Nick Montgomery, 33, had been a keen rugby player as a teenager doing weights and getting a good cardiovascular workout during matches. However, when his sport stopped, so did his gym training. This led to him gaining weight, further compounded by him continuing with the social side of the rugby.

Nick wanted to get back into shape but lacked focus or commitment. His girlfriend then bought him the Body-for-LIFE book and that put him back on track. The success stories of other people in the book and on the website inspired Nick to take up the 12-week challenge. He set his mind to visualising what he would look like after the programme while using the book as a constant reference manual. He soon realised that this would be a life changing experience both inside and out.

Nick dropped his weight from 14st 10lbs to 12st 9lbs and halved his body fat from 20% to 10%.

Nick trained mainly at the gym, but his master stroke was to replace his car with a mountain bike to use for all his journeys. Sometimes this could mean cycling 20 miles in a day - not surprisingly this benefited his training.

Although the training side was going well, Nick still felt hungry on the nutrition programme initially. He had cravings for takeaways or fry-ups and had to fight the urge to have pack in peanut butter sandwiches! Half a jar of peanut butter a day was pretty standard before Body-for-LIFE for Nick. The weekends represented the biggest test as Nick’s past eating habits were hard to replace while surrounded by others not following the Challenge guidelines.

“I used to drink lots of beer on a Saturday but that’s all over now. After quite a short time you lose the desire to eat junk food: it really loses its appeal,” explains Nick. “The key to success is in the preparation. The night before work, I’d plan what I was going to eat and take to my job. And I’d always have EAS shakes and bars with me to tide me over and satisfy my sweet tooth.”

To keep track of his progress he bought a set of digital scales and weighed himself each week. He couldn’t always see the difference in his body, but the scales revealed improvements. He confesses that family and friends noticed how his healthy active lifestyle had transformed him before he did. But soon, his physical and mental transformations revealed a very fit and positive person.

“I had a certain group of mates who were still asking me over for beers and would use comments like ‘You’ll never stick with it anyway’ etc,” says Nick. Far from detracting from his programme, these remarks made him more determined. “Their comments only served to bolster my resolve to focus on proving them wrong – and I did.”

“Keeping with the challenge from start to finish has made me realise that if I really want something all I have to do is set goals, stick to them and I can make the dream a reality. Physically I have never felt better. My energy levels are limitless, plus my self esteem and confidence have improved dramatically.”