Melchior Vassallo will be running the Malta Half Marathon in two weeks’ time. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Not many people boast about being half the person they once were, but for Melchior Vassallo, this is a feat he is proud of: the 36-year-old lost half his weight in just a year.

Mr Vassallo had tipped the scales ever since he was a young boy, peaking at 168 kilograms at the beginning of last year. Today he weighs 89 kilograms and will be running the Malta Half Marathon in two weeks’ time.

Speaking to The Sunday Times of Malta as he geared up for the race, Mr Vassallo said he had for years struggled to successfully lose the weight. Last year he woke up one morning, stood on the weighing scales and decided it was “now or never” to change his ways.

“I had always been an active person. I love sports and had played squash for years, but then I gained so much weight that I came to a point where I couldn’t do simple things like put on my socks.

“My job involves a lot of standing on my feet, and then my back and ankles started hurting. I had to do something before it was too late.”

Before his decision to lose the excess weight, Mr Vassallo led an unhealthy lifestyle, eating copious amounts of junk food on a daily basis and indulging in too much alcohol.

The first of a series of tough decisions Mr Vassallo had to make was getting on the weighing scales and looking down at the figure.

“I knew that alone would be a shock. Seeing the scales tip to 168 kilograms gave me the fright of my life and convinced me that I needed to change things,” the 36-year-old recalled.

He stopped eating junk food completely, changing his diet to include healthier options, which he ate in controlled portions. And he started to exercise regularly.

During the first six months, Mr Vassallo even stopped all alcohol.

Seeing the scales tip to 168 kilograms gave me the fright of my life

“The first time you try to exercise, especially after not doing so for some time and having gained so much weight, is never easy. But I went out, started by walking slowly, then that turned into jogging and now I work out every day.”

And while many seek the help of personal trainers or weight-loss experts to help them lose so much weight, Mr Vassallo insisted his only companion was his set of weighing scales.

In fact, he weighs himself twice a day, first thing in the morning and last thing at night, monitoring any changes closely. Losing so much weight was no easy feat but seeing the changes motivated him to keep going even when it seemed as though he might not be able to get any lighter.

Insisting that he still wanted to lose a few more kilograms before he felt that he had reached his target weight, Mr Vassallo said he was in the best shape he had ever been. This, he went on, was what motivated him to sign up for the Malta Half Marathon taking place on March 5. He admits to not being much of a marathon runner but sees his goal as purely a personal challenge: to complete the distance, 21 kilometres, in less than two hours.

“If I make it in an hour and 59 minutes I will still be happy so long as I don’t hit the two-hour mark. I never thought I’d even be up to signing up for this let alone completing the marathon,” Mr Vassallo said.

Tips

The key to Mr Vassallo’s success, he says, is monitoring his weight closely, maintaining a healthy diet and exercising regularly – all textbook tips that everyone attempting to lose weight is told about.

Yet Mr Vassallo insists that another key element to successfully shedding the weight and keeping it off is self-motivation. Attempting to lose weight for someone else rarely works, and those eager to lose the pounds need to be doing it for themselves.

He also encouraged those seeking changes not to cut down on food in such a way that left them with little or no energy. Starving oneself or eating very small portions, Mr Vassallo said, did not work in the long term and only made the challenge harder.

“It’s about lifestyle choices. Starving yourself takes away all your energy, and you cannot even exercise. People who want to lose weight need to eat healthy food which boosts energy, so they can then work out properly,” he said.