Garry Holden has been living in Thailand with his wife for the past five years and has battled with his weight for as long as he can remember. The 41-year-old started his weight-loss journey on The Biggest Loser Asia then continued at home with The Biggest Loser Club.
In this extremely frank interview and in his own words, Garry reveals what life has been like as a severely overweight man and how much his life has changed for the better after losing 30kg. Garry continues to lose weight with The Club and is well on his way to reaching his goal weight of 80kg.
Click to enlarge photos
Garry before
On the journey
Red team challenge
Seeing double
Tell us about your relationship with your weight and food?
“I have always been a big lad and was generally known as a jolly chap or, as larger people are often described, bubbly. I was the guy who made the fat jokes before anyone else could. I even created a job as a family entertainer called Mr Jelly Belly so that being fat didn’t matter.
“As a teenager, I remember a comment my father made on my return from getting a haircut. He said, 'Don’t worry about your hair son; it’s the rest of you that needs sorting out'. That comment has plagued me to this day, despite the fact that I remained overweight.
“Food was always a great source of comfort to me. It was the one thing I could rely on; food never let me down or disappointed me. It is only now I realise it was actually keeping me a prisoner in my own body. A big part of my problem was not knowing when to stop – I just didn’t appreciate or take notice of the amount I was eating.”
How has being overweight affected your life?
“Living around so many beautiful beaches was torture. I could never take advantage of them as I was too embarrassed to take off my shirt, and being surrounded by ‘normal’ size people in swimming shorts would depress me even more. I used to think I could hide behind a T-shirt, but in reality I just looked like the fat guy who was too embarrassed to get undressed.
“Carrying the weight was more than a heavy burden. Aside from the obvious difficulty of finding clothes that fit me, premiums for my health insurance were sky high. It costs a lot of money being heavy and there is certainly no dignity in it.
“I had constant heartburn and would pop antacid tablets throughout the day. My poor wife had to put up with my snoring every night and if that didn’t keep her awake, she would panic when I just stopped breathing; I’m guessing it was sleep apnoea syndrome caused by my heaviness.”
What was your lowest point?
“I didn’t eat fast food all the time but if I did, I would order one meal for me and another for my imaginary friend just so the staff didn’t know it was all for me. I would then hide in my truck and eat it. That was a pretty low point. I was ashamed and somehow, I knew I had let it take control of me.
“I can’t remember exactly when, but one day it just hit me – I was 41 and I weighed over 120kg. If I didn’t do something about it soon, I would be lucky to reach 50 and the thought that my coffin would be too heavy to lift was just too much to take. It wasn’t fair to me and it certainly wasn’t fair to my wife.
“I have always been an avid fan of The Biggest Loser and I even had the audacity to criticise the contestants whilst I would munch away on junk food from the comfort of my sofa. I never considered myself to be in their league and yet clearly I was.”
What did you eat before starting your weight-loss journey?
“Breakfast was often several rounds of toast with lashings of butter. It could easily end up being half a loaf but I thought that it was OK because it was brown bread. I also loved to eat kids’ cereals and would demolish almost half a box in just one go.
“Lunch would be either a burger, a mega sandwich or fried chicken, usually with French fries and side orders of either onion rings or fried rice. All of it was frequently washed down by a large chocolate ice cream milk shake.
“Dinner would either be a creamy pasta dish, roast meat with potatoes and gravy or a takeaway, usually an Indian. I would have a starter of deep-fried vegetable samosas, together with onion bhajee. My main dish would be creamy chicken tikka masala, a large pilau rice and two or three butter naan breads to soak up all the gravy. I topped it off with side orders of sag aloo and aloo gobi and it was all washed down with seven or eight bottles of beer.
“On top of my three mega meals each day, I would often raid the bread bin or snack on cereals or pretty much anything in the food cupboards that would tempt me.”
What exercise did you do?
“Walking my dogs was about as much exercise as I did. I have been known to play a fairly good game of tennis on the odd occasion, but my knees never thanked me for the strain they felt afterwards.”
Have you tried other diets in the past?
“I have lost count of the number of different diets I’ve tried over the years including The Cabbage Soup Diet, The Atkins diet, Slimming World and Weight Watchers. For the first two or three weeks, it all seemed to work well and I shed some weight, but then I would lose interest and motivation and the weight piled back on, and then some.
“I always felt that because I was on a diet I would feel deprived. I now realise this isn’t the case – it’s all about moderation. It just took a while for that to register!”
How has your food and exercise changed while following your Club program?
“My diet now is so much more varied. I eat stir-fries with tofu or fish and another favourite is grilled chicken, vegies and sweet potato fries.
“I exercise at least five or six days a week and take spin classes once or twice a week too. I even find that if I’ve missed the gym for a couple of days, I’m itching to get back into it. I try to mix up my exercise so that my body doesn’t adapt to the same routine every day. I love to sweat now and it’s such a great feeling when I have completed a really good gym session.
“I learnt how to use The Biggest Loser Club diary to keep track of my food and exercise; it’s a fantastic weight-loss tool. Being able to monitor my energy equation everyday keeps me on track and tells me the nutritional information and calorie content for so many foods. I know from experience just how easy it is to underestimate calorie input and overestimate those calories burned.”
What else have you learned?
“Using The Club program has opened up a whole new world for me. I have learnt not to underestimate the power of portion control. I realise I used to eat enough for two or three people. Now, I use a smaller side plate for all my meals, which tricks my brain into thinking I have a big plate of food. I have also learnt that I can have so many wonderful foods that are healthy and filling, so meal times don’t need to be boring.
“Of course, there are times I struggle, but if I do fall off the program I know that the trick is not to stress about it. I simply recognise where I went wrong, learn from it and use the program to help make the smart choices to get myself back on track.”
What are the high points of your new lifestyle?
“It may seem trivial to some, but being able to walk between parked cars without knocking the wing mirrors, buying off-the-rack clothes, having chafe-free thighs, waking up with energy and simply feeling normal. All of these taste so much better than any of the foods that accompanied me on my journey to obesity.
“For the first time in my life I can honestly say I am proud of myself. I am on my way to finally finishing something that I started and I count my blessings everyday that I have such a wonderful network of support from family and friends who have made this possible for me.”