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LifestyleHealth & Wellness
How a 150kg teacher lost 66kg after being told he might not live to 30
Hong Kong-based Paul Goodson suffered from sleep apnoea and binge eating disorder before a diet overhaul, running and Hyrox changed his life
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Bhakti Mathur
Published: 11:00am, 26 Aug 2026
Updated: 12:01pm, 26 Aug 2026
Watching Paul Goodson conquer Hong Kong’s gruelling trail runs and blaze through Hyrox arenas, it is hard to imagine that nine years ago he was trapped in an obese body that was failing him
In 2017, at the age of 29, Goodson weighed 150kg (330lbs). Sleepless nights drove him to the doctor. The verdict was devastating – severe sleep apnoea and a warning that he might not live to see 30. Compounding the crisis was another diagnosis – binge eating disorder (BED). He would regularly gorge on food and then feel a sense of loss of control.
“That moment was a reckoning,” Goodson says
For the London-born geography teacher, it kicked off a journey that would take him to Brazil and his current home in Hong Kong – and transform him into a Hyrox competitor and endurance runner. He shed 66kg over the next five years, his weight dropping to 84kg. He has kept close to that weight since
Now 38, Goodson’s sights are set on two 2027 events: the London Marathon in April, and qualifying for the Hyrox World Championships in Hong Kong in June. He describes what it took to go from a couch potato in the UK to an elite competitor in Hong Kong.
“When I weighed 150kg, any exercise was painful. My earliest big wins were simply going for short walks, one to two kilometres,” he says
He followed his doctor’s recommendation to join the UK-based weight-loss support group Slimming World in 2018
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