My name is Albert and I am a 47-year-old sales rep from Melbourne.
My story is one of loss, not only of my weight but of the loss of my wife to cancer. I married the love of my life Maria in 2004 and we had 2 beautiful children Oscar and Sienna. My wife was diagnosed with cancer in the early stages of her pregnancy with our second child and died just 4 days before her son’s birthday, 2 years after the terrible news. Our lives changed forever.
My son was only 5 and my daughter was just over 1 when Maria left us. Through the stress of nursing my wife, looking after the kids and an unhealthy lifestyle it was taking its toll on my health.
Being from an Italian background, my mum was always feeding us and saying eat, eat, EAT! My blood pressure was so high that I was warned by the doctors I was at risk of a heart attack. Looking at my sleeping children one night, I decided I wanted to live to see them grow up. I’ve never looked after myself. I’ve always neglected myself and instead put everyone else first.
My neighbour had spoken about the 1:1 Diet and each week for 3 years I would drive past Marianne’s office in Essendon and thought to myself I needed to do something. I wanted to do it for myself and for my kids. I’ve never looked after me, always neglected myself of being healthy, always looking after everyone else’s needs. It was time for me.
I felt this connection with my Consultant straight away and knew that I wasn’t going to be alone in this journey. Thank you, Marianne, for guiding me towards the right path, you are a fantastic mentor. I am proud of myself and why I did it.
My daughter put her arms around recently and said, “daddy I can wrap my arms around you now” And my son is proud to see daddy healthy and energetic. Yes, there have been so many highs on this journey and some terrible low moments but I did this for my family and for myself. I am no longer on any medication and most of all, I am not carrying around 30 extra kilos.