A ‘mind blowing’ ……SUCCESS STORY

As a health and fitness professional I love nothing better than a good success story but this one really touches my heart.

Devlin Palm grew up in a small town in the Kwa-Zulu Natal midlands in South Africa. As a youngster he was a national BMX champion and then as a  big strong healthy lad growing up threatened to play top class rugby until he suffered a back injury at school. This curtailed his rugby career but Devlin joined the South African Police and became a dog handler. Health and fitness were part of what he did….you don’t go round chasing after a ‘baddies’ with a very fit german shepherd unless you are pretty fit yourself.

Devlin left the Police after choosing a long term career in business and that’s where the trouble began. Business lunches, team building shindigs, parties etc slowly but surely turned him from an athlete into a …… well you judge for yourself.

At 155kgs (341 lbs) Devlin hit rock bottom. ” If I don’t get myself out of this hole I am going to die.” Devlin has a beautiful wife and two gorgeous children and he came to a point of realisation that his life and the wellbeing of his family was actually at stake.  The time bomb was ticking and was about to explode.

The journey began. Devlin told me that the first thing he realised was that he had to get to bed a whole lot earlier in order to get up very early to train. He started walking on the treadmill, nearly collapsing after the first five minutes but day by day he got stronger until he was able to run. When he was able to run he began mountain biking, and then adding weight training to his routine. He started eating properly and controlling his portion sizes. Alcohol took a back seat.

Slowly, painstakingly he began to see results. As time went by the scale became a friend and not the enemy it once once was,  his garage became his laboratory, his gym.

Over time the old Devlin began to re-emerge and I began to see the spark of life, the old  glint in his eye.

Many months have gone by, about ten in all, and I have watched him change bit by bit, piece by painstaking piece, but the transformation is just about complete. The athlete is back. Devlin is now ‘racing’ mountain bikes and is planning the odd 10k or two.

I went to a barbeque or Braai as we call it here in South Africa yesterday and on a beautiful summer day Devlin, who has a gorgeous swimming pool, appeared in baggies sporting a smile as big as the sun he was standing under and I think it’s pretty obvious why.

My smile was just as big as Devlins and I was just as happy as he was….why….well you see, Devlin is my nephew. A fantastic side effect of all this is that Jackie his wife has also lost about 10kgs/20lbs along the way.

Incredible achievement Dev, I am super proud of you.

It’s never to late to begin making healthy changes to your life. Start today, don’t let one more day go by. You never know when being in good shape could save your life.