Around Christmas time 2008 I found myself weighing in at 110 kilo and through diet and a bit of mountain biking I got myself down to 98.1 kilo at the beginning of May 2009

At the end of February I had my stats checked:

Body Fat Percentage: 28,9% - significantly elevated

Total cholesterol: 6,8 mmol/l – moderately elevated
HDL cholesterol: 0,9 mmol/l – not high enough
LDL cholesterol: 4,6 mmol/l – too high
Triglycerides: 2,8 mmol/l – moderately elevated

I knew then that I had some work ahead of me to get back into safe levels.

But weight loss alone wasn't the solution for me because I still had problems with my neck, back and shoulder from sitting at a desk for 15 years.

For years I've had the goal of getting back into running which I did when I was young, but every time I've tried I've had to stop because of pains in my neck and shoulders.

Something else needed to be added to the equation, so I took the plunge, bought Turbulence Training (a fitness program by Craig Ballantyne) to take part in a 12 week transformation contest and began fitting trips to the gym into my schedule.

Going to the gym as the only non-fit person was a bit weird in the beginning, but that quickly wore off as I soon realised that I was the one training the smartest.

Except for one other guy I was the only one there following a written plan and taking notes about any deviations from my planned workouts.

Really, the biggest difference between me and the rest of the gym isn't really our fitness levels – it's efficiency! - I'll enter the gym, go through my warm-up, my resistance exercises, my interval training, do my stretching and hit the showers before anybody else.

At the end of the 12 weeks I had lost an additional 7 kilo, my waist had gone from 109.5 cm to 99 cm and my hip went from 106 cm to 98 cm.

And even though these numbers gives a good idea of my transformation they are not painting the full picture.

A more accurate description would include some of all the other things that following Craigs training program have brought along.

Thanks to the strength in my back and shoulders I've had no problems starting running again – and I even signed up for and completed a 5K in September and a 13.3K in October.

On top of that my twin teenage daughters who have never been runners decided that they also wanted to run the 13.3K.

Another great achievement was when the weather finally was good enough for garden work and I managed to mow the lawn with a push mower, trim the grass edges and cut the hedge without any breaks. Usually it took me several days because my arms, shoulders, neck and back would start to burn and hurt too much after 5 or 10 minutes.

I'm getting complements on my progress from a lot of different people – and nothing really boosts motivation and confidence more than ”you look great” and ”how much weight have you lost now?”

I've gotten back to tucking in my shirts and t-shirts – just because I can. And in the mornings I walk around the house shirtless – just because I can.

I used to wear 38” and 40” jeans but I've shrunk through my old 36” and 34” and have had to buy 2 new 33” pair of jeans.

Less weight, more muscle, no pains, more energy, improved fitness level, lots of confidence-boosting complements, a new zest for life and a family that have also started to eat healthier and exercise – what more can a guy want from life? :-)

The reality is that entering this contest allowed me to transform myself from forty, fat and finished to forty, fit and fabulous – and this is only the beginning.

I was even picked as one of the 5 finalists, but didn't win – but who cares, I won my life back in the process.