HI. My name is Tony Curl and I have a real concern with the State of Men's Health. I know so many of my friends and mates, and see hundreds of others that carry that extra weight around their guts. The badge of honour called a Beer Gut. Unhealthy is a nice way to say it. An absolute killer is another. I want everyone to know my story and for you to realise that YOU can change your life and improve your health. Transform your life, all you need is the desire to change.
Please read MY STORY first, then click through the pages. Would love to hear from others and only too willing to help anyone who takes the step to help themselves. Overall I have lost over 29kg, transformed my life and now have kept it off for over twelve months. The proof that you can still drink beer and transform your body.

My Story

Gidday.

My name is Tony Curl and I want to share my story and hopefully provide some difference to other blokes.Mens Health is such a hard issue and usually isn't the one that is presented when you are at the pub with your mates. But it should be.

I want to tell my story on how I went from 109kg in January 2009, to 88 Kgs on June 2, and now sit around the 80kg today the 23rd May 2010. I have pride in my weight loss, but more by keeping it off.

School

At school I was a normal bloke. Always fit, a bit of a trouble maker. I played a lot of team sports, being rugby league in winter and cricket in summer. I loved a surf. I was also a smoker, but I will deal with that later. So weight was never an issue. In Grades 10 and 11 I would have weighed around 83kg. I stand at just over 182cm. In Grade 12, I started playing high level rugby league with Souths in Brisbane. For the first time, I used weights in training and I built up to 87kg. So leaving school in 1983, I weighed 87kg, with no problems associated with weight.

Work

In 1984, I started my working life. Like most blokes, I was pretty smart but didn't apply myself. University was out of the question so I started working. Along with work, came money and weekend social life. I enjoyed seeing bands and having some beers with my mates. Footy and cricket stopped, so it wasn't hard to see what wold happen.

In 1988, I gave up smoking and weighed 92kg. I was transferred to Townsville, got married. I reasoned with myself that putting on weight was better than smoking. We moved back to Brisbane in 1994, and I was over the 100kg.

The Pivotal Change

I continued to put on weight and I never really knew how big I got. Looking at some of the photos, I can only guess that I might have weighed over 110kg. I got really serious in 2006, and went on a soup diet and started walking daily. I got down to 95kg during that stage, but when I returned to normal eating, the weight came back and more.

January 2009 I weighed 108.9. I know this for fact as I weighed myself after our January Holidays. I had seen some of the photos we had taken on holidays and I was shocked at just how large I had become.Something had to change.

In February 2009, my wife bought a copy of a program called Bodytrim. I can remember getting angry with her because I thought it was a bit expensive for a diet program. My wife and daughter sat there and watched the DVD's that came with the set, and they then went food shopping. For the first week, I watched as the rest of the family lost weight. I didn't officially join the program, due to some pressing work issues that resulted in very long days. I fuelled myself on Pizza, Beer and lollies to get through, while my family started Bodytrim.

Week 1 and everyone in my family had lost a big chunk of weight, with my son dropping 4 kilos. There was soemthing in this. So on the Sunday, I weighed myself and set on a path to a better me. 106.7, is my "official" before BT weight figure.

The first week I lost three kilos; within three weeks I was under the ton (100kg); by Easter I was 95 kgs. By June I was under 90kg. All by following the food education set out in Bodytrim and changing my activity levels. This is not an advert for Bodytrim either. I hear success stories from other "diets" and the like, so there is many methods that can work. Bodytrim is different, as it educates you on food. So you continue to eat real food. It gives you the knowledge to control what you eat, how you eat, how often you eat. It works on so many levels, and the success that I have had is mirrored right around the Bodytrim community.

Current reality

I think of myself nowadays as an athletic person again. My weight range lies in the 80-84kg range. I rarely weigh myself, only doing so if my clothes feel a bit tight. If this happens, I just kick in with greater emphasis on my nutrition.

SO HOW DID I DO IT

And this is the bit that will interest you I hope. Realistically I love my beer and still do. But I wanted to change and from a health aspect, NEEDED to change. My cholesterol was high, my blood pressure was high and was on blood pressure tablets. In my mind I was heading for a stroke, but even knowing all this didn't enforce the change. It was a picture of me on holidays in a rash vest that horrified me and really made me realise that my own perception of my body image was in fact not correct. I was a bit like Homer Simpson, who sees himself in his own mind as a rippling muscled sort of a guy. Facing up to the reality was the biggest step for me, BUT after committing myself to change, the change was a lot easier than I realised.  So my number one rule would be:

  1. COMMIT TO THE CHANGE

So I followed the Bodytrim way, as the education empowered me to make the best decisions for me. Within a very short space of time, I knew the program was a success. I knew the food and activity weight loss equation behind BT worked, I believed and was pumped in the results I was achieving. The scales became the competition and the old competitive spirit kicked in as I face up to the scales weekly.The downwards movement motivated and drove me. I was moving quickly away from the primary motivation, which was that picture, and then I started to move towards a new goal, which was where I was starting to picture myself.

But to get that belief, I needed to set some goals along the way. My original goal was to get under 100kg. Achieved. Then it was to get to 95kg. Achieved. Then it was to get to 92kg. As I continued to score the small goals along the way, fed me confidence to deliver results.


2. SET SMALL GOALS

Every now and again, you may have a bad day, or not be in control of the food that you eat. Or you may not be getting the results that you want. This is the time where self-sabotage can get in. Once again, my thoughts have always been, to get back on the horse. So next morning, wake up and start again. 

3. DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

And finally, you need to find ways to deal and cope with life.Maybe I used to do this by chilling with a couple of beers every night. Now I find that my daily walks become my coping mechanism and my energy fuel for the day. I find that I don't need to have a beer to deal with life. However, I really do enjoy having a beer with mates on a weekend and because of the Bodytrim program, I was able to do this.

So here I was losing a heap of weight, over a very condensed period of time, and having a beer of six every weekend. My mates still don't believe it. And don't think I partook in the new Lo-Carb Beer craze. The drama with beer is not the Carb content, but the empty calorie content. So Basically, your body needs to burn those first. So you won't burn fat if you are having a couple of beers. So once you know this, You can plan your week. So what I did was this.

I ensured I had at least FOUR Alcohol Free days a week. Most weeks this is five AFD's, while some weeks due to functions and the like I can struggle to maintain the four AFD's. But generally, I work to four AFD's

And thats how you do it.If you think you can drink a dozen schooners every day and lose weight, think again. You do need to have at least four AFD's to give your body the chance to burn fat.

  1. Commit to Change
  2. Set Small Goals
  3. Don't sweat the small stuff
  4. At least 4 AFD's a week.
One thing that does start to happen if you follow the education behind Bodytrim, and that is your metabolism starts to roar like a runaway Express Train. When this occurs, you are in a great state, as your body is fuelled to burn fat, and when you do play up, your metabolism minimizes the damage.  It's a beautiful thing, when that happens. Trust, Believe and it will.

IMPORTANT STUFF HERE.

This blog is not an excuse to drive alcoholic behaviour. You need to understand the relationship that alcohol does have on your body. Alcohol adds empty calories into you. The alcohol will also be the first fuel burnt. Your body STOPS burning fat, when you have an alcoholic drink, but returns to fat burning once the alcohol has been processed. When you understand this, is when you can make the BEST decision for you in your weight loss quest.

Cheers
Curly
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