‘HOW I LOST 36ST’
Team effort helps dad lose 36 stone
ONE of Wales’ heaviest men has lost an astonishing 36 stone in just 12 months.
When Stuart Prosser joined South Wales Police at the age of 17, he was an athletic and gifted rugby player who went on to represent the force as a second row forward.
But three decades on, his increasingly sedentary lifestyle saw his weight balloon to almost 55st, making him one of the heaviest men in Wales.
His size became such an issue that he did not leave his home for three years and was barely able to walk the short distance from his armchair to the toilet.
And when he needed urgent treatment in hospital, it took 12 paramedics to put him into an ambulance on two separate occasions.
But after being left deeply embarrassed by the ordeals, he decided to make drastic changes to his lifestyle – and with help from the NHS he managed to lose a truly astonishing 36st in just over a year.
“My wife has her husband back and my three children have their dad back,” beamed father-of-three Stuart, 54, from Tonteg near Pontypridd.
“I cannot thank my family and the NHS staff enough for the support and patience they offered me during my horrendous journey.”
Stuart said he was 6ft 4in and a fit 19st when he started with the police as a cadet before becoming a constable a year later.
After working his way up the ranks and becoming a familiar face in several communities across Rhondda Cynon Taff and Merthyr Tydfil, he took on a more office-based role. From then on, his weight began to pile on.
“I was struggling to get around at the end and started spending longer periods of time sitting at my desk,” he admitted.
By 2010, despite trying “every diet imaginable”, Stuart said his weight spiralled out of control and he tipped the scales at a colossal 49st.
After a consultation with his doctor, the decision was made for Stuart to have a gastric band fitted in Bristol which led to him losing 7st. But he was unable to keep the weight off and wound up regaining it all, plus more.
“It soon became apparent I could no longer continue with my job, and so I took the easy option and retired,” said Stuart, who left the police in 2014.
“I didn’t realise it at the time, but from that day on I found myself in the depths of depression.”
Stuart said he retreated completely from life and was killing himself through excessive eating and heavy drinking.
He admitted his biggest vices were bread, cheese and chocolate, and years earlier it was not uncommon for him to drink 30 cans of cider in a single day.
“I just slept in a chair in my front room and kept myself entertained with TV and my laptop,” he added.
“My family were obviously upset and they tried all sorts of things to help me, but I became not a very nice person and I would be very controlling.
“I would get each of them individually to bring me meals, even though I’d already eaten.”
In 2015, following concern from his family, a district nurse began visiting their home to treat Stuart and help him wash and dress.
A specialist bed was installed at the house, along with other support equipment, but he said due to his selfdestructive habits he was unwilling to engage with them.
Then two years later in 2017, weighing close to 55st, he was admitted to hospital with an infection from open sores on his stomach.
“I couldn’t look after myself at this point. I was a burden to my family,” he said.
“It took 12 members of the ambulance service to get me into the ambulance to take me to hospital. It was so embarrassing.
“But it was the first time I’d felt fresh air in three years. It was phenomenal.”
During his three-month stint at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant, it often took four nurses to wash Stuart and treat his sores and infection.
Following rehabilitation he was discharged from hospital weighing 36.9st. He also saw a psychologist for the first time who explained to him that his excessive eating was a form of selfharm.
And during a meeting with his doctors, nurses and his wife, he broke down and admitted that he had been playing his family off against one another to get more food.
“I just burst out crying,” he added. However, this was not the end of Stuart’s weight woes and in February 2018 he was re-admitted to the Royal Glamorgan with a chest infection.
He was discharged after a two-week stay but suffered with vertigo and was left house-bound once again, leading to his weight soaring once again.
“In June 2018 I fell out of bed and I couldn’t get up, so again 12 members of the ambulance had to come out and put me in an ambulance.”
Weighing 54.2st on ward 20, Stuart finally felt ready to work with the NHS to get his weight down to healthy levels.
“With the new knowledge I gained from the psychologist on my previous visit, for the first time in a long time everything began to make sense,” he said.
“Why was I eating so much and making myself ill and miserable? It was all down to depression. Now I had taken this information in I felt like I was more in control.
“This admission was my opportunity to do something about it. I worked with the nursing staff for medical issues, catering staff for meal planning and physiotherapists for suitable and safe exercise. They were all so amazing and encouraging.”
Through calorie counting and exercise with the use of hand bikes and walking frames, within 12 months Stuart had reduced his weight to 17-andhalf stone.
He has now transformed the family’s dining room into a gym, complete with rowing machine and exercise bike, and he is walking every day with the help of his two dogs.
He is also rekindling his passion for kayaking and is aiming to go rock climbing soon.
“My health is good, many of the health issues I had have either gone altogether or have vastly improved.
“If I can offer advice to anyone, it would be to talk about your feelings. I had a lot of built-up thoughts and feelings that I never talked about, and my way of dealing with them was to lock myself away and eat food wishing the life I had would end – something I came very close to achieving.”
He added: “Men are not so good at sharing their feelings. I have learned the hard way that it’s really important to talk.
“If you need help ask for it and keep asking. The staff who have helped me have been outstanding and some really inspirational. They never gave up on me and as a result I have achieved things that I didn’t think possible.
“As little as 11 months ago I was asking social services to find somewhere I could be cared for as I could not go home.
“I have been treated by many health professionals, all of whom have tried their best to help me. I finally have my life back.”