I would like to introduce you to AJ Heraghty. AJ has won the New YOU category at the 2024 WNBF VANCOUVER show. There was a great group of athletes in his class, however, AJ's story was one of great determination. When one is faced with potential major health issues, there is no telling what you are capable of doing, and inspiring others along the way.
Below is AJ's story, we hope that you enjoy it.
At 19 years old I was working in a call centre job. It was mentally excruciating, and my habit for years was comfort eating, and in this case it was at its worst. I sat at a desk all day taking horrible phone calls from angry customers, and used food, particularly chocolate and other sugary things, for comfort. On December 27th 2006, I walked out of the job and felt the weight of the world off my shoulders.
Shortly before this, I had blood tests takes by my doctor. I ran into her on January 2nd 2007 and she told me my cholesterol was at almost 8 (a healthy cholesterol is 5 or lower). This was a major health scare for me - at the very young age of 19 I was not only extremely unhealthy, obese, lazy, and had poor eating habits, I was also at a severe risk of heart disease. After this news I remember walking home feeling scared about what could happen if I continued at this rate of being unhealthy.
This is where everything changed.
I began making small changes to my eating habits, with one major change of not eating any unhealthy food. I weighed in at 219lbs that following morning, and threw on a hoodie and track-suits pants and began light jogging & walking 10km five days a week. I would jog a little and then walk, and jogged a little again. This would take me around an hour and a half. As time went on, I began losing weight and began jogging more than walking, and faster.
As I come from a small town, people began noticing me as they would see me out jogging daily, and I was being stopped on the street by people telling me that they saw me and congratulating me on how persistent I was. They noticed I had lost weight and was jogging faster, and a lot of them felt encouraged to exercise because of this.
Over the years my weight and habits fluctuated, but now I can safely say that I have nailed my eating habits. I was able to understand and recognize my triggers, and I used these recognitions to stop the triggers in their tracks from falling into the trap of unhealthy habits.
I began working out many years ago and even visited bodybuilding exhibitions where I met some of the most famous bodybuilders. I got a taste for competing in 2013 & 14 where I watched a couple of bodybuilding competitions, yet I had a lot of self doubt as to whether I could really achieve this. I gave up on the dream of competing more than once, and in 2022 I pretty much accepted that I was not going to happen.
However, in 2023, it all changed. I decided it was time to make my life dream of stepping on stage come through. With the help of my coach, I was able to prep and shred down to a worthy stage-ready shape, and finally achieve my dream.
I have lost a total of 82lbs/37.2kg. I have never been more proud of myself for changing my life, changing my health, and changing my habits for the better. As corny as it sounds, this is a huge dream come true for me, and I sincerely hope even just one person can take inspiration from my story.
