George lost the weight for his daughter

George decided to lose the weight so he would be healthy enough to run around and play with his one year old daughter. He lost 16 kg* on the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet.

*In 3 months. Individual results may vary. 

His main issue when it came to food used to be mindfulness and not having the time or energy to eat properly. With a baby in the house, time became even more scarce.

"As a father of a very young child – she’s one – before the diet it was becoming a struggle to carry her as she was getting heavier and heavier," George says.

"I have a chronic back injury from volleyball and since losing the weight it’s much more manageable. I’m able to carry her and pop her on my back and go for hikes and all sorts of things that I wouldn’t have even attempted before because of the back pain."

Competitive volleyball player

Another reason he wanted to shift a few kilos was because he plays competitive volleyball. Younger players on the team were starting to catch up with him, and he needed to lose the weight to hold his ground.

"Spike reach in volleyball is, put simply, the height you reach when you’re making an attacking play, or spike," says George.

"At the start of this season, I measured mine and it was 3 metres and 10 cm, which is not terrible but I’m the tallest person in my team and my reach was somewhere in the middle. I was being outreached by some players by as much as 20 cm and I really wanted to do something about that."

Gaining the weight

George gained the weight over time but it accelerated after his daughter was born. With a baby in the house, food had to be quick and simple and takeaway became an easy solution. He says he'd have take away food at least twice a week but often more than that.

Another issue was the mindfulness around food: "I would often open a packet of something and then without paying attention, often in front of the TV, eat the whole thing," George says.

Mindfulness a key

After completing the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, George has become much more conscious of his food choices. But his favourite part of the diet was that he didn't really have to change his life too much.

"While I was on the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, I found that I really didn’t have to make any changes to what I eat. If I went to a restaurant, I would have the standard steak and chips – but hold the chips. I would have a salad instead," he says.

"The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet really helped me with the emotional side of eating in making myself accountable for what I was eating. Everything I wrote down, I made a deal with myself before I started that I wouldn’t cheat. So even if I had a bad day, I would write that down and then I would have to hold myself accountable to that."

He also says the diet gave him a path to stick to and when he saw the results, it spurred him on to do even better.

"I feel much fitter, look much better and am more in control of my weight," he says.

Read more CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet success stories.