On August 8, 2022 at around 21:45, Francois de Ridder had food on his lips for the last time. The 56-year-old then weighed a whopping 221 kg.
He knows diets well and exercise programs are nothing strange to him, because from childhood Francois had to listen to comments about his weight and advice on how to keep it under control.
Today, when he looks back at photos of him as a child, he wonders if the child in those photos was actually that fat and if he didn’t perhaps just need a supporting hand.
Over the years, his challenges with his weight never really stopped.
“It was a vicious cycle,” Francois explained to Rhewal in his living room in Centurion.
“After every diet, I just got fatter than I was. The lows got lower and lower and the highs higher and higher.”
In August, however, Francois decided to go this far and no further. With a plan to fast for only 20 days, he decided to say goodbye to food for now, and now it is seven months later and he is still fasting.
Up to here and no further
The turning point came when one day he walked into the family’s music room and saw a wheelchair standing there. He walked with the help of crutches due to an achilles tendon injury, and this chair beckoned to him.
“I knew that if I sat in that riding seat, moisture would build up in my legs and then amputation of my legs would be the next step.
“I want to go to heaven, but not right now.”
Since then, Francois has not eaten a single morsel of food, not even an old snack when he cooks for the rest of the family in the evenings.
(Photo: Mizanne Hattingh/Rhewal)
The uninterrupted fasting led to a weight loss of more than 100 kilograms during this time. He uses mineral and vitamin supplements and drinks a lot of water throughout the day. However, he emphasizes that these supplements are not any food substitutes, but simply keep him alive.
His target weight is 100 kg, but Francois does not advise anyone to follow in his footsteps.
“It’s insane to do what I’m doing, don’t do it. If you want to do something, consult your doctor or get professional help.”
“I am convinced that intermittent fasting [intermittent fasting] the right way is to get rid of extra fats.”
Francois is also well aware that his body can go into shock and there is even a risk that he could die when he eats again for the first time. When that day arrives, he will call in medical help to make it go smoothly.
He now walks his path with the Lord and knows that he will overcome this fear with Him by his side.
A history with weight problems
“I had a lot more dieticians than girls. I tried all the diets possible, but they never held an answer.”
Francois admits that there has always been a feeling in his heart that he is not good enough. However, this changed when he met his wife. He found comfort with her, he says.
“My wife took me and accepted me as I am. Your spouse is always by your side.”
In 2014, Francois weighed around 192 kilograms when he arrived at home one day with two bicycles for his daughters, who were still children at that stage, and a bicycle rack for four bicycles in the back of his car.
(Photo: Mizanne Hattingh/Rhewal)
Anneri wanted to know what he was going to do with these racks, to which he simply replied that he and she were going to participate in the Argus bicycle race the following year.
The staff at the bike shop pointed out to him that he would need to weigh 188kg to ride the bike, which encouraged him to lose weight.
He then took part in the Argus in 2015, and also shed a few kilos and turned in at 154 kilograms.
However, the weight loss was short-lived, he later gained the weight back.
From October 2021 up to and including April 2022, Francois swam around 12 kilometers weekly. Along with that began to follow a lifestyle of interrupted fasting (intermittent fasting), although he admits that he didn’t know much about it at the time. However, he still shed about 17 kilograms during this period.
However, that activity came to a halt when he struggled to get hold of a wetsuit in his size from a local distributor so he could continue swimming in the winter.
“By the time the diving suit was finally delivered to us, it was already bitterly cold and it didn’t work.”
After a family break during which he read Jason Fung’s book, The obesity coderead through about four times, he felt more comfortable with intermittent fasting and what it all entails.
“With this knowledge, I realized that one cannot empty a warehouse with a wheelbarrow. Uninterrupted fasting was the fork lifter for me when I started fasting on the 8th of August.”
Assessments from the public and a journey of faith through them
Over the years, Francois not only experienced challenges with diets and their sustainability, but also with the attacks of people who had cruel words to say about him.
(Photo: Mizanne Hattingh/Rhewal)
“People often spoke loudly enough behind our backs in public that not only me, but my family had to be hurt as well,” says a moved Francois.
“When I had a range of 2.1 metres, these were the attacks I had to take.”
The wheelchair in their music room may have been the match that lit the flame under Francois, but the motivation was to show people that he really has enough self-discipline.
Francois regularly shares more about his weight and life journey on his YouTube channel, Yourlife.co.za.
What do the experts say?
Jéjéan du Plessis, a Johannesburg dietician, believes that fasting is not a sustainable lifestyle. “If the individual starts moving back to his previous lifestyle, there is a very high risk that the weight that was lost will be gained again, if not more than before.
“Hormonal balances can also be disturbed if fasting is applied irresponsibly. This will lead to unregulated blood glucose levels. If blood glucose is not maintained throughout the day, the individual’s risk for insulin resistance increases, which in turn will lead to weight gain.”
However, she suggests that a balanced eating pattern with general improvement and health goals be applied to limit weight gain.
“If the individual uses these lifestyle changes from the beginning, healthy weight loss will occur, which is not easily regained. It will also be easier to maintain the weight goal after initial weight loss.”
