Tub of lard to triathlete
26-STONE DAD TURNS HIS TIRED, SAD LIFE AROUND
IN 2012 father of two Kris Whitelaw was 26 stone and clinically obese.
That brought on depression that he admits made him consider taking his own life on more than one occasion.
Miserable Kris, who lives in Killingworth but was originally from South Shields, felt like he couldn’t even enjoy fun and games with his two girls Sophie and Charlotte because his weight left him feeling too tired.
Fast forward to the present however, and Kris, now unrecognizable to the man he was back then, is just about to start preparation for another gruelling summer of multiple triathlon events — including two European Championships. He’s in the shape of his life.
“My life is so much better now,” the 33-year-old admits. “I was just so unhappy.
“People will say ‘well why didn’t you just stop eating?’ but it’s not as simple as that. It’s like people who don’t eat too. It’s a food problem. Sometimes there’s underlying problems and for me food was a comfort. The thing is, you can’t just stop eating either because you need food to live. You can stop taking a drug if you’re addicted and you won’t die; you can’t just stop eating.”
It all changed for Kris when he decided to see a doctor.
He was referred to the bariatrics team at North Tyneside hospital where his amazing life change would begin.
It started with six months of education, diet and exercise. However, with little change in his weight surgeons inserted a balloon into his stomach and within six months he was down to 22 stone.
On May 1, 2013, he then had gastric bypass surgery and by October of that year he’d amazingly completed the Great North Swim, Bike Ride and Run. He was down to 12 and a half stone. It was his performances during the three separate events that a work pal recommended Kris, a Team Manager for Utilitywise, start triathlon. It was the start of a new love for Kris that has so far seen him compete all over the world, including Lisbon and Chicago.
Training for these events takes a lot of his time and he has to juggle daily training with his job and family time. So where does he find the motivation for it?
There are three things that drive Kris on...
One, he says: “The biggest motivation for me is that I know the gastric bypass I was given isn’t a miracle cure. It won’t keep me thin and it won’t automatically make me continue to lose weight. I’ve got to work with it still. Even now if I so much as look at a Mars Bar I put weight on! So my motivation is to keep my weight off.”
Two: “When I was at my biggest and lowest the thing I worried the most about was my kids and not being able to enjoy time with them. I also didn’t want them to turn the way I was.”
The third is naturally a drive to be successful. This June Kris will compete in two European Championships, just one week apart.
First he’s off to Austria to compete in the standard Olympic-size triathlon which consists of a 1500m swim, a 40k bike ride and 10k run. Just one week later he’s in Dusseldorf, Germany for the sprint triathlon European Championships which is half the distance of the standard. His aim is to medal in both of those events.
It’s not just triathlon that Kris takes part in, however. He’s competed in Ironman events and last year completed the coast-to-coast cycle ride in just 3 hours and 42 minutes; unofficially knocking 20 minutes off what was the world record at the time.
Kris says: “People think I’m a lunatic but I love it,” he says.
“I feel amazing now. I can run around with the kids and I’ve started playing squash with them.
“Life is just so much different now. It’s just a completely different way of living.”
Life is just so much different now. It’s just a completely different way of living