Craig Jackson,
MN.Nutr.

There are two versions of me, and both had no confidence.

The first was the skinny lad with no muscle. Last picked in PE. The one who found a reason to sit out when it was his turn. I was not unfit. I was just soft, and I knew it, and I carried it with me everywhere.

The second was the overweight man in his late twenties and early thirties. Working every hour, providing, putting everyone else first. I told myself I was being a good dad. I was actually putting myself last, over and over, until it caught up with me. Not just physically. It got into my head and it stayed there.

I sorted it out in my thirties. Not with a crash diet or a six week shred, but by finally learning how this stuff actually works and building it around a life that was already full.

What I got wrong for years was thinking that looking after myself took something away from my family. It gave them a better version of me. More patient. More present. More like myself.

Then I spent time working on a frailty ward. That changed everything. I saw where this ends when nobody intervenes. People losing the ability to get off the floor, carry the shopping, climb the stairs. Not because they were old. Because they lost their muscle, year after year, and nobody told them it was happening or showed them how to stop it.

More people than ever are losing weight now, through dieting or weight loss injections. What they do not realise is that a chunk of that weight is muscle. No medication protects your muscle. Only eating enough protein and exercising for strength does that.

That is why I do this. Looking better is a bonus. Being strong enough to live the life you want is the point.