Happy to be half the man he was

South Aucklander Damien Martin has lost more than 100kg in three years. Photo / Natalie Slade

Damien Martin has lost more than 100kg to avoid dying early from obesity like his mother and brother.

The 34-year-old credit manager from Manurewa in South Auckland has almost halved his weight from 215kg to 113kg in the last three years.

He realised he needed to change his lifestyle after seeing the two deaths in his immediate family.

Mr Martin's mother Jean died in 2001 aged 48 with liver, kidney and other problems; his brother Nicholas died in 2009 aged 31.

"He went to bed one night and didn't wake up. He was in excess of 200kg. His death was the result of untreated high blood pressure and other things.

"I don't want to die early. I want to be with my children as long as I can be. That's a huge motivating factor behind why I do what I do, and I want my children to have good habits."

Mr Martin, who has a daughter aged 10 and a 7-year-old son, knows he must stay on his path of sensible eating, sports and gym workouts for life. His target is to be between 100 and 105kg.

He said his blood pressure and blood sugar levels had started to rise, potential precursors of type 2 diabetes, but these problems had been resolved with his weight loss.

The biggest food temptation he faces is the chocolate and chips in the snack-box at work.

"The thing I have learned is to be prepared, taking your lunch to work - quite often for me, it's work in the morning, leave work, straight to the gym or recreation centre for sports - and making sure I've got the right thing to eat at the right time."

He plays indoor netball, does boxing classes and regularly exercises at a gym. He also gives a motivational talk to new participants on weight loss challenges at gyms in Otahuhu and Papakura.

David Hill, a nutritionist for the gym company, said many people wrongly thought weight loss involved eating less and exercising more, when they needed to eat foods that were less energy-dense.

"What you need to do is eat smarter and move more - a lot have sedentary occupations - and exercise more as well. If [you] eat less, the metabolism slows down like a bear in hibernation ..."