My fitness journey started on a wrong note. Back when I started my business in 2003, early mornings and late nights were the norm, and to keep myself sane, smoking three packs a day was probably my only workout.

Fresh out of army and at 75kg, I thought nothing about my diet and health, and it wasn’t long when I ballooned to a massive 98kg within two years. Irregular meals, weekend partying and a total lack of exercise meant an extremely unhealthy regime.

At that time, I met my then-girlfriend, whom I think is God-sent. Weighing close to 100kg and definitely not looking good or deep pocketed, the only reason I took up running was because of her influence. We started doing 2km; well, actually I did, as I was really struggling to catch up, while she did her usual 6-8km runs.

However, after the usual 2km runs, I would go for supper and finally when I hit 29 I felt all the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes and it was confirmed after a medical checkup.

That was a wake up call and from there I never looked back. I quit smoking and started working out regularly, I trained for marathons and joined running groups.

In the first year, I lost 8kg from 98kg and finally dropped to 73kg over the next five years. Don’t wait until you experience a health scare to start leading a healthy lifestyle, start now.