A formally obese man nicknamed “Jabba the Hutt” by his own wife has lost a staggering 266 pounds in just 18 months without the use of a gastric band.
Alan Oates was suffering serious health problems, weighing in at a massive 460+ lbs with a 68-inch waist, and needed oxygen 15 hours a day to help him breathe.
When he was at his heaviest, Mr Oates was offered a gastric band but he turned down the offer as he viewed it as a short-term solution. He decided he needed to change his lifestyle instead.
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“I’ve got a new lease of life” explains Alan aged 55. “My wife tells me that she has finally got her husband back.”
“My wife has a photo of me which I hate. My laptop is balancing on my big belly, and my wife joked that I look like Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars in it.
“If I had known I looked that big before I may have done something sooner.”
Father-of-one Alan, from Tamworth, admits he piled on the pounds after leaving the army in 1988 and began driving lorries.
“I started eating loads of rubbish food – takeways, crisps, and fast food, and doing zero exercise. When I got home my wife would be at work, so I would get something processed out of the freezer.
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“In the end, I struggled with a short walk round the supermarket.”
Eventually, persuaded by his wife Helen, 51, Alan visited the doctor who suggested a gastric band.
But Alan refused, and determined to lose the weight himself, he visited Slimming World with his friend Penny in January 2012.
Following the new eating plan, Alan ditched the crisps and fried food, and began cooking from scratch.
And on May 7 Alan was named the second ‘Greatest Loser 2014’ at a Slimming World ceremony in London.
He said: “I was made to feel really welcome at the group, and I lost 12 lbs in the first week. I still go every week religiously.”
Now Alan has had a lifestyle overhaul, and enjoys walking and swimming with wife Helen.
“We still have a Sunday roast dinner every week, but we cook it differently.
“I walk nearly everywhere now, whereas before I would drive the two minute walk to the shop because I would be out of breath.
“There’s no way I’m putting this weight back on!”
via Bringingham Mail
