FAT and fed up, Carmelo Failla started a program that changed more than his appearance – his whole life is unrecognisable.
The Mernda man shed 35 kilograms and a high-pressure job that was keeping him away from his wife, Rebecca, and their three children.
The couple joined the Premier’s Active Families Challenge – in which families exercise for 30 minutes daily for 30 days – three years ago.
It kick-started a new life. Mr Failla quit his IT project manager job, studied fitness and is now a personal trainer. He is 46 but his biological age is now 32.
“I don’t recognise me or my life. I am very positive and happy now,” he said. “Before I started I had hurt my back picking up my daughter and struggled to walk around the corner. Now, in the past year, I have run the equivalent of a half marathon [21.1 kilometres] every Sunday with the goal of running a full marathon [42.2 kilometres] in October.”
Mr Failla dropped from 105 to 70 kilograms and people said he was too skinny, so he “beefed up” by putting on five kilograms of muscle.
Mrs Failla, 38, lost 13 kilograms during the first challenge and has since cycled 200 kilometres in the Ride to Conquer Cancer event.
“We were fat and lazy and we had three kids growing up learning our bad habits and decided enough is enough,” she said.
“We used to just sit and do nothing. Now the whole family does something active. On Sundays Carmelo runs to St Andrews and I drive the kids there, we take the kids to a park, then I ride my bike home and Carmelo drives the kids back.
“When we started, Carmelo was so large that he was a borderline diabetic; it was a wake-up call.”
The family will take up the 2013 challenge that runs until April 14.
Details: betterhealth.vic.gov.au.
