‘Nearly died when I saw this picture’

‘During the boredom of lockdown, l sat in my garden eating and drinking. Then when I looked back on some festive pictures I nearly died when I saw this picture! I’d hit an all-time heavy weight of 17st 2lb. That was on January 4th 2021. With Covid being around, it seemed to affect larger people more. Also my dad has heart problems, so being as big as I was could have created heart problems for me.

‘I’ve been doing around 30-40 miles every week since then. I’m now 13st 10lb. I’ve had to cut down on drink and comfort food, but feel fantastic – so healthy now. It hasn’t been easy to do. But I’m certainly not going back down the old road. My advice: start today. Not tomorrow. Stick with it. We can all do this.’

James Goodman, 53, Worcester