Jumius fought serious thyroid condition to pack on muscle and mass
“I’ve made incredible progress and it’s been a huge achievement for me. Seeing my results have motivated me so much.”
Jumius was making mind-blowing progress with Ultimate Performance.
Broad shoulders, thick arms and a wide back – he felt great about his physique.
That was until doctors delivered some devastating news.
He found out he’d had a relapse of hyperthyroidism – a serious thyroid condition which left him weak and drowsy.
Jumius was pegged back to square one. He dropped almost 9kg of weight in just over one week and said he was hit hard by depression.
Feeling low and unsure if he had the willpower to get back to training, his trainer helped him fight back to full fitness and rediscover the incredible body he was working towards.
Not even his stressful job could stop him from making eye-catching progress that has left him in the best shape of his life.
This is Jumius’ story.
Tell us a little bit about your situation and health problems.
I was training at U.P. and had hit my goal of 10% body fat when things came apart.
In May, I found out that I had a relapse of hyperthyroidism. I lost 8kg in one week. I went from around 74kg to [weight kg= 66] and lost all the strength I had worked hard to build.
I could also feel a change in my body; my heartbeat was very fast and I couldn't sleep at night.
How did that affect you mentally and emotionally?
It made me quite depressed to see so much weight loss after putting in so much work to maintain and reach my goal. I lost everything in one week.
Going out was also quite difficult for me at that point in time because every time I would go out and meet my colleagues or friends, everyone would ask me the same questions. "Why did you lose so much weight?"
Some people thought I was on drugs! I just didn't want to go out. My friends would ask me to join them, but I just didn’t want to go out and meet people.
How has it been in the last seven-odd months since your relapse, and how has U.P. helped?
Every month I have to go take a blood test. It's been up and down.
Right now, I'm on three pills. I initially started with six. After a few months it went down to four and then it went up again to six.
The doctors say it's stress level that resulted in this. My job is pretty stressful, and there is a lot of travelling involved, but I cannot help it.
Coming to the gym really helped me release and manage my stress.
Did training at U.P. help you mentally, and how did it impact you physically?
Initially, when I started in May – June, I told you I didn't feel like continuing.
I didn't want to come to the gym, to be very honest, because just losing what I had worked so hard to achieve before and seeing my weight and strength drop was incredibly disheartening.
For example, the amount of weight and reps I could do on the pendulum squat dropped so much. It was a joke to me. Honestly, it was quite depressing to see that.
I remember that I started at 50kg on the bench press, and now it's at 90kg. So overall you can say it's a big achievement for me.
So, it's definitely a big improvement on my end, and seeing this change also motivated me quite a lot.
