Sammy shocked into weight loss
A man who has shed more than eight stone has admitted having a stroke saved his life.
Sammy Brown weighed 22 stone when he suffered the stroke back in January 2009.
Despite recovering from his ordeal, it wasn’t until 2015 when Sammy decided to do something about his weight when he joined the WW (formerly Weight Watchers) workshop near his home in Carluke.
At that point, Sammy was down to just over 20 stone.
Sammy said: “My daughter Lynsay persuaded me to come along.
“She had lost three stone already on the Flex plan, and I decided I needed to lose weight too.
“I suffered a stroke, and at that point I was my heaviest at 22 stone. The stroke was unexpected and a shock!
“I had high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and was just generally unhealthy and unfit.
“A lot of my health problems were caused by my unhealthy diet and lifestyle and my extra weight did not make life any easier. I already had a stroke and was worried about what would be next.”
On his first week of the plan, Sammy swapped full-fat soft drinks for diet or diluted squash and upped his intake of fruit.
However, he suffered a setback a couple of months later when his beloved dog Toby died.
But Sammy bounced back and has now got down to a slim 14 stone. He has dropped from a 48-inch waist and can now fit into 34-inch trousers.
He added: “At my first check in I lost a whopping 8lbs. I felt so good, and it made me realise that swapping certain foods for alternatives could really help me lose weight.
“When Toby died it was very sudden and caused me a lot of heartache.
“I stopped tracking my food intake and didn’t watch what I was eating.
“The next weigh in day I had put on 8lbs in a week.
“As the months went by, I continued to attend faithfully each week and each week I had a weight loss. I felt so good, and I felt healthier and my clothes were starting to get too big.
“I reached my goal weight last year. I have gone from an XXXL top to a medium!
“I was very proud of myself as I had always been heavy and never thought it would be possible for me to have lost this amount of weight and stick to it.
“My blood pressure is now normal, my cholesterol is normal, and hopefully I have put myself in a better health position, and do not suffer another stroke.”
I had always been heavy and never thought it would be possible for me to have lost this amount of weight