And gave my wife life she deserves
OBESE Glyn Woodward knew he had to take drastic action over his weight after his wife suffered an asthma attack because of the strain of pushing him in a wheelchair.
Glyn had topped 30 stone, leaving Gillian as his full-time carer.
She also started to pile on the pounds and struggled to look after him.
But now the Woodwards have been named Slimming World’s couple of the year after losing 24 stone between them.
The couple celebrated their dramatic life change with the trip of a lifetime to Malaysia to visit Glyn’s family.
He said: “Just being able to fit into an aeroplane seat was a huge achievement for me. I felt like I was giving Gill back the life she deserved.”
Glyn, who has lost more than 20 stone, said: “At my heaviest I had so many weight-related health BY TESS DE LA MARE issues. I was classed as three times morbidly obese and just couldn’t see a way out.
“I suffered with chronic sleep apnoea, depression and anxiety. To be honest, just existing when you’re that size is completely exhausting, and I depended on Gill entirely.”
Glyn, 66, was due to have gastric surgery but pulled out of the op in November 2013 after deciding it wasn’t the answer.
He said: “It wouldn’t give me the tools or support to change my eating habits, nor the psychological side of my weight problem.”
A turning point for the couple, from Stowmarket in Suffolk, came after a shopping trip.
Gillian, 63, who lost 4st 8lb and is now a size eight, said: “I parked the car at the top of a hill and pushed Glyn around the shops in his wheelchair.
“Only, when it came to taking him back to the car, I realised I didn’t have the strength to push him back up the hill.
“The exertion was so much that I had an asthma attack and it was only thanks to two passers-by that I managed to get him back to the car.
“Glyn was mortified and I think it really brought it home to him that our quality of life was suffering drastically because of both of our weight struggles.”
Gillian joined her local Slimming World in November 2013 and persuaded her husband to join her in August 2014.
Gillian said: “It was wonderful to see Glyn transform into the man I knew and loved, it was like my husband was coming back to me with every stone he lost.”
Glyn said: “The change in our day-to-day lives really is mindblowing. I feel as though we’ve both been given a second chance at life and we’re going to grab it with both hands.”