DJ's Story

'Lose the excuses'. That's the message from Des (DJ) Irwin, who has lost over 40kg in less than a year, and is seeing and experiencing big differences in his life.

'When you're big you make excuses. You invent excuses to justify the way you are. But you have to lose the excuses. The reason we got our weight was because we let ourselves go.'

'I was one of those fellas who thought I was a bit big, just because that's the way my genes were. I've got diabetes and heart disease in the family, I knew trouble wouldn't be far away if I didn't change.

DJ's road to better health began at work with a clinic put on at the Watties factory in Hastings, where he weighed in at 138kg.

With support and advice from nurse Catherine Archer, DJ made up his mind to drop the excuses and do something about it.

'There's no big secret. I just increased my activity and changed my eating habits.'

'I had a soft drink bottle by my bed, in the kitchen, stacked everywhere in the house. I ditched the soft drinks first and replaced them with water. After two or three weeks I saw the weight just drop off.'

'I still get to have my steak or whatever else, but now I eat more salad, fresh fruit and veggies with it.'

Seeing the weight go down to 96kg is leaving DJ feeling a lot better. DJ sees the difference every time he looks in the mirror and now can do much more.

'I have a 14-year-old daughter, she's part of the journey too. I used to watch her netball from a distance. Now I help with the warm up and get right there on the sidelines. For me there are no more excuses.'