I had also been a busy student training in a sedentary field, digital art (graphic design etc.). Today I am 95kg, and I am currently aiming for around 87, although I am assessing more off visual cues than numbers now.

I have tried to lose weight many times before but had always rebounded back. I think the main reasons why I was successful this time around was that I stayed within my physical limitations which helped me stay consistent.

The last time I tried to lose a lot of weight was at the start of 2018, I had lost 10kg in a matter of 8-10 weeks but fizzled out quickly as I was trying to jog, which was too high impact at the time. My mind was ready for change, but my body was not. I ended up having knee pain for the rest of the year and regained weight as I had to stop both jogging and going for walks.

This year, for the majority of the time, all I did was walk at a fast pace, almost every single day. I did have rest days to recover, as apart from my knees I suffered a herniated disc, an annular disc tear and a trapped nerve in my right arm.

No matter how much I wanted to start jogging, I refrained until I got down to around 100kg, before I began small periods of light jogging. I mostly walked the Hatea Loop in Whangarei for one to three laps, depending on how I felt.

The way I looked at exercise was - how much value could I get from a form of exercise, without causing harm or damage to myself? Also, finding a form of exercise which I enjoyed, and knew I could be consistent with was important. For me it was fast walking, but there are many other ways to work up a sweat without potentially any detrimental impact, such as swimming which I plan to do more of. 

I did have a gym membership, although I only started to properly use it once I had a better understanding of what I could and couldn’t handle, with the help of my physio James, who helped a great deal. He taught me how to strengthen my legs to be better equipped for jogging. He also showed me what exercise equipment I should use for weight loss and strength building, and what I should avoid doing with the injuries I have.

As I got lighter and stronger, stepping up the intensity was more realistic and safer. I also found the gym more enjoyable and rewarding once my fitness and core strength improved, as I felt I could get more value out of my visits.

I should say, activity definitely helps a lot when it comes to weight loss, but what I ate was also really important. Eating whole foods, which tend to be lower in energy density, more nutritious and more satiating, made losing the weight much easier as I wouldn’t feel hungry.

It still hasn’t quite hit me what a big change I’ve made. I am over the moon that I can enjoy physical activity a lot more now than before, and that I feel more physically capable. My health is better, I feel less fragile, my life-long bad asthma has been improving too. It’s quite exciting being able to breathe better.

I still have a lot more I need to do and learn, but each day of consistency gets you closer and closer to your goals, no matter how slow or small a change you make, it all counts.

I would like to thank Sport Northland for the continued encouragement and support this year too! I am hoping within the next six months to have a healed back and a freed trapped nerve so I can continue to remain active in other ways. If you are thinking about getting more into fitness, I would highly recommend it, I can’t stress it enough how life changing even the smallest of steps can be. Not even a year ago I was worried that I was on the verge of being “too far gone” but it’s never too late to make positive health and wellness changes.