Dr Nic Gill - Health Your Self

I was at university when I first realised I wasnt healthy. I was way out of shape. While I wasnt exactly a candidate for The Biggest Loser, I was definitely bigger than Id ever been. About 20 kilograms bigger, in fact. And I was studying physical education I really should have known better.

Up until then, Id never been unfit or overweight. I grew up in a typical Kiwi family, with barbecues and parties and lots of good food. I never thought about what I ate, and my parents certainly never talked about nutrition. Food was just food delicious and filling and there for eating.

As a teenager, I was really active. Id ride my bike for hours on end, then come home and eat a mountain of bread rolls and fresh fruit. I was lean, I was fit. I had no idea that this would change. At age 17 I moved to Dunedin and embraced the lifestyle of a university student. I was still exercising, sure, but I was also spending a lot of time sitting down. Id changed what I was doing but I hadnt changed how I was eating. And, eventually, it caught up with me.

Weight gain is sneaky. Its so gradual that you usually dont realise whats happening until one day your clothes dont fit any more, or you find yourself out of breath after climbing a flight of stairs. Id been at university for about a year and a half when I suddenly found that my rugby shorts were tight around my quads, and not because Id put on lots of muscle. It was fat. And it wasnt just my shorts: my jeans were tight, my T-shirts were tight and not in a good way.

I didnt feel good about being overweight, and running was harder than it should have been. So, I started watching what I was eating and exercising more, and gradually I felt better. I was healthier and I had more energy to do the things I loved. My life was back on track, or so I thought.

After I finished my degree at Otago University, I moved to Australia to do a PhD. Along with the study came time at the beach and Aussie beaches are all about the body. Suns out, guns out. It made me so much more aware of my body and also of what I was eating. I had an advantage I was still young, I was into sports and activity, and I was working in the field of exercise and nutrition. But then I got married. Suddenly, life was very different. Back in New Zealand, I got a job as a lecturer and my wife and I started a family. I was tired; my wife was tired. Neither of us was good in the kitchen. Our lives were disorganised, and we were both stressed. Dinner became whatever was easy, something that could be slammed in the oven with no thought or effort. I often sat down to a kilo of chips, three or four sausages and a heap of peas nutrition didnt come into it.

Not surprisingly, I started to put on weight again. I was struggling to find the time to exercise, I was chronically tired and I was eating rubbish. It would have been a miracle if I hadnt gained weight and lost health!

Like all new parents, we battled through and eventually things changed. Our girls grew older, and we got more sleep and had more time to do activities as a family. At the same time, my career was evolving and I started to do research into the connection between nutrition and sports performance. Today theres a lot of awareness of this at an elite sports level, but back then it was a new field. We were all learning as we were going along.

Despite working in this area, I still wasnt as healthy as I would have liked. I knew all about the theory of good nutrition but that didnt stop me eating when I wasnt hungry, or having a few beers on a regular basis, or eating chocolate every day. These habits were keeping me from being my best, and I wasnt even conscious of that fact.