Duhme recalls the doctors telling him: "'If you want to offer her your kidney, you've got to lose 30 kilograms (66 pounds). Otherwise choices won't even look at you.'"

"And that truly have been effective for me," he explained.

A computer pai you guo slim capsule company consultant and co-owner inside a catering business together with his wife, Duhme has made time to fit training around an active life along with a strict diet.

The 40-year-old Duhme, as he prepares for his first triathlon in the Olympic distance on the first weekend of November, is far fitter and healthier than if this particular journey began.

And after competing with what he called miaozi diet pills several "baby tris (triathlons)" swimming, cycling and running at shorter distances than the 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer cycle and 10-kilometer run he's looking forward to competing in one of Australia's most widely used multi-sport events and also over exactly the same distance that elite Olympians do.