‘I started doing one thing and now I’ve lost 47kg’

'Something needed to change'

Image: Pexels

A Wollongong man has revealed the one simple thing he began doing that saw him completely transform his body - without exercising for hours on end.

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For Justin Colville, seeing a photograph of himself at a friend's engagement party was the final straw.

At this point, the 29-year-old retailed manager from Wollongong was his heaviest. He was 156.2kg, tired, and not enjoying the things he once loved.

"The weight gain started slowly accumulating in small increments until I had gained so much that it became a struggle and hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel," Colville tells Body+Soul, after turning to other diets that just "ended in failure."

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"I take a medication which can assist in weight gain/makes losing weight harder, but my lifestyle choices at the time were also to blame because, on top of that, I'd become lazy and complacent," he explains.

Being a busy guy with a full-time job, Colville's first point of call was finding a weight loss program that was simple and not time-consuming.

"I started by ordering Lite n' Easy lunches and dinners and over time shifted to just dinners," he says. "Though I will order lunches from time to time, due to the convenience. Lite n' Easy offers a large variety so I never got sick of the same meal."

The low cost of Lite n' Easy was also a big plus for Colville. "With cost being at the front of everyone’s mind at the moment, compared to other meal services Lite n' Easy is great value because you're not only paying for a dietitian-planned meal program but the convenience as well."

You can learn more about Lite n' Easy here.

It was also important for him to be super-strict going into his weight loss journey, never wavering from his meal plan - he wasn't going to fail this time around.

"I wanted to establish a solid grounding for future success to be built upon. It takes time to form new habits and I wanted to be sure to have gained some positive new habits and lost the bad ones," Colville tells us.

To start, food was also his biggest priority. As the kilos started to shift, he incorporated exercise, too.

Related: 'How I lost 13kg and got my self-esteem back'

So far, Justin Colville has lost an incredible 47.7kg from his 156.2kg frame. Images: Supplied

His day on a plate

Breakfast: 3 boiled eggs and a small skim milk coffee

Snack: An apple

Lunch: Woolworths soup (usually minestrone or chicken and veg), light cheese and tomato on a wholemeal sandwich thin. Also, sometimes I will have a Lite n' Easy lunch

Snack: Blueberries

Dinner: A Lite n' Easy dinner

Dessert: Aeroplane Lite Jelly 

Water: 2-3 litres 

A typical week of exercise

Colville credits most of his weight loss to diet, but that's not to say he hasn't adopted some great workouts to his weekly regimen. A few days out of the week he'll take hour-long walks. He also takes a boxing class and tries to get to the gym, too.

Related: 'I lost over 38kg in nine months and now feel better than ever'

Colville credits most of his weight loss to diet, but he also has a solid workout routine. Image: Supplied

 

Biggest lessons learnt

"My life has changed for the better in so many ways," he admits. "My attitude to food has changed," and "I'm starting to enjoy exercise more and have re-joined a gym with my partner."

His advice for others wanting to lose weight

"It's hard and it takes commitment, but surround yourself with a good support network and that will give you the best chances for success. At times you will fall off the bike, but you just got to get back on and keep pedalling."

Originally published as ‘I started doing one thing and now I’ve lost 47kg’