A year ago, as a 50-yr old overweight man, I broke two ribs in a stupid cycling accident while I was riding a bike in Capetown. This was just one more incident in a series of health related wake-up calls that I had received over the past 20 years. The first was being diagnosed as a diabetic when I turned 30.

I have fought being fat since childhood with little long-term success - I swung between being slightly overweight to obese. This was inspite of being a very active person having participated in many sports, run multiple marathons, cycled long distances, etc.

So, when it came to my body weight, the fat around my middle or my diabetes, I readily transferred responsibility to my ancestors and blamed my genes. I felt that there was nothing that I could do about it.

I don’t know if it was continuous pain that I felt with every breath I took with my broken ribs or just that I had reached a point of frustration with myself, I was extremely motivated to lose weight, lose fat and get control of my diabetes.

A friend of mine suggested that I speak with Rahul and see if I could make a lasting change. Whether it was my motivation to make a lasting change or Rahul’s method of making me take responsibility for what I put in my mouth every day, I started seeing the results that I had been chasing all my life.

While I followed Rahul’s regimen for the first three months, I have sustained most of the eating habits change for the following nine months in spite of extensive travel, social pressures and my sweet tooth which succumbs easily when a favourite dessert is in front of me.

The result - I have been losing an average of 1/2 kilo of body weight/month over the past nine months with most of this in fat loss around my middle. Over the 12 month period, I have lost ~ 8kg, ~6” around the fattest part of my belly and ~4” in my pant waist size.

I am now similar to how I looked at 21 except for less hair which has started to grey. My diabetes which showed dramatic improvement initially still requires management but I need less medication. I have more energy most days and sleep well.

My goal is to get to “Normal” body weight (lose another 5-7kg) and “Normal” body fat levels (drop another 4-6%) while staying fit, strong and capable of running a 10k or longer distances, cycling for a couple hours or even just playing a round of golf. I hope to do this in the next twelve months. I will then get to the body weight and fitness that I had at age 17 when I won a Junior National Gold Medal in Rowing. I may even be less diabetic !!!

More importantly I have found a method that is sustainable with my life style and will hopefully help me live a healthier life through my 50’s & 60’s.

For many of you who may be in a similar situation as I was, don’t wait for the wake-up calls. Make the eating habit changes now and prevent chronic health problems. If you need help in doing this, meet with Rahul and see if this will work for you. It did for me.