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'It was a light bulb moment' - Will Skelton reveals exactly how he went from 148kg to 135kg
A slimmed down Will Skelton could be heading back to Australia to bid for a World Cup squad place after using a weight loss App to transform himself with Premiership champions Saracens.
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Skelton has dropped from 148kgs(23.3st) to 135kgs(21.2st) and admits he could end up even lighter thanks to the programme he is following which has been devised by a nutritionist and utilizes the MyFitnessPal App.
Skelton, who won the last of his 18 caps nearly two years ago, knew he was heading into test exile by signing a two year deal with Saracens and that ends in May, opening the way for his return to Australia in time for the 2019 World Cup campaign in Japan.
The giant lock weighs everything he eats and believes his performances this season are the direct result of his new diet and change of lifestyle. Skelton has been an inconsistent performer for the Wallabies and in Super Rugby but former World Cup winning coach Bob Dwyer has been delighted to see the positive effects of English rugby on Australia’s powerhouse lock and is calling for his country’s top players to improve their fitness levels.
For Skelton, a Wallaby recall is something he cannot control and he said: “You always feel the urge to play at the highest level and it hurt when I watched my boys lose against New Zealand, Argentina and South Africa and that was the sacrifice we made coming here because I wouldn’t be eligible. I haven’t had any conversations with Michael Cheika and there a lot of good players there at the moment. This is my final year of my current contract at Saracens and at this point there may be a few options to go back home, but I have left that to my agent.
“Last year I had a poor season by my standards even though I won the Premiership I felt a bit empty. I am just making the most of my opportunities and I am fully committed to Sarries. I had my first pre-season without being injured and I just trained hard. I am eating the same food just tracking what I am consuming and having a better outlook. I was 148kgs and now 135kg at the moment and I have more bounce on the field and feel I can do more on the pitch. This is the best shape and best I have ever felt.
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“I have a lot more energy and can keep up with the boys and your standards go up. I spoke to the staff about my weight after the summer and it was a light bulb moment. Then I had a chat with my wife and set some goals. I didn’t have a good season last season and wanted to knuckle down and have a good start to this season.”
Thanks to specialist advice from his nutritionist supported by Saracens strength and conditioning team, the slimmer Skelton as not only lost weight, he has changed his whole attitude to food.
The 6ft 8ins former Waratahs lock explained: “I am using an App – MyFitnessPal – and not feeling hungry because I can have a donut or some chocolate as I have tracked my food intake.
“We get breakfast and lunch here at the club and we get plain options and I weigh my carbs, protein and it gets pretty easy because the trainers are supporting me although the boys so give me a bit of stick, which is normal. For lunch I will have chicken breast weighed and then weigh sweet potato plus veggies and that is my lunch which is put into my App.
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“I am eating 2,500 calories a day and on game day its 3,200. I load up in the back end of the week for games. Because I have had a big weight shift everyone is pointing the finger at me and there are bigger things in the world than how much weight I have lost!
“I am not too worried about my weight and it’s now about performance and it will be a case of how far we can take it without it being too drastic. I have a nutritionist outside the club and my wife found her and it was to get someone to take an objective view and it’s been the backbone of how much weight I have lost. She helped me through the process and onto the App.”
Skelton’s positive attitude and improved play will be noted by the Wallabies management and he added: “When we signed here it was with the goal to learn as much as I could and get better as a player. I have learnt so much -set piece, kicking game – and I am more alert now around World class players. England have a training camp and we lose half our squad! It shows the calibre of player we have here.
“I like the short sharp intense training and found the other stuff – chilled and relaxed – around the squad and we were all working towards the same goal. I get serious but I am a joker around the club and I fit in here”.
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
31 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments