The Van Dyken family from Perth, Western Australia, lost an incredible 125 kilograms between them. Photo / Anna Van Dyken
The Van Dyken family from Perth, Western Australia, lost an incredible 125 kilograms between them. Photo / Anna Van Dyken
A family of three have pulled off a combined weightloss transformation that has to be seen to be believed, losing a whopping 125 kilograms between them.
The Van Dyken's from Perth, Western Australia, grew up surrounded by family feasts. Anna, 45, her husband Rod, 44, and son Ethan, 14, come from large families and were both used to using food as a way to "show their love".
But the family suffered a rude awakening in 2012 when Ethan - who weighed 80 kilograms at the age of just 10 - finished 15 minutes behind all his classmates during his primary school cross country race.
As Mrs Van Dyken stood and waited along with everyone else in the school for her embarrassed son to finish, she knew something had to change.
At the age of 10 Ethan weighed an enormous 80kg and told his mum he never wanted to do his school's cross country again. Photo / Anna Van Dyken
"He was the last one to finish and came round 15 minutes after everyone else and a couple of kids ran out to help him and everyone stood there watching and it was really embarrassing," she told Daily Mail Australia.
"I remember that day he said 'Mum, don't ever let me do that again, I don't want to do it again'.
"I thought s***, I've done that to him and so I turned and said to him, 'I'll fix this'."
With Mrs Van Dyken growing up in a large Italian family and Mr Van Dyken from an even bigger Dutch family, meals with all the trimmings were a regular affair.
A history of obesity dating back generations through their families proved overeating was an problem.
But where her mother and grandmother continued in the indulgent Italian ways as their kids stacked on the weight, being forced to watch her son "huff and puff" across the line at the cross country struck a chord for Mrs Van Dyken.
Anna said she felt responsible for the weight her son and husband had reached. Photo / Anna Van Dyken
With her husband then diagnosed with diabetes, she turned to weightloss company Weight Watchers to help save her family.
"I went straight to Weight Watchers and that was mainly to educate myself on how to cook properly, how to portion control," she said.
"I didn't know what it was and if I didn't know, how could I teach Ethan?
"He was young when we started and I didn't make a big big deal about it because I didn't want him to think he was fat, but he knew himself - he had a mirror.
"Coming from an Italian family they feed you because they love you, and they feed you more and more and more.
"And that's basically what I was found with my boys because I loved them so much I just fed them, and fed them, and fed them, and Ethan got up to 80kg at 10 years old and that's not a good thing."
A food lover, Mrs Van Dyken knew that if her family was to get in shape they wouldn't be able to cut out all the good things they had come to enjoy.
But through better control over portions and by slightly tweaking the contents of their meal, the family were able to escape their "vicious cycle" and shed the kilos.
From her original weight of 147kg, Mrs Van Dyken now weighs 74kg - a loss of 73kgs.
Also impressive was Mr Van Dyken's 35kg drop from 120kg to 85kg.
Anna Van Dyken (left) and her husband Rod (right) weighed 147kg and 120kg respectively when they began. Photo / Anna Van Dyken
Incredibly Ethan dropped more than 10kg and now as a teenager weighs less than he did at age 10 - while also improving his running to finish third in the cross country.
"I did it for the boys initially and they both reached their goal weights within six to nine months," she said.
"Changing habits was what we needed to do to lose weight and become successful at it, but I definitely didn't deprive us of anything."
After selflessly ensuring her son and husband saw success, Mrs Van Dyken joined in the weightloss efforts and also immediately saw major improvements.
