“I just wanted to feel confident in my own skin,” he said.

“We have one body and if we’re not happy with it then it (affects) everything else.

“I feel as though you can’t find happiness unless you love yourself and I didn’t.

“I hated seeing myself in photos so I’m like, ‘I need to act now’, and ever since then it’s just turned into a lifestyle.”

Now a personal trainer and a healthy weight, Rhys said dishes like this san choi bao had played a big role in his overhaul.

“Incorporating really tasty, delicious food just like this I’ve been able to maintain a body that I’m really happy with and that functions really well every day, full of energy,” he said. 

“It’s been really important to me in my journey to find awesome food like this that tastes great but is also really healthy for me as well.

“That way you can turn it into a lifestyle. It doesn’t feel like a chore that you’re eating the right thing.”

Rhys, who runs his studio Sweat 2 Shred Fitness in Lavington, subscribes to metabolic precision personal training and found this recipe in the system’s cook book.

“It’s fast, delicious and nutritious,” he said. “It’s also fun to eat with your hands because it’s in lettuce cups.”

Mind you, there’s a definite trick to preparing the lettuce.

“You’ve got to hold your tongue right and it’s a very fine art of peeling it off without ripping the whole thing,” Rhys said with a grin.

The cook book is one “I basically live off”, but his cooking also involves a lot of improvisation.

“I’m the king of winging it, pretty much,” he said.

“Having a good, I guess, bag of tricks in regards to recipes that I know off the top of my head and just know what works with what, it makes it really easy.”

Rhys enjoys fresh fish, barbecues or a roast on Sundays.

“Things where you can get people involved as well, share dishes with other people,” he said.

Bouncing off ideas with his partner Katie Ryan is also a useful strategy.

“We often just go to the supermarket and just create our own inventions and turn it into staples in our diet,” he said.

Six things I can’t cook without: Sharp knives, my two large electric frying pans, an egg flip, chopping boards, chilli flakes and a dishwasher, mechanical or human.