Journalist and TV presenter Steve Pennells has fallen victim to fat-shaming a number of times, but his new body will make the haters eat their words.
After personal training at Ultimate Performance Sydney for just 8 weeks, Steve has lost 13kg and about 15% body fat, and dropped two pant sizes ā and heās now in need of a new wardrobe!
āI didnāt think at my age, Iām 48, I would get the result that Iāve had. Because you assume you got the metabolism of an old person you kind of make excuses and think I canāt have the body of a 20-year-old.
āIāve learned that thatās not true, because Iām seeing abs that I haven’t seen since the 90s.
āIāve been amazed, everyone else is noticing it too.
āItās not just people who havenāt seen me for several weeks, even people who havenāt seen me for two weeks notice a significant change.ā

Prior to joining U.P. Sydney, Steve had always maintained an on-and-off relationship with fitness.
āMy fitness experience has been a bit sporadic.
āWhen I was a kid I swam a bit, I played sports every now and again, so itās been peaks and plateaus ā and itās been a plateau for the last 20-odd years.ā
Since he became a reporter on Channel 7ās Sunday Night, Steveās started travelling extensively for his job. As a result, he found himself letting his fitness and diet fall by the wayside.
āI travel with film crews and we spend long hours overseas and on the plane, so I default to junk food and comfort food.
āAlcohol is a big thing both socially and at work functions; but the lack of time for exercise is the biggest obstacle.ā
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Working on the foreground of media has also left him and his appearance open to public scrutiny.
āI was in Syria covering the refugee crisis. I was crossing the border between Syria and Jordan with the refugees and this woman had dropped a baby, so I went and picked up the baby and helped the woman carry her baby across to Jordan talking to the camera the whole time.
āThis is fantastic, amazing television.
āThen I came back to Australia and my boss went āYouāre looking a bit fat in that shot. Did you eat the baby?ā
āI thought that was a bit gut-wrenching. It was then that I realised I got a taste of what itās like to be in the public eye.ā
But it didnāt stop there ā finding his topless photos circulating on the internet was the final straw.
āI was in Poland doing a story which involved me taking my shirt off and going in some freezing cold ice water.
āA few days after that story aired, some shirtless shots of me from that story turned up on a website called Fat Male Celebrities ā thatās obviously pretty devastating.ā
He thought enough was enough. He needed a drastic change to his lifestyle, and thatās why he decided to take up personal training at U.P. Sydney.
After several failed attempts with personal training, Steve soon learned that U.P. is unlike anything heās ever experienced before.
āWith U.P., your whole life is taken into consideration ā not just when youāre at the gym.
āIf I go to a restaurant, I can email my trainer the restaurant menu and he will just tell me what to eat even when Iām travelling.ā
While our commitment (both inside and outside of the gym) has played a massive part in the success of his body transformation, Steve cannot deny that having an end goal has been hugely advantageous too.
āIf I didnāt have a certain goal at the end, Iād probably just go āoh, my goal is just to get fitā and Iād make excuses for a little bit of this here and a little bit of that there, so having this endgame is something to strive for.
āAnd knowing where I should be every week and seeing if Iām a bit ahead, thatās kind of the little race to motivate me like āYeah, Iām progressing!ā
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As Steve started to see progression in himself, he began to notice something unusual about U.P.
āOne thing that I notice here that I havenāt noticed in any other gym is Iāve seen my results quite quick, but Iām also seeing the same people here in the gym week in, week out and the changes in them every week.
āIāve never gone to a gym, and seen all the other people there and witnessed a transformation from week to week with everyone.ā
Recounting his past personal training experience, Steve admits he was never able to sustain the results the way he can with our programme.
āWhen I used to go to the gym, even with a personal trainer, I felt like I was just cruising through and not feeling like Iāve actually done anything at the end.
āNow I end every session at U.P. thinking āOkay, Iāve put it a good effort.
āWhat Iām amazed by is that Iām only doing three sessions a week, whereas other transformations involve six days a week and all these exercises.
āIām training less now than Iāve trained before.
āIām training half the amount I trained before, and Iām getting twice the results, so Iām obviously training more effectively and better ā and thatās what Iāve noticed.ā
Now that we have prepared him for any challenge his job throws at him, Steve is excited to see whatās ahead for him professionally and personally.
āNext week, itās Kilimanjaro!
āIāve had a couple of tests when Iāve travelled on the programme before, but this is going to be a big one. Itās the worldās highest free-standing mountain, it takes about 8, 9 days to get up and get down again.
āThatās daunting but I feel that the prep Iāve done here has put me in good stead.
āAlready Iām going to be carrying 13kg less that I wouldāve been up that mountain, which will make things a bit easier.
āYou talk about āresults, not promisesā, but youāve given me both ā you promised me that if I stuck to the programme that Iād get the results, and Iām getting the results.
āIām getting better results than I thought Iād get, and now that weāve got them, the skyās the limit!ā
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- Your results are a function of time spent following the plan; your genetic response to the right exercise and diet program; how hard you train; how consistently you come to the gym; how disciplined you are with your diet; & your starting point.
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