Pauline, as covered in the book, the gym is good for you, but does not help with weight loss unless you also starve yourself. It sounds like his situation is not ideal, but, when I started, I lost 10 kg the first month and 6 the second ( which was all I needed to lose ). My point is, the second month I was in the US, and unable to be perfectly sugar free. I still did what I could, and just not drinking soft drink or eating dessert cut my sugar by, I would guess, at least 80%. There's sugar in bread, and in tomato sauce, but there's more in Coke and ice cream. So, if he does what he can, he may struggle with the addiction for longer, b/c he can't stop eating any sugar at all, but I'm sure he will lose weight.