G’day Shredders,

As I discussed in Shredder Sunday #23 Video, the first ever edition of Mens Fitness Australia contains an article on my shredding journey!

Below is a full reprint of the article with some extra pictures, videos and links inserted to provide context and documentation.

I’d like to say a massive thank you to Hannah and the team at Mens Fitness Australia for writing and publishing this article.

It is truly a spin-out to see this in a magazine from my home country and something I could never have predicted when I started this blog 623 days ago.

So, without further adieu here is the article below!

Enjoy!

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Mens Fitness Australia: August/September 2008, Edition #1

Adam Waters: Blogging To Beat The Bulge

Browsing the Internet can waste away the hours but unfortunately doesn’t help with wasting away the weight. Adam Waters, 33, decided to put the Net’ to good use and used it as his primary tool to beat the bulge and get fit.

Originally from Brisbane, Waters moved to Osaka in Japan in 2000 to teach English. Before he moved, he stood six feet tall and weighed in at a lean 71 kilograms with a bodyfat percentage of just eight percent. Waters was a healthy human specimen.

However, upon relocating to Japan he left his healthy lifestyle behind. Waters was faced with dietary dilemmas that he didn’t have the willpower to conquer, “A lot of traditional dishes over here are very high in carbs,” he says. “And the term vegetarian doesn’t even compute.”

To add to to the unhealthy diet, Waters wasn’t exercising. He was commuting long distances to work, which minimised the time when he would normally work out or play sport. His lifestyle had changed and his body was suffering.

In 2006, Waters booked a trip to Phuket with a plan to enjoy the sun and surf and take a break from his busy life as a schoolteacher. On a gorgeous sunny day at the beach he pulled off his shirt and was struck with horror and shame.

Adam had let himself go, his body was an overweight mess and he could not avoid it any longer. The holiday was ruined, as he couldn’t supress his self-conscious embarrassed feelings. It was time to face the fat.

Waters returned home determined to reshape his now flabby 84kg physique and lower his bodyfat, which was now at 20% of his total bodyweight, but he didn’t quite know where to begin.

He took a photo of himself, posted it online and announced his mission to lose weight to the world.

Making his commitment to losing weight public would give him the motivation to stick to his word. “I wanted external accountability in real time,” says Waters.

In promising to get fit he also promised to post a daily photo of himself so that everyone could witness his gradual progress or give him a hard time if he was slacking off, “This gave me additional pressure to finish the job.”

Waters tackled his bad eating habits first and began making his own meals rather than eating out or ordering all the time. He ditched fatty tempura and teriyaki and began eating fresh raw vegetables, fruit and lots of chicken and fish.

He combined this new health eating program with high intensity sessions and circuit training at the gym. Eighty four days and 84 photos later Waters was seeing a transformation. He had “shred” a massive 9.5 kilos of fat and the gut, which ruined his holiday in Phuket, had shrunk five inches and had taken on the shape of a six-pack.

He then collated the 84 pictures and turned them into a mini-movie and posted it on YouTube for all to see. The public support he received was overwhelming.

In 2007, he led a 14-day challenge online in which 14 people began their own daily blog and posted a new photo each day to make them accountable for their weight loss just as Waters was.

Just like Waters, their progress was astounding. Waters has travelled to America where he has won prizes and been invited to share his innovative weight loss blogging program.

He has done photo shoots in New York and continues to inspire people all over the world to “shred” the fat and change their lives forever.

New York City Photo Shoot

When looking at Waters now it is hard to believe that he was once sporting a double chin, a potbelly and living a sedentary lifestyle. He continues to blog on a daily basis, is no longer ashamed to go to the beach and lives to “eat clean, shred hard and think big.”

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