Coke and Chocolate
I remember those days. It was easy – for a bit of energy, first a slab of chocolate and then some 2 liters of Coke just to rinse it down. Well, truth be told, sometimes the Coke took a little bit longer. I was younger then and quite active and the 1200 or so calories of this combined “snack” did not increase my weight drastically. My massive weight gain only occurred in my late twenties and then throughout my thirties.
I managed to keep the weight from ballooning by still playing league tennis, but later on I started to get too slow and fat for the singles matches. The tennis court was too big. So the weight kept on going up. My claim to fame was eat a few chocolates to balance the beers I drank after two sets of doubles tennis games during the week. The chocolates was to balance the alcohol in the beer as this was often taken before supper with a long time since lunch.
Business Lunches
Lunch, well that is another story. Often business lunches went on too long with too many calories and a few extras for desert. Then I had to eat my main meal of the day at home as I forgot to tell my spouse that I did have a business lunch (or will go for a business lunch that day). Two full meals and some extras and your weight will go up. Mine went up and up to a total of 115 kg before I realised that I should make a plan.
Well, to be honest, I did realise it. I just could not get started. My sister (she was the youngest of five) told me at regular intervals how she lost weight. She lost about 19 kg and she looked amazing. Every week or so I heard about her progress. At that stage I have tried many diets before and some were quite successful, but very hard work. The challenge was that I just picked up the weight again. This time it was twin kidney stones that did the trick.
I was on holiday at the Bahamas when the kidney stones struck me. The pain was just excruciating. I tried to survive until the end of the holiday trip, but we came back earlier. While I was crawling on the bathroom floor trying to find some comfort on the cold floor, I promised myself that I would get healthy, that I would lose the weight. I did not really know how or if it would work, but I said I would lose the weight.
Meal replacement shakes
Back in South Africa my doctor removed two kidney stones and I started with my weight loss plan immediately after that. One shake in the morning and restrained intake during the day. No cool-drinks or alcohol or fruit. I lost five kg the first three months which included a December holiday time. I was excited – it was the first December in years that I did not gain weight.
After that holiday I started with two meal replacement shakes (some were chocolate shakes) per day and continued with my disciplined eating. I continued to lose another 21 kg over a six month period. My total loss over that time was 26 kg which was not too fast, but also not too slow. It was 3,5 kg per month for the last six months.
Some nights I was dreaming that it was only a dream and that I did not lose the weight. I would rush to the mirror just to make sure that it was the truth. It was difficult for my mind to accept the fact that the weight was gone. At times my wife would touch me during the night and feel scared thinking that there is a stranger in bed with her – the body shape was not right.
Our youngest son said to me one day, “Dad, you are not a dad anymore!” I could not understand what he was referring to. He then continued to explain that all the fathers of his friends had big stomachs. Mine has disappeared, so naturally, I was not a dad anymore in terms of that qualification for what a dad should look like. I was definitely not a Coke and chocolate dad anymore. The strangest thing is that my urge or craving for the sweet things disappeared completely. This is remarkable! It is like a dream come true.
Comrades Marathon
One of the biggest things that happened to me was the fulfilling of a life long dream to run the Comrades Marathon (a distance of almost 90 km) which I did for the first time about two years after I lost the weight.
The magic now is that I am able to control my weight. I still take meal replacement shakes for the balanced nutrition that it gives me, the speed that I can make it and the sheer taste of it – it tastes like heaven, the way that I make it. I would still eat a chocolate, but it would be a thin layer of chocolate with a protein content of roughly 10 grams. From time to time a small chocolate here or there (the more unhealthy ones) will not make much difference to my weight now.
I know that you could lose the weight that you want to lose, I know that there is a lean person inside you that want to get out and to show the world what you look like inside and what you are able to achieve.
You can be successful!
Let me know if you need assistance.
Bellville, South Africa
19 July 2017
everything out of your body. It does not matter if you run 5h30 minutes or 11h59 minutes (maximum time is 12h00), it is a tough day.
He may still come back to do one final one even though he is suffering with an injury. I managed 11 h 59 m 16 seconds in 2016, but would like to get at least another 3 medals to have my permanent number with Comrades. I do not know how long the body will still be able to continue. The wonder,however, is that people of almost any age could start and finish the Comrades.
8 000 per year. The average provision for houses/housing runs at about 140 000 per year. In 2016 the government boasted that they built over 4,3m houses over 20 years. The fact of the matter is that the 
South Africa is in very much the same position. Of course we need to pray and ask forgiveness. We need truth and reconciliation in the church environment. The official church has not done much to build the bridges between the christians still living in the segregated areas. It is “easier” to take a trip with the church missions group to Zambia than to a nearby township 20 or 40 kilometres away. Going to Zambia means that our duty is fulfilled when we board our plane back to South Africa. Visiting a township and leaving it back home means that this is only the start of your journey with your new friends.
the place that I give the person of the Holy Spirit in my life as a lifestyle. When Jesus is baptised by John, a dove descends as the symbol of the Holy Spirit. There must be continuous connectivity with the Holy Spirit. He is using the picture of a person walking around with a dove on his shoulder.
If I still forget that I am talking to the Holy Spirit and my wife when I am talking to her, then I need the support of a group or a few people or one person to get that right. I also need to know how to recognise and voice my own emotions. As South Africans we have not learned this, or let me rather say, many of us have not learned to do that.
All I am asking now is that you open your heart to hear what God is saying about your changed lifestyle. If he calls you to take 10% or 50% of your assets to assist our brothers in need to set up a business or academy where they could get support and training to flourish if they want to, then please listen to him. If we do this as a collective, we ill truly become a rainbow nation under God. Then we will be truly brothers in Christ and not a few lonely islands in the ocean with each one trying to be more beautiful than the next one.