Jamie Owen: Fat and Forty-Something

I'm 15.5 stone, 5 foot 11 and I probably eat too much,

drink too much and don't do enough exercise.

If I was a member of the Welsh rugby team,

15.5 stone would probably be OK.

But I'm not. Like half the Welsh population, I'm overweight.

Hello, good evening.

PE should be given the same status as maths

and English to tackle our obesity time bomb, that's the conclusion...

'I'm Jamie Owen and I present Wales Today.

'20 years of working newsroom shifts, taking little exercise

'and eating fast food has taken its toll.'

Hello, good afternoon. A row has broken out...

'And looking back at old footage is sobering.

'My hairline has receded, my neck has grown wider

'and my waistline has expanded.'

It's quality, not quantity, that counts...

I'm a real foodie, I love food. I particularly like rubbish.

I like Chinese food, Indian food, I like pasta...

Chips and steak-and-kidney pie, please.

'If it's been a long day, I need cheering up.

'I'll treat myself with a pork pie.'

All the things that are essentially bad for you, I like.

Have I mentioned crisps?

Thanks very much, see you later.

'So, I've set myself a challenge.

'From today, I'm on a ten-week mission to turn my life around,

'to lose weight and get fit.

'Exercising three times a week, reducing my alcohol intake

'and eating a healthy diet of fruit and vegetables,

'fish and white meat will, I hope, make me fitter and thinner.'

If I can lose a stone over the next couple of months,

I will feel an enormous sense of achievement.

No-one lives for ever.

But you can drastically improve your chances of a longer life

and a healthier life, if you do something about it.

-You're not having these as well, are you?

-Yeah, yeah.

'And my other half, Suzanne,

'will do everything in her power to ensure that I succeed.'

So, this is the magic naughty cupboard.

And if you know what I mean, you can go in further back, so...

Get in at the back.

Chocolates! They are out of date.

So, hopefully, Jamie won't find these.

Coming back after a late shift, there is

the temptation just to have a look and see what might be there.

But supplies are a bit limited at the moment, sadly.

If he can do this, then he can be, hopefully,

an inspiration for other people to think,

"Actually, I need to make some big choices about my life, too."

So, that will keep him going, I think, that driver.

Hello. How are you? Nice to see you.

'I'm going to be making some radical changes, so before

'I get started, I'm seeing my GP, Dr Marina Arulanandam,

'for a full body MOT.

'Body mass index, or BMI, is a measure that anyone can use

'to check if your weight is healthy for your height.

'I'm 5 foot 11 and weigh 15.5 stone.

'That's 98 kilos, if you're younger than me!'

-Your BMI is 30.

-Right.

-Ideally, it should be between 21 and 25.

-Right.

So, you are overweight.

You are 45, you have a stressful job, so you are the typical

candidate who is more prone to having a heart attack, having a stroke, OK?

And we want to prevent you from having that.

Because it's cheaper for the NHS to prevent it than to treat you.

-It's a cheery thought, isn't it?

-Absolutely.

Well...!

Thanks, bye now.

I would like Jamie to lose a couple of stone, which would be realistic.

And I think he can do it if he had the time and if he had...

I mean, he is very, very motivated.

But I think, with Jamie, it's the lifestyle factor

and it's a time issue.

'So, as well as heart disease, stroke and diabetes,

'the latest research shows that obesity can increase the risk

'of developing dementia, another good reason to change my life.'

It is quite sobering to be sat there,

being told all those things face-to-face.

And I guess now, there is no escape, there is ten weeks to put it right.

DOOR BELL RINGS, KNOCK AT DOOR

'To help me kick-start my new regime, I've called in the services

'of a personal trainer,

'who I fear is about to turn my life upside down.'

-Hello.

-Good morning!

-Nice to see you.

-Nice to see you.

-Come in.

'Health guru Catrin is here to assess my fitness, and she has got

'more than just a skipping rope in that kit bag of hers.'

Like something out of medieval Britain!

Is there an anaesthetic before I have to do this?

SHE LAUGHS

'As the scales don't differentiate between body fat and muscle,

'Catrin is using the callipers to measure the amount of fat

'I'm carrying in different parts of my body.'

You know when you said I'd really enjoy this?

-Which bit of it did you mean?

-The results at the end.

-Yes, that's what I'm looking forward to.

-OK, that's 15.

If you're going to lose some fat, we're going to look at...

You need to lose inches.

'By the end of my challenge,

'I hope there will be much less fat to pinch.'

Over the next ten weeks, I want Jamie to lose some fat.

In order to do that, I want him to come

and see me in the gym, three times a week.

I want him to clean up his diet act and start eating healthier.

He needs to eat clean and train dirty!

The very idea of squats, weights and treadmills fills me with horror.

Down.

Push.

Breathing in and out.

He will get to like the burn.

He will be craving for it. Mark my words!

And lift. Pull. Good. Down. Pull.

She is small and terrifying. And she is very, very disciplined.

She is everything I'm not.

Aah! Ohh! Ohh!

Oh, it's like watching the wrestling,

Giant Haystacks beating the canvas.

Hoping the pain will stop!

Ohh! Ohh! Ohh!

I am the boss!

HE GROANS

-Stiff?

-Yeah.

It hasn't clicked yet, I mean,

I need to find a way of enjoying this and looking forward to it.

I would get up, but I can't.

He powered through it, so he's got that sort of willpower,

and he's obviously got his good endurance to push through.

But, um, yeah, lots of work to do.

He hasn't made that link between his brain and his body yet.

I think there's a few links missing!

I quite like my old life, you know, I quite like my food,

my way of life.

I know it's probably not good for me in the long term, but I'm trying

to turn to something else that I'm struggling with, and it's hard.

A pear.

Just in case you thought I might have

slipped from the straight and narrow.

'Within a week, I've reduced alcohol,

'I've replaced my nightly carbohydrate fix with

'a healthy alternative, and I'm also trying to build some daily

'exercise around my irregular working hours.'

This is my new weapon in the fight against the fat.

I've not had any takeaways, I've not been out to any restaurants,

I'm aching all over, I feel physically tired.

It's a tough regime, and at the end of week one, you just think,

"Well, am I going to stick at this for two months?"

'Going home for a family gathering in Pembrokeshire reminds me

'that junk food hasn't always been part of my life.'

We grew up in a very healthy household.

My mum was a great cook and made sure that we had

lots of home-cooked, healthy meals provided for us every day.

She was a health visitor and a nurse.

We had a very active, outdoor life.

-THEY SHOUT

-'Today is particularly special.

'Our family has organised a surprise lunch party to

'celebrate my mum's big birthday.'

-Happy birthday.

-Thank you, darling.

Looking very good for 85!

-Lovely to see all of you.

-CORK POPS

'This is the first time I've seen my younger brothers,

'Huw and Richard, together for 12 months.'

I'd like to think I was physically closer to Richard,

but I am probably physically closer to Huw.

We are closer in age, anyway.

Well, the slimmest and fittest, I would say, is Richard,

the youngest boy, because he does the half marathon

every year for charity,

and he is very keen on not eating junk.

Richard is more into this sort of, you know, marathon running, athlete.

He'll tell you he was the good-looking one of the family.

Obviously, he is slightly misguided in that!

Huw and Jamie would be first to admit that they are a bit lazy,

with regard to keeping fit and keeping a routine.

That's why they've piled on the pounds.

I'm quite happy every night to go out for a six-mile run,

and those two don't.

Dad does, like, loads of half marathons, and then, Jamie...

just doesn't hardly even... He hardly runs about.

Huw works away from home, he's driving a lot, takeaway food,

so of course his weight has gone up tremendously,

and then he's got diabetes as well, which is a problem.

Jamie has dabbled in fitness once or twice before.

I've seen several pushbikes in his hallway, wherever he's lived.

But they are not there for long, you know, I think they get

put into raffle prizes for the local church bazaar, or what have you.

HE CHUCKLES

'To the shock of my family,

'I've organised a truly healthy birthday lunch.'

Tomatoes, potato salad, fruit and lots of salads.

This is the kind of, you know, food of my new life. No puddings.

It's killing me!

The important thing, of course, J,

is that you stick to it now for the rest of you life.

Healthy eating and all that, you know! No rich cream gravy.

No delicious desserts.

-You don't think I'll stick the course?

-Absolutely!

I bet you £20 that this time next year,

you'll be encouraged to eat things that you like eating.

-Really?

-Yes.

'Half of all adults in the UK starting diets fail to make it

'to the end of the month.

'I'm hoping that I won't be joining their ranks.

'At my GP's request, I'm here to have an MRI scan,

'to find out what hidden damage all those years

'of little exercise and overeating has done.

'Using state-of-the-art projection, the MRI pictures have been

'transformed into a living, breathing autopsy.'

Wow, look at that! That's the inside of me.

-That looks amazing, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

What we want to do is surprise Jamie and say,

this is what your insides look like right now, mate.

What we're looking at here now is a 3D image of your liver, Jamie.

What you can see here is a little bit of fat there,

but your liver looks essentially healthy.

If you don't do anything about your diet,

if you don't do anything about your alcohol consumption,

this is what is going to happen in the future.

Now, that is the only bit of normal liver that we can see there.

The rest of it is mottled, it's covered in fat,

this is where people have jaundice, they have liver failure,

-they may even need to have a liver transplant.

-Wow!

Now, what we're going to try and do is have a look at your heart. OK?

Oh, bizarre! Look at that.

Now, what we are seeing here,

a little bit of fatty deposit in a few places there, OK?

Which isn't healthy.

And that probably is dietary. It's very, very minor,

so it's not causing you any effects at the moment.

But if you carry on with the bad diet,

you will find that that's going to get worse.

It's so unnerving to see small deposits of fat around your heart.

But it's a good thing that we're looking at this now,

because you can do something about it.

What we can do is show you what this heart is going to do

if you don't look after it. Can you see how awful it is?

You get all these horrible, yellow deposits of fat.

The arteries are narrowed,

if you look at the big artery that takes the blood supply

everywhere, it's got all yellowed, it's fatty,

so what we are seeing here is a fairly diseased heart.

It's been the most extraordinary and unique experience,

and rather an unnerving one, as well.

I know it seems very boring to harp on it, but diet, exercise,

alcohol consumption, so important for you to curb all of those.

'Well, I'd be a fool not to take all that on board.'

Come on!

'I'm halfway through and I'm gripped by a new resolve not to be

'beaten by my new, healthy regime.'

Keep going!

Skip, skip, and a hop! Punch!

Jamie's doing really well, he's really disciplined

and he's sticking to it.

That's how much weight I've lost.

I'm not sure this is suitable for tea-time television!

This is the fifth week, so I reckon I've lost half a stone.

-I do feel a sense of achievement.

-Good. So you should.

-Yeah.

I think he's now seeing a physical difference in how

his body is changing and adapting, and I suppose, actually,

that does give you a bit of motivation, to keep

going and make sure that he does reach the stone marker.

Some spinach. Some celery sticks...

'To help me lose another half a stone, Catrin wants me

'to increase my metabolism.

'That means eating more of the right stuff.

'As well as my three healthy meals, she wants to add in regular snacks.'

His metabolism is going to shoot up now,

I mean, fed every three or four hours.

That means he's going to be burning calories,

so he will eventually start creating more good, healthy foods.

Linseed is really high in omega three,

so I've soaked them overnight and they're a bit gloopy.

They're a bit like a...

um...

-tadpoles type of thing.

-Oh, good(!)

-Lovely(!)

Go for it.

Can I tell you, this looks like one of the most disgusting things

I've ever drunk in my life?

But so good for you. Take a good gulp of it.

-You haven't spat it out yet, that's a good thing.

-It's...

..interesting.

Catrin wants me to plan my healthy snacks and meals

a day in advance, but my other half Suzanne knows this might be tricky.

I think the biggest pitfalls and challenges for Jamie

are based around the strange hours that he works.

I can see lots of people eating at their desks

and it's the usual sort of stuff, bags of crisps and pies.

Everyone pretty much grazes at their desk,

which probably isn't terribly healthy.

Going into the office and creating a programme, having a few hours,

maybe an hour or a break before the late bulletin,

but sometimes not coming home until 11 o'clock at night.

I've just got back from work

and I'm having a moment of severe weakness and I'm perusing one of my

favourite Indian takeaways and, to be honest with you, I am fantasising

about what chicken tikka masala might taste like this evening.

And after a long day and many days of being good and staying off

the takeaways and rubbish, and eating lots of healthy things

I don't think I really like that much,

I have a yearning for takeaway.

'Staying on the wagon is tough

'when all around us we're bombarded by temptation.'

-CHILDREN:

-Good morning, Mr Owen.

'And if it's hard for me as an adult,

'it must be even tougher for children like this group

'of year fives at my old school in Pembroke Dock.'

-What's your favourite food?

-Fish.

-Fish?

-Cod.

-Cod.

You sound like a really healthy young man.

But the thing is, we get addicted to rubbish, to junk.

What's the most naughty thing that you eat that you know

you really shouldn't?

-Custard creams.

-Custard creams!

How many custard creams do you have, when you have a custard cream?

I have...

HE LAUGHS

I usually have a whole packet.

LAUGHTER

You have a whole packet of custard creams?

I'm amazed you don't look like a custard cream.

'Well, we're all allowed our naughty moments, but I wonder what

'tips these children have to help me stay on track.'

Stick with it.

Stick with it? So I can't quit.

Don't buy junk food, and lock the cupboard.

Don't buy any junk food and what? Lock the cupboard?

That's a very good idea, actually.

-Perhaps think of it as a punishment.

-That's really good advice, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Go jogging in the morning and jogging in the night.

Jogging in the morning and the night? You're a hard man.

That's a brutal regime.

You know, we all know it, don't we?

They know it, eat the right things, don't eat takeaways,

don't do snacks, stay off all those sugary drinks and do more exercise.

It's an interesting thing. We all know what we should do.

The test is doing it.

How are you? Nice to see you.

'Radiologist Dr Simon Blease spends a lot of his time

'looking at the damage that sweet, sugary foods do to our insides.

'Today, he's looking at me. That's my stomach on his screen.'

All this grey mass inside is fat.

And of course it bulges out sideways, but also forwards,

to give what you would typically call the potbelly, which is

the typical male pattern of fat deposition.

Why have we got a weight problem in the UK?

I think we've developed a dysfunctional relationship with food.

And one which has been pushed by the food industry.

Part of the problem, I believe, is that, for too long,

we've been fingering the wrong villain.

We talk about a low-fat diet, we talk about fat being harmful.

Whereas, in fact, all along,

it's sugar that is the harmful product in modern food.

-So you're saying we've got it wrong for years.

-Yes.

'The convenience foods and takeaways I ate in my old life

'and that we all love often contain hidden sugars.'

It's the sugar in the food that makes you store fat, which is

the real problem. It's almost like a drug to us.

Sugar is doing enormous damage to our health,

and we can see the consequences of a population hooked on sugar.

And yet we don't do anything about it, really.

Quitting is out of the question,

but why, oh, why doesn't training get any easier?

I'm sure my fitness fanatic of a brother Richard will have

a few motivational words for me.

-It's gone down a bit.

-It's gone down a bit? Is that all you can say?

Is that the most encouragement you can come up with for your more

-good-looking brother?

-It's gone down a bit, I'll give you that.

But you've still got a bit of work to do. Let's just do a few circuits.

-Where do you have in mind?

-On the perimeter of this nice, lovely park.

Around the perimeter of the park?

-Just a section of it, see how you get on.

-It's about 32 acres.

I was kind of assuming

when we agreed to meet this evening that we would have a circuit

of the rugby pitch, rather than the entire acreage of the park.

That's to loosen up. Come on. That's a bit heavy as well.

It's getting colder.

'To stay healthy, it is advised

'we do about 20 minutes of activity every day

'and about two to three hours of aerobic and muscle-strengthening

'exercise each week.'

I can't believe you're not out of breath.

That normally would be the warm-up.

That's just the warm-up, on a night like this,

just to have a good time outdoors. It's good for the mind.

A good time outdoors for me on a night like tonight is a nice

picnic down by the side of the river with a bottle of wine and a chiller.

-Food, drink, food, drink again.

-Equals a good time.

-But there's nothing stopping you in moderation.

-Running is the picnic?

Yeah, but do get three good sessions in.

Just a bit of cardiovascular work.

Because that will really help you reach overall fitness.

'Though I hate to admit it, my brother's advice is right.

'But old habits die hard.'

-RAPPING:

-Got to get back to my life again

Don't want to be sidetracked

Living my life on the edge...

I've just got back from a couple of days away where I've been

making a programme walking the coastal paths of Wales.

It's come-clean time, where I have to admit that,

at the end of it, the producer

and I rewarded our extraordinary athleticism with fish and chips.

Which obviously isn't in the plan.

I'm hoping that Catrin, my trainer, doesn't get to hear about that.

Good, OK. Sit back. And push.

One more. Down. Push up. Good.

I feel like a man who's been run over by a bus.

Stop moaning, come on.

Three. Get up, go. One more. Good.

'Three punishing gym sessions with Catrin every week could drive

'a grown man to breaking point.'

He is changing very quickly.

From years of desk abuse, we've got

to fix quite a bit of his body in such a short period of time

and he's actually doing a miraculous turnaround.

Exhausting.

-Did he tell you he had fish and chips last night?

-No, he didn't.

He had fish and chips last night?!

Jamie, you had fish and chips last night. I've just been told.

I can't believe you did that.

'I hope you're not going to be rubbish after this.

'We're going to have words about this on Monday.'

I hope you don't have a good weekend, by the way.

'After a weekend spent dreading the wrath of Catrin,

'it's time for me to bite the bullet.'

I can't believe you didn't tell me - that's what hurts the most,

-Jamie, is that you broke the trust.

-I should have told you.

Because, do you know what?

It's one thing... Motivation is what gets you here,

and habit is what makes you do it, isn't it, for the rest of your life?

-There were quite a few chips.

-How many, on average, do you reckon?

God, I don't know. 100. 100 chips.

As your reward for having fish and chips,

you're going to do 100 press-ups.

So one press-up for each chip that you ate.

-Yeah.

-We'll work on the fish, the battered fish, another day.

'That's ten sets of ten press-ups on top of my normal session.'

And up, lift.

Seven chip, eight chip,

nine chip, 100 chip!

It's a tough call. Fish and chips is off the Christmas-card list.

I'll never darken their door again.

'Here's hoping my moment of weakness doesn't stop me

'from reaching my goal.'

I'm being sent off for a couple of days, making a programme,

and this is usually where I go wrong on my regime.

It gets to lunch time and I bolt to the garage and buy a pork pie,

some crisps and sandwiches, a can of something unmentionable,

and bang goes the regime. So, a little bit of forward planning.

This time, I'm taking a packed lunch.

I'll be chewing a carrot, just like Bugs Bunny.

I'll be starving by two o'clock.

He's enjoying it, aren't you? When you can see a slight difference.

-Not enjoying it.

-Well, you are enjoying the results.

You're not enjoying the process, maybe.

But I'm amazed at how disciplined you've been, because I didn't

think you would find it easy to actually stick to it.

I don't find it easy.

There's no point doing anything that isn't sustainable,

because you just give it up. You hate it and you give it up.

It's been a long, hard ten weeks, but I certainly feel healthier

for it. The big question is,

will I make the grade in Catrin's final fitness tests?

And while I'm put through my paces,

little do I know I'm being watched by some sneaky onlookers.

-You fought like a girl when you first started.

-I was being gentlemanly.

-Keep going, Jamie.

-Keep going, get to 30.

-22. 23.

-Go on, Jamie!

-Oh! Well done.

-23! That's incredible. Well done.

'Well, 23 in one go is a first for me.'

You can't pinch an inch any more, can you?

'But at the end of my challenge, just how much weight have I lost?'

100. So you've lost 8cm.

91.7. That's...14 stone.

-So over a stone.

-Well done.

I feel a sense of personal satisfaction.

There are a lot of people around me, largely my family,

who thought I could never do it. So, having done it, I feel smug.

You've done so well, and you look so fit and trim.

Make sure you keep it up.

I honestly thought he would have a tremendous job losing the weight,

especially with the sort of job that he's got.

He's done very well, I'm very proud of him.

I like the way that he's learnt to get to know his body again.

He's moving right

and he's woken up some muscles that had definitely fallen asleep.

It's a massive achievement for somebody who's not really

-been to the gym hardly ever.

-I'm going to carry on with this regime.

It will have been a complete waste of everyone's time,

including mine, if I put loads of weight back on

and go back to my old ways, so I'm going to give it a go.

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