How obese Hongkonger shed 40kg by going cold turkey on his unhealthy ways and hitting gym and trail

Being half the man you used to be tends not to be a good thing, unless you're Andre Blumberg. Over the past two years, the 42-year-old Hong Kong-based German has shed so much weight that he literally looks half the obese, 100-plus kilogram guy he was.

The impending 40s presented Blumberg with a mid-life crisis. 'I didn't want to buy a sports car or have a fling with the personal assistant, so I considered exercise,' says the information technology director of a power company. 'I knew I wanted to take up running, but I was just too heavy and would have ruined my knees. So first of all I changed my diet.'

A few months before his 40th birthday, Blumberg turned his lifestyle on its head - overnight. He went cold turkey on alcohol for 18 months and cut out heavy late-night meals.

He made a couple of trips to a detox spa in Thailand, where for up two weeks each time he'd eat only herbs and teas. 'I dropped a lot of weight and it stayed off since I changed my nutrition as well. Then, I started exercising.'

In January 2010 Blumberg started riding the stationary bike in the gym, for 10 minutes at first, building up slowly to two hours. Within six months he had lost 32 kilograms. Then he hit the treadmill, starting out slowly for 20 minutes, then 45, then 90.