This time last year, 26-year-old Blake Hattch was making some major life changes. Focused on losing weight and starting a new, healthier life, he was more determined than ever to stick to his New Year’s goals.
Twelve months on Blake is excited to share the results – he’s now 37.2kg lighter and eager to reveal just how much he has gained from his extreme makeover.
Living the Challenge
Blake applied to be a contestant on The Biggest Loser Couples show with his fiancée Sam in 2009. Both were devastated not to be selected, but delighted to be chosen for The Biggest Loser Club’s Second Chance Challenge. While the show was on-air, the Challenge encouraged 10 couples to lose weight using the Club’s Meal Replacements and to learn about food and exercise using the Club website.
As someone who regularly skipped breakfast, Blake’s first change was to start each day with a Biggest Loser Club Shake, a habit he maintains to this day, “The quickness, convenience and taste really appeals and works for me.” After breaking his bad brekkie habit, Blake then started to eat regular meals, filling his plate with healthier foods. And along with the rest of the team, he added fitness into the mix.
Click to enlarge photos
Blake before
Blake after losing 24.9kg
Blake at Finale
Blake at goal weight
Fitter by Finale
By the time that Finale came around in April 2009, Blake had shaved 25kg from his starting weight of 122.4kg and weighed 97.4kg. But he didn’t stop there. He’s proud to say he continued on with his healthier lifestyle and now weighs 85.2kg – this equates to a total weight loss of 37.2kg, or 30.4 percent of his body weight.
Blake says, “Life is just great right now. I don’t want to weigh any less and I am finding it pretty easy to maintain my weight too. I will always focus on eating right and I am enjoying my food.
“The gym is also part of my everyday life now; my major focus is weight training because I want to get into the right proportions for my body and put on a bit more muscle. I manage an hour or two at the gym, three to seven days per week. In fact, the gym owners know me so well now that they have even given me a key so that if I find it difficult to sleep (I do both day and night shifts as a heavy machinery fitter) I just get up and go and do a workout.”
Blake says that he has started 2010 the way he intends to live life every year – feeling well, fabulously fit and very positive. He has lots more energy these days and he no longer spends his evenings scoffing fast food in front of the television.
“I don’t really have much time for romance anymore either” says the newly-single Blake. He’s undergone such a dramatic transformation, he’s enjoying his new self and loving life. “I feel like I have way too much to do before I settle down. Nothing is holding me back at all. I have a good job with good prospects. So, all-in-all, I didn’t need to make a New Year’s resolution this year – I’m just living the dream.”