Lower Hutt man Eli Moon loses 138kg to transform his life after near-death experience

Lower Hutt man Eli Moon, 34, has lost 138kg.

• Eli Moon has lost 138kg since August 2023, transforming his life.
• After being hospitalised, he started aqua jogging and gradually incorporated walking, cycling, and gym workouts.
• Moon encourages others struggling with weight and “internalised shame” to find someone they can talk to.

Eli Moon no longer walks into a restaurant worrying that he will break a chair when he sits down, and can now walk several kilometres after once struggling to make it to the next room.

The 34-year-old from Lower Hutt has lost 138kg since August last year when he was admitted to hospital.

Moon told the Herald he had spent most of his life constantly eating and medicating his feelings with food.

Lower Hutt man Eli Moon, 34, has lost 138kg.

At 290kg, Moon’s heart was failing.

“I kept falling over because my body had swollen to the point that I didn’t have any grip on my feet. It was like walking on bloated balloons.

“I had so much fluid in my body because my heart wasn’t processing fluid. I couldn’t do anything. I was very, very near death.”

The month he spent hospitalised was a significant turning point.

Moon’s food was controlled and he was given a breathing machine to help him sleep properly for the first time in his adult life.

“My brain just started working again. I could breathe and I could think and I could make decisions.

“I had the energy to start turning things around.”

Eli Moon weighed 290kg and now weighs 152kg.

He emerged from the hospital facing a big mountain to climb but was determined to change.

Moon started by aqua jogging every day.

“I couldn’t walk on dry land as I’d call it because everything hurt – I was too big, I couldn’t breathe and my lungs were getting crushed by just the weight of my body.

“So the aqua jogging was really good to get just some motion back in my body.”

Slowly but surely he could incorporate walking, cycling, and eventually the gym.

Moon used meal replacements to control his diet and ate salads with vegetables grown in his garden to save money. Snacks usually included some cheese and fruit.

He still has his “one vice” which is coffee but he uses artificial sweeteners.

Moon takes about a third of the medication he previously did, including no longer needing drugs for diabetes.

The lifelong antibiotics he took preventively to avoid reoccurring infections because of his weight were also no longer needed.

His blood pressure dropped and his heart recovered, he said.

“I can walk seven kilometres now. I can bike ride. I can do so many things I wasn’t able to do before.”

Moon hasn’t looked back.

“I kind of describe it as a snowball of success.

“That’s not a vanity thing, it’s more that as I started succeeding in things and saw those small little boosts of things I was able to do. It became more and more addictive to go for the next goal, the next milestone.”

Life felt open to him and people close to him were no longer worried.

“When I was in that sick state, I couldn’t face the fact that I was hurting the people that I loved with my addiction.

“But now I’m fully aware because I can be a bit more self-reflective.”

A self-professed “history nerd” he wants to see Rome and Greece and sit in a single seat on the plane to get there.

“I’m really excited when I walk into a restaurant and I don’t have to worry if I’m going to break their chair.”

Moon said he was not a professional and didn’t have all the answers but he could share with people what worked for him.

“I can say I’m not going to judge you for the stuff that you’re going through because it’s the same stuff that I’ve gone through.”

His key message for people struggling with their weight was to find someone who they could talk with.

“It’s something that carries so much internalised shame and that is not healthy.”

Moon now weighs 152kg but is not at the end of his weight loss journey.

“I’m going to keep going.”

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.