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of the Year Slimming World’s Couple has turned explain how losing weight their lives around
‘The exertion of wheeling him back up the hill was so much that it brought on an asthma attack’
The prospect of enjoying retirement was once something Glyn and Gillian Woodward wouldn’t have dared dream of. At 65 years old and weighing more than 30st, Glyn was told that gastric surgery was his only hope of losing weight and leading a normal life.
Over the years, Glyn’s weight meant that his wife Gill, (63), who also struggled with her weight, had become his full-time carer and began to neglect her own health as a result.
Glyn, who has incredibly now lost almost 20st, says: “At my heaviest I had many weight-related health issues. I was classed as three times morbidly obese and just couldn’t see a way out. I suffered from chronic sleep apnoea, depression and anxiety. Just existing when you’re that size is completely exhausting, and I depended on Gill entirely. My doctor told me that gastric surgery was my only hope and that the funding had been approved, but it just didn’t sit right with me and I couldn’t go through with it.” After pulling out of his planned weight-loss surgery with just weeks to go, in November 2013 Gillian joined their local Slimming World group in a bid to persuade Glyn to become a member too – which he did in August 2014. Gill, who has now lost 4st 8½lbs, says: “It was a very tough time for us. Glyn was at an all-time low, he was unable
to walk unaided and had resorted to using a wheelchair. He was in constant pain and getting around had become so difficult that we’d effectively become prisoners in our own home. My weight was steadily rising too, and it was getting to the point where I was struggling to care for Glyn because of the extra weight I was carrying myself.
“I remember one rare occasion that we did venture into town, 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 Turn over to see how Slimming World can help you ■