As a man, I was petrified of the weekly weigh-ins
John Clark, 43, lost more than seven stone in 20 months with WW. The retail manager from ayr had struggled with his weight for most of his adult life, and joined after becoming worried about his health. he says:
There’s no doubt about it — I was killing myself slowly with food.
At my heaviest, well before joining WW, I weighed 26st and had tried and failed at every diet going — low carb, shakes and even weight-loss pills from my GP.
The final straw came when I passed out at the cinema, struggling to breathe. Luckily, nothing worse happened and I quickly regained consciousness, but I was hugely overweight and every day struggled even to get out of bed. It was exhausting carrying around all that bulk.
I knew my health was suffering badly. It was time to do something about it.
I’d struggled with my weight from my teens. When I tried to diet, I’d end up piling the weight back on again — and more — as I never changed my habits.
Many of my food choices were terrible — I was king of the fried breakfast and loved fish and chips, not to mention popcorn, crisps and chocolate bars . . .
I had raised cholesterol levels and knew it would not be long before I developed a weight-related illness, such as type 2 diabetes, a heart problem, stroke or cancer.
I had a 48 in waist and had to buy clothes online, as they never had my size in store. Although I’m quite outgoing, I found myself becoming more introverted and going out less.
As a man, I was scared of going to WW meetings, thinking they’d be full of women. But I found the courage in March last year — and how wrong I was.
There were quite a few men there, and I was impressed that WW was based on the latest science, with a brilliant app to track all your food.
I got a very experienced coach and met people who just wanted to support each other. The food I could eat was a revelation, too. I couldn’t believe how many ZeroPoint foods I’d never really eaten. It turned out I loved blueberries, pineapple and tuna!
I followed Blue plan, which allowed a daily minimum of 23 smartPoints and more than 200 ZeroPoint foods for my meals. This worked brilliantly, as I don’t like weighing and measuring food. But there’s still a generous smartPoints Budget to enjoy on treats such as popcorn or crisps if I’m watching strictly!
Within three months, I was down to 19st and took up cycling again. I set out for my first ride in 26 years one summer’s day and found I was enjoying myself so much I ended up doing 16km.
From then on, I was on the bike all the time.
My little pug, Lyle, has benefited, too — at first, I wasn’t keen on walking him, but now we take long walks.
I’m regularly in the gym, too, and I’m planning some charity 5K runs next year.
Now, I’m nearly at my goal weight of 14st, which is a loss of 46 per cent of my heaviest weight — and to say I’m proud of myself is an understatement.