A wellness journey: from busy professional to fit father

How do you manage your mental and physical health while working a demanding, busy schedule and meeting the demands of your role, travel, clients, stakeholders and family life?

Around one year ago, I faced a big personal challenge; I was soon to become a first-time dad, having recently taken a promotion in a senior role within Network Rail’s asset management buildings team.

These were both fantastic opportunities for me. However, I thought to myself, I am out of shape, unfit and ultimately unhappy with how I look and feel. Most importantly, I felt my mental health was not where it could be.

The issue was that, due to work and personal life, I felt I had no time for myself or felt guilty if I did do things for myself. And that would soon become even more the case.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this and ultimately doing nothing about it, until I spoke to my fiancée about undergoing a ‘body transformation’. The support she showed me gave me the confidence to undertake a major lifestyle change.

How do you fit something like this into your work schedule? I signed up with elite health and performance coach David Cogley, who had worked with like-minded professionals previously.

He took all the details about my working week and created a manageable workout and diet plan to fit in with my work and personal life.

The mid-week beers were out the window and, instead, I was in the gym undertaking three weight sessions per week as well as cardio sessions, getting eight hours sleep (I had underestimated the importance of good sleep) and doing 10,000 steps a day.

I also had weekly check-in sessions which included photos that helped to maintain my motivation.

Thirty weeks later, I’d lost 16kg and looked and felt better. But ultimately, I’d made time in my schedule to prioritise my physical and mental health, something I’d always struggled to do previously.

It didn’t just improve though, it stayed consistent, which is very important to me. I wanted to set an example and be a good father, as well as being consistently good at my job and a good partner to my wife to be.

So, why am I sharing this? In today’s world, physical and mental wellbeing is more important than ever.

I wanted to share my story with like-minded professionals, regardless of gender, who are on the relentless journey of career progression while juggling many other demands, which often leaves little time for exercise and a healthy diet.

Here are some of the facts:

In conclusion, we should all know about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. A healthier lifestyle doesn’t just benefit life expectancy and overall health, it can allow you to get more out of your day and your career.

Most importantly for me, leading a healthier lifestyle has also benefited my young family.

We cannot ignore the facts on mental health and mortality – we must help ourselves where we can.

Harry Chester MCIOB is a senior asset engineer at Network Rail.