Danny Stone

Why??

Smart-arse answer: Why not?

The real answer: I needed to do it!.. For me.

Without going into specifics, around 10 weeks ago my world got turned upside down. I was suddenly facing a situation and future that sadly, many struggle with, a lot turn the bottle, drugs, suicide or any combination of these. The next day, I made the conscious decision that none of those will be playing a part in this new journey I was beginning.

I couldn’t bring myself to eat for a couple of days, which saw a 4-5kg weight loss. When I was able to start eating again, it was one sandwich for lunch and half a plate for dinner. I had stopped drinking soft drinks, which had always been something I’d consume in abundance & I wasn’t snacking anymore. It was 2 meals a day.

Though I was already beginning to exercise regularly, by doing 20mins on an exercise bike before work each morning. Running was not on the cards, legs hurt too much from it. A 5km parkrun was a 50+ minute endeavour. That kind of changed afterwards though, being 5kg lighter made it a bit less painful to run or jog.

Scrolling through Facebook one day I saw a post about K’s for R U OK? I figured, “Why not?” I’m starting to walk & run regularly anyway, why not? I left the distance & fund-raising goals as standard, being the type that doesn’t like drawing attention to myself I figured I’ll just donate the full $500 myself and see how I go with the k’s. It help keep the mind clear & more focussed than it would have been otherwise.

After a few days, I wound up doing a post on Facebook & quietly mentioning it to a few friends. Then after a few weeks, had it brought up with work & I also approached some other business I deal with regularly.

I will hit my target K’s and have already surpassed my donations goal.

18kg was lost within 8 weeks.