#58 James McDiarmid: He Lost 130kg and Changed His Life
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
James lost 130 kilos. You heard that right. He is now a trainer at BBM.
He talks about rock bottom, being stuck in hospital during COVID and the thought of dying on his son's birthday.
Honestly, sitting in the hospital, bro, I can't think about standing at a roof, about to think I'm about to die.
So James turned up to BBM to participate in our From the Couch program. And one thing I remember about him is he just kept turning up consistently all the time, done three cohorts of From the Couch. And I remember he couldn't stand, literally couldn't stand for more than five minutes.
And it was a dark place, bro. Honestly, I was ashamed. Some people call it whakama. I was embarrassed to go out in the world. I talk about the eyes watching me. Now he is a coach and mentor of that program. Honestly, every cohort I start reminds me of me starting, and every cohort I finish reminds me of how powerful I am now and how powerful they are.
How did James hit rock bottom in hospital and what triggered his decision to change?
I love being around them because some days I'm just feeling down. I remember saying, who motivates the motivator? Not many people check in on me. But James is one of those guys that always checks in and just sends me a message right at the right time. So don't forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe. Send this episode to someone who needs it, who needs to start their journey. James, enjoy. This podcast is made by the amazing team at Fanaticals. They put up with me, so they're pretty epic. James, a.k.a. Hemi the Heat, a.k.a. Joe Territay, a.k.a. Jackie Moon from Semi Pro. Straight from the Māori Waikato, the Huntley Special. For those who don't know, you know, James is one of my right-hand men. You're one of my right-hand men, brother.
And I remember asking you a question earlier. back through the floods when you were volunteering for us. You remember this question? Yeah, I do, bro. You were in the car and the floods was hectic and you and your boy came and volunteered and then I offered you a job. And I said, man, did you ever think that you'd be working for BBM?
What was your reply? I replied as with the question, did you ever think I'd be working for you? Yeah. And yeah, no, it sums up my life journey a little bit with you, bro, to be honest.
Yeah.
bros i mean your journey man you've lost i mean you lost 130 to begin with you know the journey's up and down yeah you're back on the journey you're doing really well but talk to us about before bbm about 2019 i was um i was in hospital again bro and um this is kind of where i this kind of where i picture life before bbm that's the way i kind of remember it a locked in a room not able to see my family not able to see my son on my birthday and i was in a really dark place you know touching that 300 kgs and um i was i wasn't going to get out you know and i i was and it just broke me and broke me that i might pass away Mike passed away on my son's birthday, which, like, you know, imagine trying to, you know, just remember your dad passing away.
And it still, you know, sends me there to that dark place, bro. Like, and I still use this fire now. I always think, you know, imagine passing away on my son's birthday, the trauma that would give him. And I just said, if I ever get out of here, I'm just going to grind, bro. I'm honestly just going to do everything I can to not be back in there. And I left there. I just started swimming and started moving because that's what I could do. I'd had some pretty bad experiences with gyms and personal trainers before that. And what was that? What was the... So one of many, but one experience I had is I went to the gym and I got, you know, you get that free thing when you sign up kind of thing. But they just smashed me and I lived about 200 metres away from the gym.
And on my walk home, I sat on this fence and I passed out. And I just woke up in this bush and I just remember thinking, whoa, what happened? You know, I never want this feeling again, you know, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, that wasn't smart. And I just got, I was like, why do I want to go do that to myself? Pretty much.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:02
2
How did James hit rock bottom in hospital and what triggered his decision to change?
1:02–12:51
3
Why did James avoid gyms and how did early negative training experiences affect him?
12:51–18:20
4
What humiliating challenges did James face living near 300kg (weighing tricks, chairs, public shaming)?
18:20–31:42
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Unfiltered with Dave Letele
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