Obese couple reveal all about 'life-changing' trip around the world in 80 days
Coming face to face with a slim 27-year-old woman who’d had both legs amputated because of diabetes, Russell and Marisa broke down in tears.
The obese couple had flown to Tonga for a Channel 4 show looking at various countries’ approach to healthy living. Shocked by the impact diabetes can have on someone not even obese, they said it was one of several life-changing moments on the two-month trip.
For years healthcare insurer Russell, 36, who weighed 28 stone, five pounds, and healthcare administrator Marisa, 32, who weighed 29 stone one pound, have had a food addiction. A love of Chinese takeaways, fried chicken and pizza, chocolate and crisps led them to become morbidly obese. Four years ago, Russell was also diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, having watched his own dad suffer from the condition and then die at the age of 56.
As well the physical toll, their over-eating had also made the couple so self-conscious that they would hide away indoors and shun the gym. When they did exercise, they drove two hours to a swimming pool so no locals would see their bodies. Like many who are obese, the couple, together for eight years and married for two, had tried various diets. While they had started to be successful in the months leading up to the series following Slimming Club, they felt they were going around in circles when they found themselves falling off the wagon again and again.
l-r Susan, Russell, Tiffany, Therryi-Jay, Phil and Marisa (Christopher Jue)So a chance to join four others and travel to Japan, Tonga, India, and America as part of a TV series was the perfect opportunity. In an exclusive interview today, Marisa says: “We were addicted to food. I have comfort ate ever since a child and during the two years around Covid, I especially piled on the weight and I put on seven stone. I had a thyroid disease too, which didn’t help at all, and at my heaviest, I was 32 stone five. My brother pleaded with me a year ago to do something about it by telling me: ‘I don’t want to lose my sister’. I brushed it under the carpet as I was dieting and I had started to lose weight. But this TV series was a chance to really get to the bottom of why I put on weight. We wanted to find out how we could change things permanently. I want to have children one day too and I want to be as healthy as I can.”
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First stop on their TV journey was Japan, a country famous for being healthy, which taught them the importance of portion control. But a meeting during their second stopover, in Tonga, Marisa says, hit hardest.
Marisa says: “We met Doa who was 27. She was not overweight but she had diabetes and she had to have both legs amputated because it had got so bad. It was such a big thing for me.”
Russell says: “Like Marisa, I’d also been eating ever since a child and I’d also been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes myself. I lost my dad at 19 and I knew I didn’t want to die young.”
Travellers on the show visit Japan (Channel 4)Russell and Marisa were guided around Tonga by Winnie, a 28-year-old who weighed 47 stone. Watching her out of breath, struggling to get up and down the stairs, helped them finally to realise that obesity is a disease.
Marisa says: “She was the nicest person. One member of the group said ‘we don’t want you to die’ after watching her struggle. And that really got to me. It made me think about my own conversation with my brother and the worry my weight was putting on my own family. For me, this felt like my epiphany. I knew this trip was not about finding a cure but I realised it was starting to arm me with the tools and knowledge to change, which I had never had before.”
Russell adds: “In Japan, we’d been shown how to eat slower, about portion control and I met one man whose daughter told him she didn’t want him to die either. I’d love to be a dad one day and run around with my children in the park without getting out of breath.”
After a further two visits to America, where they learnt the importance of exercise, and one to India to see how it treats obesity, the couple returned to the UK vowing never to go back to their takeaway days.
Russell says: “The first thing we did when we got back to Britain was to go on a big shop. We knew we had to eat a lot more natural foods and we knew we had to start exercising. Melons, blueberries, pineapple… we knew they were the way forward and not going back again craving pizzas and KFC takeaways!” The couple also joined a gym together.
Now six months after their TV trip, the couple have shed nearly five stone between them. Russell’s diabetes medication dosage has been halved and they have a lot more energy. The fast food diet has been replaced by eggs and spinach at breakfast, and salads and fish or chicken with heaps of vegetables at dinner time.
As well as walking, gym visits, dog walks and swims, the couple also do Zumba classes when they can.
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Russell says: “I do feel less self-conscious now. At Christmas, I had a dance at our work party. Before I’d never have dared go on the dance floor. Doing this TV show really has changed my life.”
As well having as a healthier relationship with food, they have both stopped obsessing about the weighing scales. “It’s not about the numbers on the scales,” says Marisa. “It’s about what we are putting in our bodies. I feel so much better and I feel healthier too. As and when we start to think about trying for a family, I know that I am now doing everything to be as physically and mentally strong as I can be.”
Russell says of the show: “We had the best time, we made some amazing friends and if the TV producers said ‘oh sorry, we’ve lost all the footage, can you do it again?’ I would go like a flash. It has been life-changing.”
Russell
Weight before travelling: 28 stone, five pounds
Weight now after travelling: 26 stone, six pounds
Weight loss since trip: One stone, thirteen pounds
Marisa
Weight before travelling: 29 stone, one pound
Weight now after travelling: 26 stone, five pounds
Weight loss since trip: Two stone, ten pounds
What we learned
Japan Eating smaller portions and more slowly. We were really struck by how much care the Japanese companies take towards their workforce by even measuring their waists so they keep on top of their diets! They have daily exercise classes over the radio and we loved learning more about their portion controls.
Tonga What we put in our bodies really does have an impact. We used to think that by drinking a sugar-free drink, it was OK. It’s obviously not. It also taught us that nobody chooses to be overweight but we can do things to make sure we don’t die young.
America Exercise doesn’t have to be a chore. One amazing man made us realise that whatever we do is beneficial. Skateboarding, dance, Zumba, it doesn’t have to be boring!
India Our visit taught us reflection on our journey so far – the ability to slow down and be proud of how far we have come with not only weight loss but also confidence and to continue that long-term.
India
- Around the World in 80 Weighs airs every Tuesday on Channel 4 at 9pm.
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