An Australian dad is leaving his wife and two sons to live in Thailand for ten weeks in a drastic bid to lose weight – after one of his kids called him fat.
Jimmy Mitchell, from Western Australia, told FEMAIL he’s leaving his family behind on January 12 in a determined bid to shed kilos.
The 38-year-old has been concerned about his weight ever since he left the navy in 2011 and more so after becoming a dad nine years ago.
The father-of-two said being overweight ‘slowly chips away’ at you and your mental health.
So to kickstart the year, he’ll be participating in Muay Thai training, which involves four hours of daily exercise split into two sessions.
The high intensity sessions will include running 5-10km, shadowboxing, boxing with others, and other cardio exercises.
Jimmy, his wife Pauline and their two sons Riley, eight, and Liam, nine, have been living in South East Asia for the past two years and are currently based in Malaysia.
‘My weight has slowly crept up. Four years ago I was 126kg – the heaviest I’ve ever been. Now I’m about 118kg,’ Jimmy, the cofounder of digital marketing agency My Online Guy, said.
‘When I joined the navy in 2004 I was 68kg, by the time I left in 2011 I was 89kg and was much fitter back then.
‘One of my kids called me fat which really played on my mind.
Jimmy Mitchell, from Western Australia, told FEMAIL he’ll be going to Thailand on January 12 to focus on losing weight and getting in shape
While in Thailand Jimmy has two main goals: Participate in a professional Muay Thai fight and get back into shape by losing 15kg
‘It’s hard setting a good example for the kids [about health and fitness] when I’m not in the best shape and feel out of breath playing sports with them,’ he said.
Another thing Jimmy is concerned about is his family history of diabetes. If he can, he wants to avoid the same fate too.
‘My weight has definitely effected me emotionally. When I got to the beach I feel self conscious about it so I’ll wear a singlet,’ Jimmy added.
‘During our time overseas as a family we’ve been on some crazy adventures and activities, but I haven’t been able to do some because I’ve been too heavy.
‘It’s pretty embarrassing having to sit on the sidelines and not being able to get involved.
‘My family has been absolutely amazing and they work around it, but it’s been hard for me.’
Currently Jimmy exercises two to three days a week and has been doing Muay Thai for 18 months. He starts his day with a protein shake before working on his business all day, which he admitted has contributed to the problem.
Lunch is often two wraps and dinner with the family varies from chicken or beef with vegetables, or Malaysian dishes.
The 38-year-old has been concerned about his weight ever since he left the navy in 2011 and more so after becoming a dad nine years ago
While in Thailand Jimmy has two main goals: Participate in a professional Muay Thai fight and get back into shape by losing 15kg.
‘I want to prove to myself and others that I can do this even though I’m a bit older,’ he said.
‘The fight will force me to get into shape. I want to be prepared.’
When Jimmy told his wife Pauline about the idea of going to Thailand alone, she was ‘really understanding’ as she’s aware how self-conscious of weight her husband is.
She was more concerned about Jimmy competing in a fight rather than spending more than two months away from her and their kids.
The couple sold everything they owned to move their family-of-four overseas after finding themselves unable to afford a comfortable life Down Under.
Jimmy previously told FEMAIL he was working endlessly to make a decent amount of money but felt like he was ‘never getting ahead’ and would at times arrive home in tears.
At the time the couple were renting a four bedroom house in Mandurah, an hour south of Perth, and struggled saving for a house deposit despite working long hours.
Jimmy, his wife Pauline and their two sons Riley, eight, and Liam, nine, have been living in South East Asia for the past two years and are currently based in Malaysia
‘The core reason why we decided to travel full-time was to improve our quality of life and spend more time together as a family,’ Jimmy said.
The pair haven’t looked back since taking the leap and aren’t sure when – or if – they will return to Australia permanently.
‘In Australia we earned good money – this is the thing I couldn’t get my head around. We had good jobs but we always felt like we weren’t getting ahead,’ Jimmy said.
‘The more I worked and the harder I worked to earn the money so we could have the stuff, the less time I got to spend with my family.’
The stress felt like such a massive burden that sometimes Jimmy would come home from work crying, and it was only getting ‘progressively worse’.
‘I’d come home and say to Pauline, “I can’t keep living like this anymore”. And that was a combination of the fact that we were both working in the business, the kids were at school and we had barely seen each other,’ he said.
‘We were just sick of it and couldn’t continue.’
Pauline agreed and said every day felt like a repeat of the last.
‘We felt like we were living the same stagnant life. You just do the same thing day in day out, and there was just no reprieve from it,’ she said.
‘Even on the weekends you think you’ll have some family time or go somewhere but the plans never eventuated.’Due to the stress of running a business, even on quick family getaways, the couple would always receive calls or emails from staff and clients.
