Q: Why did you decide to lose weight?
A: I was on the verge of reaching 40 years old and I had spent most of my 30s in a very unhealthy state, I felt that the beginning of a new decade should be a beginning of a new life style, I'd had my indulgent decade and it was time to get healthy before my increasing age started to give me even more health problems than I already had.
Q: How did you manage to lose so much weight in a fairly short amount of time?
A: It was all about wanting to do it, really wanting to do it, because if you don't go into something like losing weight wanting to change yourself then you are destined to fail. I spent time before I started my new life style effectively reprogramming my mind to stop eating junk food, for instance I thought to myself over and over again "sugar is poison".
Q: How did you lose the weight? Did you go to the gym?
A: I'm allergic to exercise! What I've achieved has been down to a calorie controlled diet and the only real exercise I done is walked more than I used to. When I first started out in January 2014 I didn't really have a "way" of dieting, I just cut everything that was bad for me out, then later in January I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app onto my iPhone and something just clicked, it was the tool for me, it appealed to the way my listing mind works because of all of the statistics that it generates.
Q: Are you eating special food?
A: This one is a sort of yes / no answer as I've been eating from mainly the Sainsbury's and Tesco healthy food ranges, but I've also been eating "normal" food but I've been really concious of the calorie content of what I eat.
Q: Are you hungry, it must be difficult not eating properly?
A: I can honestly say that I've not been hungry as I changed my life style rather than going on a diet, so I've been having three meals a day with snacks but I've been focusing on what I eat. To start off with having smaller portions was a problem as I used to eat in large quantities, but once you start controlling your portions correctly your stomach capacity shrinks down and it takes less food to fill full, it was just a bit of a struggle to start off with.
Q: What about beer, do you drink alcohol?
A: I've been teetotal for 14 years, this is through choice not because I had alcohol problems or for religious reasons just because from my mid teens I had been immersed in a culture of over drinking due to my rugby playing and my heady boozy weekends. I came to realise that I had done enough drinking to last me a life time, I'd had a lot of fun and now was the time to cut it out before I did actually start to have alcohol related problems, be it addiction or health issues. I feel that not drinking has given me an advantage in my transformation from a 23 stone 4 pound person to a 14 stone 7 pound person and if you really want to lose weight I feel that trying to cut out alcohol is a good place to start.
Q: Do you eat chocolate, cakes or sweets?
A: I have a very (very) sweet tooth and I knew straight away that I was just going to have to just cut it out of my life! The only time I have sweet food now is when I go out for a meal with my partner and we share a dessert. I literally cannot have sweet food in the house as I just can't trust myself at the moment!
Q: So how do you cope with no sweets or chocolate etc.?
A: I've replaced sweet food with a controlled amount of fruit, usually 100g of grapes or cherries and 100g of natural low fat yoghurt and I try not to have more that two portions of fruit a day as it still contains naturally occurring sugar. Also Hartley's no added sugar jelly pots are fantastic to cure the cravings and are less than 10 calories a pot.
Q: How do you feel, you must feel great?!
A: I do feel great!! I have more energy, feel more confident and the best thing is that I can have whatever clothes I like now, also having people comment about how great I look feels great too!
Q: You look like a different person, has anyone said that to you before?
A: Yes they have, I've had friends and family not recognise me and my neighbours who I talk to regularly not recognise me. Sometimes I look in the mirror or see a photograph of myself and I can't believe the difference myself.
Q: Have there been any drawbacks?
A: I wouldn't really call it a drawback but it's been slightly annoying having to replace my clothes so regularly, I've been through six generations of new clothes since January 2014 and it can get a bit expensive! One time I had worn a pair of jeans twice and they were so big that I had to replace them and drop them off to a charity shop, but on the other hand this is a really big morale booster too!
Q: I've been trying to loose weight myself without much luck, do you have any tips?
A: Personally I'd say look at what you are eating, identify what is causing you the problem, for example too much bread or a lot of cake and chocolate or too much beer and just cut it out completely. For myself abstinence has worked the best, it is hard but you see results quickly and you regain control of yourself.
Q: Are you ill?
A: No not at all!! In fact I'm healthier than I've been in a long time as my type 2 diabetes is going into remission.
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