몸무게 113kg 되어버렸던 애기 아빠가 이제 살 25kg 가까이 빼낸 이야기

Oh mate, you're looking... you're looking... ...thin. Oh, thanks. I was thinking the other day when I first met you, you were like... ...skin and bone. We're both pretty skinny, to be honest. But like... ...extremely handsome guy, I'd say. Thank you so much. So what's been going on in the last... ...three months or so... ...that's changed your appearance such... ...extremely? I used to have a beard... ...and hair. When I was born, almost 10 years ago, when I first came to Korea, I had only one dream in my life, and that was to become a soccer player. But in the end, I gave up on that dream, and since then, my eating habits have changed a lot, and my legs, which were almost never injured before, were slightly injured, so I couldn't play sports properly, and my life has changed a lot at once, so I've gained a lot of weight. Now, for the last five months, I've been taking a little more care of my diet, and I've been working out twice a day, so I've finally lost a little weight, and I think I've started to live a little healthier life. So today, I'm going to tell you the story... ...in detail to Joel and my lovely viewers. Can I go back to the start a bit? I used to live about a 45-minute walk from daycare. My mom would just walk really, really, really fast, and then I would basically run to school, because we didn't have a car. And then my mom always says, like, that's why you're really good at running when you're growing up. I was always running, just always running. Like, I'd literally go to town to see my friends, and I'd just run to town. Like, I wouldn't think of it as going for a run or exercising, but I was fast. I was, like, fast at sprinting, but also at long running. But I always wanted to play football. I didn't want to be a runner. I wanted to be a professional footballer. So I had a trial with a professional team when I was 16, and kind of the day I got told, you're not getting a contract, you're not getting a youth team contract. I kind of knew then it was too late. Starting from about 10 years ago, I started getting injuries in my leg when I was playing football. And then I kind of, my kind of balance of exercise to, like, eating started to slowly but gradually lose its way. So I stopped doing good exercise, and I started to eat worse and worse and worse. And then that's kind of culminated with being in Korea, to the point where I, like, I was at 113 kilos, which I'm, like, 5'9". And, like, in the past five years, I've tried to get into running again and diet, and I just really struggled. And I've always struggled because I've gone too intense too quickly. So for two, three, four weeks, the momentum and the adrenaline makes you feel like you're completely fine. And then as soon as you hit a roadblock, like, I just get exhausted and then emotionally exhausted. And I have this dichotomy or whatever you want to call it, like, turn into food as a stress relief, unhealthy foods, sweets and crisps and stuff like that, and chocolate, or exercise. And the problem I got to, which was really earlier this year, April, I think, it wasn't just difficult to lose weight, it was difficult to even sustain the weight I was at. Because you get so used to eating large amounts and not exercising. So the calorie intake is really, really intense. And so I'd go for runs. It was still quite cold, but I was so self-conscious. So I would wear a t-shirt, tuck it into my shorts, and then put a coat over because I was scared of my belly, like, hanging out. So I'd have to, like, pull my shorts up as high as they would go. Right, and put the t-shirt inside them to wedge the belly inside the t-shirt, and then, like, tie it, basically tie it. And then I'd put, like, a coat on over that. So, like, you know, a jacket or a jumper. And that was essentially to give you confidence, or was that a practical thing? Both. No, it was actually both, yeah. But it was more like, so this sounds really arrogant, but it's just true. Like, if I was going for a run when I was a teenager, there was no one in my hometown who would be going faster than me. Then when I moved to Cardiff, you'd see international athletes going, and you'd have to start to accept, like, there's going to be people who are, like, faster than you. But that was okay. I moved to Korea, and not many of these people were running and stuff like that. Now more people are running. I would go out, and, like, the slowest old person would be faster than me. And I was, like, I'm basically walking, but I'm technically running. And I just felt so heavy and so, like, thick and, like, boom, boom, boom. I'd go for four minutes slow, four minutes steady, four minutes slow. And just to get through that, like, just the weight of that down by the stream was horrible. And I basically started doing that, like, twice a week, three times a week maybe. And then I got to a point where now I'm doing it every day, but I'm doing, like, an hour of running. And then, and also in the evening. And I lost 20 kilos. I'm lighter than I was when I came to Korea five years ago. No, really? Yeah. So I was 93, 94, and I got down to, like, 91.5. Wow. So, yeah. I think there's so many things happening there that you're tackling. One of them is, like, discipline, intentionality. Tracking back a little bit, I think from my observation of you, it's an interesting one because you're a food lover. Yeah. You're someone who likes quality. You like good food. Yeah, of course you like the sweet stuff. I think that must be tough to navigate. It seemed like running was a big part of your identity. Football was a big part of your identity. And when that didn't amount to, I guess, the space that you wanted, I think food became your comfort. Yeah. But also, it's also your passion as well. So it's like, do you ever feel like there's a dichotomy? Yeah, yeah. What I realized is, and my brother-in-law said, wine is a blessing, a gift from God if you accept it as a gift from God and as a blessing. I mean, don't abuse it. Don't get drunk. Don't, you know, sit there on your own and not let other people drink it to excess and all that stuff. And I think food is definitely for our nourishment and also for our enjoyment. And so there's two ways you can abuse food. By overeating and doing it to excess, like I've done. And then also by under-eating as well. Sure. You can under-eat and not try to enjoy food. And I think that can also become something where you're not taking it as a blessing, as a gift. But overeating for me was like this big thing. Exercise can be the same, food or exercise or anything, or your work or whatever it is, can be our way of trying to tell ourselves that we're good enough or we've got it or we're fine, we're adequate. And like the human story is that we're not really. We're good at some things and we really struggle with some things. I'm a Christian and I believe in God and God's perfect and he's infinite and we're not. And so we're always going to have that sense of like, you know, my dad always says, don't become obsessive, don't let it become an idol. But I think it's a hard dynamic. I think consistency is like learning to live with enjoyment well, learning to live with pleasure well is, you know, moderation, everything in moderation. My mom used to say to me when I was a kid, I'd always have a banana. She'd always say like, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. And I'd be like, can I get another banana? She's like, well, like the crisps in the cupboard, six pack, six for the six days in a week minus whatever other day. And I'd be like, can I have another one? And she'd just say, once they're gone, they're gone. And she's like, you kind of just teeter on. If you have it today, you're not having it tomorrow. And I love that kind of sense of discipline from that young age. I've had one today, if I could have two, but tomorrow I'm not having any. How am I going to deal with that tomorrow? I want to say something really encouraging for people because I've seen people now who are probably, to be honest, I don't know what their background is in exercise and sports and eating and all that, but big people. And there aren't as many big people in Korea like on average. We have a much bigger obesity problem in the UK and especially the US and the West in general. But I see people on the stream in Korea. Like people are getting more into running now individually rather than just in teams and groups and stuff. And you see some really fast people on the stream and people in really good shape. And then you see some bigans, right? And I'm still fat. I've still got my belly and stuff. But they're at the beginning, I think, of that, I guess, journey to use a cliche. And sometimes when I'm running now and even if whatever shape people in when I'm running, I go like that to people when I run past and I'm running as well because I feel like there's a bit of like a camaraderie. But those people impress me the most. The ones where you know even getting down to the stream and going for a run is a struggle because it's not enjoyable when you're like almost walking and you're over 100 kilos. Like maybe they're enjoying it. But in my experience, it's really not enjoyable and it takes a while for it to become enjoyable. I see those people. I think I actually have a lot of admiration. I want to, I guess, just encourage people who are maybe like thinking about starting exercise that you can just do it. You're not in any way like less righteous or like morally or sort of ethically below someone who's better at exercising. So I think sometimes you can start to feel like that. But yeah, I just want to encourage those people really. What's the one thing you'd say that has been the biggest challenge for you over those last six months? Biggest challenge? One thing has been really cool is, so usually I'd wake up, Anu would be asleep, Hyunji would be asleep, and I'd go and exercise. And then they'd be awake when I got back. And there's certain days where Anu will wake up before I go out and Hyunji will be asleep. Or, you know, we'll say Hyunji, go back to sleep. And being able to just be like, well, I'm not gonna be able to exercise. And usually we'll go for a walk with Anu and then we'll go and have breakfast together, Paris Baguette or Tous Les Jours. And so we'll get like one or two donuts and something else and we'll share it together. And being able to lay down the desire and the compulsion to exercise is actually really healthy for me. Right. So the exercise doesn't become the new idol. Yeah, because then it's like exercising is more important than spending time with Anu and letting Hyunji sleep. And it's really not. And then it means like once or twice a week, Anu and I will go and have breakfast together. It's a great feeling knowing your wife is getting rest. Yeah. And you're getting 7.30 a.m., like half hour, two-hour walk with your three, four-year-old kid and then having breakfast. It's a fantastic feeling.