Yahoo Lifestyle Weight loss success stories: how I lost 47kg in 12 months
NAME: Andrew MacDonald
HOME: Smoky Bay, SA
JOB: Oyster farmer
AGE: 20
HEIGHT: 183cm
BEFORE: 126kg
AFTER: 79kg
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THE WEIGHT GAIN
Growing up, MacDonald was the big kid who was always last in laps around the school oval and first in line at the canteen. Throughout high school his weight fluctuated – in year 12 year he lost 15 kilograms in six months, before he suffered a broken collarbone playing footy and piled it all back on again.
By 18, he’d hit 126kg. “I didn’t care about my health or the fact I couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs without getting a sweat up,” he recalls. “I was drinking soft drink, eating pies and scoffing lollies every chance I got.”
Related: A glutton's guide to slashing cholesterol
THE DIET CHANGE
After watching his dad undergo a heart bypass before his 50th birthday, MacDonald decided he needed to take action to avoid a similar fate. When an opportunity to do a gap year on an oyster farm came up, he leapt at it. “I was told that it was one of the hardest jobs around,” he says. “I did it hoping that I could lose some weight.”
MacDonald threw himself into the job, getting up at the crack of dawn to haul hundreds of 10kg baskets of oysters onto a boat before grading and loading them into containers. Then he’d do it all again on the next boat. He dropped 20kg in the space of a few months. “It just flew off,” he says.
At the same time his footy team got a new coach who recognised MacDonald’s potential, pulling him from B grade and starting him in the As. “It was an opportunity I wasn’t going to pass up,” he says.
MacDonald set a goal of losing a kilo before each game. He cut out alcohol and limited fast food to once a week. He also started running, pounding the pavement every day, even after a 10-hour shift at the oyster farm.
THE WEIGHT LOSS RESULT
MacDonald lost 47kg in 12 months, winning the A Grade “most improved” player and playing in the grand final. His transformation has also helped him kick goals off the field. “I’ve become a lot more confident and have noticed that I’m being acknowledged by the opposite sex, which never happened before,” he says.
In terms of his physical prowess, shedding the excess puppy fat has been like being gifted a super power, says MacDonald. “Going from barely managing a lap of an oval to running six kays, I’m amazed at what my body can do now,” he says. Heart health is no longer a concern. The skinny kid’s goal now is to pack some muscle onto his lean frame.
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WEIGHT LOSS ADVICE
Be consistent. “You have to keep remembering the smallest amount of progress is still progress,” says MacDonald.
Swap to drop. “I never considered myself on a diet. I just gradually swapped bad foods for healthier options – soft drink for green tea, chocolate for fruit, chips for nuts.”
Reward yourself. “When you reach a goal weight, buy something to help further your weight loss,” recommends MacDonald. “I bought an expensive shirt that was too small for me, so I had to lose more weight to fit into it.”
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