Trevor Gillingham weighed a little under 31st last autumn, but has since lost a whopping 10.5st by exercising and cutting the bad food from his life.
Roly poly Trevor lost the same amount of weight as a healthy adult woman by giving up beer and his favourite snack – cheese.
Trevor, who works in railway track maintenance, said: “It was a bit of a shock to find out that my health had suffered so badly from the weight I’d put on.
“Working mainly night shifts, I had let my lifestyle deteriorate to a point where I was living on takeaway meals, drinking too much alcohol on my days off and taking no exercise.”
As his weight began affecting his ability to breathe, Trevor was on the brink of failing a medical at work.
Friends urged him to enroll on a course, and so Trevor, from Redhill, Surrey, joined his local ten-week weightloss programme called Healthy Measures.
He said: “To begin with, I was too heavy to be allowed on most of the equipment in the gym.
“I had to start with the hand-bike and the weights.
“But the staff were helpful and encouraging and I wasn’t made to feel uncomfortable or out of place.”
Now, Trevor’s previously-bulging waistline has shrunk by a whopping 22 inches, his blood-pressure has returned to normal and his cholesterol levels have reduced.
He said: “It has been difficult to get used to smaller portions. I still miss cheese and full-fat milk, but I don’t miss the alcohol at all. And the benefits have made it worth the effort.
“I can put on my own socks and sit in chairs that have arms.
“My life feels so different now. I would urge anyone in the same position as I was to look for help with people who really understand.”
Trevor now spend as long as four hours a day in the gym.
His fitness instructor, Lesley Coller, said: “Trevor has done amazingly well. He is often waiting for us in the mornings when we open up the gym and is proof that, through grit and sheer willpower, anyone can change their life.”
