Around 70% of Aussie men are overweight or obese, and most of us would say we’d like to lose some fat and drop a pants size or two.

Maintaining a lean, healthy body we feel happy in, is relatively simple, but it's far from easy. We generally know the importance of exercise and the basics of nutrition, but the way our emotions drive our eating habits is much less talked about.

When life gets stressful, food becomes an easy form of comfort, a socially acceptable, readily available coping mechanism to distract ourselves from having to feel uncomfortable emotions. Whether we’re sad, bored, tired or frustrated, the promise of a quick dopamine hit from junk food can be too good to resist. And if we're in the habit of pairing it with alcohol, it creates the perfect storm for an expanding waistline.

As life gets busier, it only gets harder. With work, bills, kids and relationships to manage, looking after your body can quickly fall down the list of priorities, left unchecked it can lead to hardly recognising yourself in the mirror.

This is Zac's bread and butter.

He’s a personal trainer and fitness coach who's helped hundreds of men in their 30s, 40s and 50s lose fat, gain muscle and build a sustainable healthy lifestyle, without needing to live in the gym and sacrifice everything they enjoy.

This is Zac Mason...

Corporal James Overall served as an Australian Army medic for a decade, deploying overseas on multiple occasions, including to Afghanistan in 2015. He was instrumental in 6 mass casualty events, as a highly skilled trauma care provider and auxiliary security force member, awarded the United States Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (NAM) for his outstanding service.

Frequently under immense pressure to perform in life or death situations, Jimmy didn't have the awareness to recognise the trauma he was internalising or the ability to process it.

Suppressing his emotions and soldiering on seemed to work, until it all caught up with him, manifesting in symptoms that couldn't be ignored.

• No longer able to meet his own expectations as a serviceman, he discharged and became a paramedic.

  Then in 2021, Jimmy and his wife lost their baby boy Luke at birth, a tragedy that broke their hearts and left him numb.

  He reached a crossroads and made the choice to finally open up and lean on others for help, allowing him to grow into the husband and father he is today, a man worthy of his own respect.

  
  

  This is James Overall...

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• Gambling’s been baked into Australian culture for generations.
  Having a punt with your mates is as normalised today as a beer and schnitty at the pub, but for a lot of young men in particular, it quickly grows into a monster that destroys lives.

  Australians lose around $32 billion every year gambling, making us the biggest losers in the world, and the fastest-growing part of that is online sports betting.

  Research shows that among Australians aged 18 to 34 who gamble online, more than 80% are at risk of harm, and about one in four are already in the high-risk category.

  Mark started betting as a teenager and spent more than a decade trapped in the cycle of chasing his losses, lying to the people he loved, and slowly losing himself, almost costing him everything.

  Now six years free from gambling, Mark’s fighting for systemic change to help others escape harm from this insidious industry.

  This is Mark Kempster...