'I was an addict at almost 20 stone but seven words changed my life'

A man who ballooned to almost 20 stone after transferring his addiction from drugs and alcohol to food found a way to lose five stone thanks to seven words. Brandon Kaitschuck became addicted to drugs after he started using marijuana at 15. Brandon, now 32, said: “I found that drinking and drugs were an easy temporary fix to feeling bad all the time. I found pretty quickly that I could get high and still perform. “I studied Mandarin and would do my Chinese homework while smoking weed with my friends. I’d write all my characters while taking bong hits. I would literally get high all day. I went to class high, studied high - and I still got high grades.” Brandon said: “By day I would be getting perfect grades in the advanced classes, hanging out with these really nerdy kids. Then after school I would hang out with people who had dropped out of school and were all addicts.” Brandon started usig harder and harder drugs and says. “It is a surprise that I am still alive.” When he ran out of fentanyl and could not make it to a test, everything collapsed. He decided he needed to come clean with his friends, family and lecturers and get help. “I emailed them saying ‘Hey, I'm a drug addict, I gotta go to rehab’,” he said.. For years Brandon was in a cycle of rehabilitation and backsliding. He often looked like he was doing well and got a job in sales, but says “I was just destroying myself”. Brandon ran a marathon while addicted to drugs, and later trained for triathlons, half Iron Man events and eventually a full Iron Man. S ome mornings, he would use before work. “I had my laptop open, I would be high, feeling fine, and I just kept calling, kept setting meetings. Sometimes I would do drugs during the day - when I was working at home. “Some nights I would be out drinking 15 or 20 beers. It got to the point that I just hated myself.” As he got older he would struggle at work in the day. “The withdrawals were so bad, and I would be shaking. I loved my job and I loved the people that I worked with, but I would end up so ill I’d have to take time off.” Brandon had a premonition that he would continue drinking heavily until he was in his sixties, drying out every few years before falling off the wagon again. The thought of that cycle made him sick, so three years ago he decided enough was enough and sought professional help. “I really was at rock bottom. I was so sick of myself and who I had become.” He was recommended a therapist named Mohamad, who had helped him years before in rehab. Mohamad was blunt, demanding, and deeply effective, Brandon says. He gave him seven words that changed his life. "He was just very direct with me," Brandon remembers. "He told me: ‘The problem is you don't respect yourself.’” He worked hard to stay off drugs and alcohol, but his addiction quickly transferred to food. He found he could order from multiple takeaway places at once and eat it all. “I could call Uber Eats and order McDonald's, KFC, pizza, sushi - whatever I was craving - and just indulge in all of it at once. I was super impulsive.” At his heaviest Brandon, who is 6 foot 1, weighed 19.5 stone (123 kg). So Brandon locked in. Out went the takeaways and in came lean beef, chicken, rice, fish, quinoa and vegetables. He weighed everything he ate and kept training. Within eighteen months he’d lost five stone and has since kept it off. Brandon leaned on his Christian faith and the unwavering support of his family, friends, and coworkers. "I'm not proud of who I was or the things I did, but I am endlessly grateful for the grace I was shown," he says. "I wouldn't be here without God and the people who stood by me." The healthy routines he had tried to build during his addiction finally took root. He channelled his intense drive into extreme physical discipline, taking on an Iron Man. He completed the 140-mile race, despite suffering an injury when, on the third mile, Brandon stopped to help lift a golf cart off a volunteer who had fallen down a hill. The heavy lift caused a hernia, but Brandon pushed through the pain. And he focused on other things he loved, like playing saxophone, performing onstage - although this time without alcohol to calm his nerves - and travel. He learned new languages, including conversational Indonesian while living in Bali, and Spanish which he picked up working in coffee shops in Colombia. Brandon also set up Sphynx Links, a strategic advisory healthcare firm. He has repaired his relationships with his parents, who spent tens of thousands of dollars on his rehab. “I couldn’t have made all these improvements without my faith in God and Jesus Christ and the incredible support system of family, therapists, friends, and coworkers who never gave up on me. I simply wouldn't be here without them.”