Forestville basketballer Adrian “AJ” Cheater loses 79kg and returns to state league action
ADRIAN “AJ” Cheater ballooned to 176kg within 12 months of quitting basketball in 2006 — now he’s back on the court after losing almost 80kg.
ADRIAN “AJ” Cheater ballooned to 176kg within 12 months of quitting Forestville Basketball Club in 2006.
Disillusioned with hoops after being dropped from the Eagles’ top under-20 team, Cheater soon put on about 65kg and became a junk food addict for the next three years.
No meal was too big for the former state junior basketballer, who once ate an entire chocolate Bavarian cake in one lunch sitting and a whole roast chicken during another.
“Two packets of mi goreng with half a bag of dim sims was a normal dinner and I’d easily have two cans of half-litre energy drinks most days,” Cheater recalls.
“If it couldn’t be microwaved or bought, I didn’t eat it.
“I got to 170kg in eight months … and was at that weight consistently for about a year.
“It’s scary looking back on it now.”
TELL US BELOW: Have you battled with a weight problem in the past and been inspired to overcome it?
Six years on, Cheater, 25, has returned to the Eagles at nearly half the size he once was — 97kg.
After a stunning physical turnaround, the 198cm forward is now a top-up player for Forestville’s men’s state league squad and franchisee of soon-to-open city-based gym, Snap Fitness.
The Fulham Gardens resident says receiving honest feedback about his weight for the first time was the wake-up call that sparked his dramatic lifestyle change.
“One of my wife’s friends hadn’t seen us for a while and made the comment straight out that ‘you guys have got really fat’.
“No one had said it before and I think that was the biggest problem.
“I had convinced myself I wasn’t a fat person.”
The next day Cheater went to an oval in Urrbrae, ran for 10 minutes then vomited and cried for 20 minutes after that.
“I found the only pair of sneakers I could find because I hadn’t used them in a while and tried to run.
“It was very emotional.”
Over the next two years, Cheater shed a whopping 80kg, falling below 100kg by 2010.
It came after he ditched schnitzels, takeaways and beer for a paleolithic diet, comprising mostly vegetables, fruit, chicken and nuts.
Cheater was also exercising regularly with a personal trainer and playing gridiron.
He eventually quit his IT job for the fitness industry.
“In IT, we were sitting on our bums most of the day, eating whatever and drinking energy drinks so that was one thing I tried to push myself away from.
“Every time I’d walk into a gym there’d always be happy people and people who are enthusiastic and driven, which was a culture I wanted to be around.”
Cheater’s lifestyle change culminated in a trip to Nepal to trek to the base camp of Mount Everest in 2012.
“That was my first reward for losing the weight and I wanted to treat myself to a challenging holiday.”
Cheater had thrown away all the basketball singlets and shorts he owned but was lured back to the sport after his dad, Kim, began coaching at Forestville 12 months ago.
He played a handful of division two games in the middle of last year.
“I wanted to see if I still had something.”
Last month, Cheater started training with the ABL squad and played in a pre-season tournament with the Eagles, the three-time defending men’s champions.
Now he is in the mix to play for Forestville this year, sitting just outside the 12-man game day roster.
“I think I’ll get some minutes this year, though it won’t be a lot,” says Cheater, who first played for the Eagles in under-12s.
“But I’ve come a long, long way.”
TELL US BELOW: Have you battled with a weight problem in the past and been inspired to overcome it?