For more than a decade, Will Pattinson binged on drink and drugs every weekend. He punished his body with junk food and a chaotic party lifestyle, and while he held down his job as a valuer, he felt he was existing rather than living.
“It was a destructive cycle. I was addicted to heavy partying, drugs of all sorts, including junk food and gambling,” the 30-year-old says. “I’d binge drink every weekend, then try to pull myself together during the week, only to spiral again. It was relentless. My health was deteriorating, my energy was gone, and I was completely disconnected from who I was.”
Will’s life started to fall apart when he was just 16; he would drink on the weekends, and the habit became an addiction.
“My life began to spiral out of control by the time I was in year ten. I was stuck in a roller-coaster vortex of not being able to focus on anything meaningful other than the weekend when I’d constantly soak myself with alcohol and drugs,” he recalls.
“I was a massive binge drinker. I wouldn’t drink during the week, but then when the weekend came around I would just drink all the time, abuse substances, and not eat. And then once the alcohol binge was over, I would eat junk food and processed crap for the next week to replenish myself.”
He tried numerous diets and new fitness programmes, but the “magnetic pull of partying all weekend” kept luring him back.
“I had no structure, no direction, no purpose. Every day, I felt like I was going through the motions while my life slowly unravelled,” he says. “I was exhausted – physically, mentally, emotionally. And eventually, I couldn’t hide from it anymore. My body started to break down, and so did everything around me,” he says.
Will, who lives in London, hated his body; at 21st 6lb (136kg) he was overweight and depressed and becoming seriously ill. He had gout, high blood pressure, sleep apnoea, anxiety and was on the verge of type 2 diabetes. Doctors warned him that if he didn’t kick the party lifestyle, he would die young.
So in September 2023, he decided to go cold turkey on all his destructive habits. “I knew if I didn’t change, I wouldn’t last much longer. I gave it all up at once – drugs, alcohol, everything,” he says.
“For the first eight months of my transformation, I was completely clean. I have ADHD and an addictive personality and I think that actually worked in my favour. Once I got a small taste of health and momentum, I was hooked.
“I started to feel good, fast – and that feeling began to outweigh the highs I used to chase. The more I trained, the less I craved the old habits.”
Will replaced his party lifestyle with hitting the gym and running and after just one relapse last year, which only reminded him of his motivation, he was encouraged to work even harder on his sobriety. He has taken on the Paris Marathon and later this year will take on the Marathon Des Sables and New York City Marathon.
Next month, he will run and cycle 365 kilometres in one day – without sleep – to mark each day he has been sober since that relapse. The money he raises will go to mental health charity the Black Dog Institute.
“That will be one kilometre for every day I chose not to self-destruct. I am training hard and it is every bit as intense as it sounds. I want to turn my sobriety into something physical,” Will says.
“I didn’t want a cake or a coin to mark my first clean year; I wanted a challenge that mirrored the chaos I used to live in. I used to party hard and fast, so now I train the same way: full throttle and with no shortcuts.”
Will, originally from Molong, New South Wales, now weighs 12st 6lb (79kg) and has lost 8st 13lb (57kg). He runs 150km a week and his family are incredibly proud of his achievements.
“I’m genuinely proud of what I’ve achieved – not just physically, but mentally. For the first time in a long time, I’m not hiding behind alcohol or drugs for confidence. I feel stronger, more grounded, and more excited about the future than ever before. This journey has given me a new kind of belief – not just in what I’ve overcome, but in what’s still possible. I can’t wait to see how far I can go in the endurance and fitness space from here.
“I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to flick the switch – not just for myself, but to give something better back to the people who never gave up on me,” he adds.
