An ex-rugby player, Michael (58) found his weight slowly crept on after his children were born and he stopped playing sport. With a history of hypertension, neck pain, anxiety, and sleep apnoea requiring a CPAP machine overnight, he decided it was time to focus on his health and longevity.

While he had lost weight successfully in the past, he found himself in a cycle of binge and crash dieting always regaining what he lost. Because of this, he was looking for professional help to implement strategies he could integrate into his life long term. Michael felt he had a good handle on how to exercise effectively due to his sports background, but was looking for more structure to his daily gym sessions. He was also after some support and guidance on healthy eating, reducing binges, and reducing his alcohol consumption.

Michael had known about the Clinic for some time before enquiring, he’d even had friends complete a program over 20 years ago. Once he commenced, Michael went into his program wholeheartedly, diligently attending his weekly one-on-one appointments and even joining in for cooking demonstrations with the LifeShape Clinic Chef.

With the help of his LifeShape team, Michael went on to lose 33.1kg^! Another core aim for Michael was to reduce his blood pressure, which successfully got down to 117/73 by the end of his program. With the help of his team, Michael is now allocating more time to himself and his health including making time for physical activity. Michael now finds himself walking everywhere, including trekking up Mt Cootha in Brisbane! He has also learned how to employ simple but effective techniques in his everyday life such as reviewing a menu before going out to eat.

His message for others thinking about doing a program is to be accountable to yourself, attend all of your appointments, and that you CAN do it for yourself!

“Michael started in the “very high” range for body fat % for his age and gender and finished the program in his recommended range as shown here in his DEXA results. Having a value within the recommended range for body fat % decreases his risk of chronic disease and disorder as well as all cause mortality. Even with a large amount of weight loss, Michael was able to maintain his lean mass and was still in the top quartile for his age and gender. Michael also decreased his visceral fat (the deeper, riskier fat around the organs) by a significant amount which decreases his risk of developing a metabolic or cardiovascular disease such as diabetes, stroke, and ischemic heart disease”

Dan, LifeShape Clinic Exercise Physiologist

^Your results may vary. To find out what you can achieve on your LifeShape Program book a no obligation initial assessment with one of our Dietitians.