When Sarah and George appeared on The Block in 2020, they were child-free, active and appeared to be healthy. Things weren’t quite as they seemed though.
“I was quite heavy at the time and ended up losing weight,” George tells Woman’s Day. “But I was eating very poorly, it wasn’t healthy. I didn’t feel good.”
When they finished filming, they returned to their normal lives as a tradie and teacher. “My weight has always fluctuated, and it gradually increased after time,” says Sarah. “I was probably my heaviest after The Block.
They put their steady weight increase down to living a fun, carefree life. “We were excited because we were living out of home,” says Sarah. “We’d get takeaway food because we could.”
Sarah admits she thought it was normal for her weight to go up as she got older.
“I thought that’s just what happened,” she says. “When I met George I was below 60kg, then suddenly I was 70kg.”
When they had their first son, Leo, in 2024, months of sleep deprivation and exhaustion took their toll on both of them.
“I’d always loved the gym but was too tired to do anything,” she says. “I got stuck in a spiral.” In hindsight, Sarah is “absolutely certain I had postpartum anxiety or depression, just undiagnosed,” she reveals. “It took months for me to realise that that was the case.”
George was also struggling with both his physical and mental health. “I’d sleep for nine hours and still wake up exhausted,” he says. “I was suffering from anxiety too; I couldn’t get on a train, I felt claustrophobic and panicked. I’d never felt like that before.”
At the start of 2024, George started to think seriously about his health.
“I was chasing Leo around and I couldn’t keep up with him. I thought I had something wrong with my stomach because I was just suffering from heartburn.”
When they got home, George weighed himself. “I weighed 127kg,” he says. “I was 36 years old and I realised that I was going to be dead by the time I was 50 and miss out on my boy’s life. It was a lightbulb moment for me – it made me change my lifestyle.”
George started to go to the gym and eat well, choosing chicken breast and veggies over takeaways. After Sarah gave birth to their second son Luca, in late 2024, she joined George on his health journey.
“I was cooking really nutritious meals for him, so I thought ‘why don’t I do the same?’” she says. “I was adamant I didn’t want to get to feel horrible like I did after having Leo, and I knew that the gym used to make me happy, so I started to get back to the gym.”
Nearly two years on, and the couple have lost 60kg between them. “We wanted to cultivate a lifestyle, not a diet,” says Sarah. “We cook at home six days a week, then take the boys out on Saturdays. Of course we have treats, and that’s ok.”
They both go to the gym regularly, and encourage each other to take time out to do so.
“I go straight to the gym from work, and train hard for an hour and a half four days a week,” says George. “Of course there are some days when I don’t feel like it, but I actually feel less tired when I go to the gym.
Sarah adds: “We encourage each other to be active and to give each other time. It’s really important as a parent that you don’t feel guilty for doing that.”
Today, the future of their family looks bright. “I want my sons to be proud of me,” says George. “That’s what keeps me going. We want to be there for them for as long as possible.”
The Check Up with Woman’s Day is a podcast that unpacks the medical realities behind obesity and the very real impact it has on women’s lives. Hear Sarah and George’s full story on the podcast.
