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After feeling “embarrassed” about struggling to fit in on a rollercoaster ride, a 20st 2lb machine operator has lost 9st 1lb in 13 months by cutting out snacks and playing football.
Reece Cotton, 33, who lives in Stockport, spent his twenties and early thirties with unhealthy eating habits, including regularly eating takeaways and snacks and consuming 4,000 calories a day.
He was size XXL with a 44-inch waist and thought he was comfortable with his weight, until he went to Gulliver’s World theme park in August 2023 and struggled to fit into the ride.
Reece, who stands 5ft 7in, weighed 20st 2lb (128.7kg) and had a BMI of 44.2, which classifies him as severely obese – so, for the next few months he stopped eating snacks. and lost a fourth 1 pound (25.9 kg).
By November, Reece had dropped to 16st 1lb (102.1 kg) and in the same month, joined Man We Fat, a weight loss program for men that involves playing football.
He has since lost a further fifth (31.8 kg) in weight, bringing him down to 11st (69.9 kg) with a healthy BMI of 24.3.
He now feels more confident, his mental health has improved, and while he is self-conscious about loose skin, he is determined to maintain his healthy weight and reach his goal of 10st (63.5kg) Is.
Reece told PA Real Life: “My mental health is much better – before, I used to literally work and then come straight home.
“Whereas now I’m going out and working out more, playing sports outside of football, and I’m not as afraid to talk to people.
“I didn’t realize how self-conscious I was until I compared it to how I feel now – when I was older I felt like everyone was looking at me.
“It still feels weird to buy smaller clothes and not be able to get to a bigger size.”
During his twenties and early thirties, Rees developed a habit of being inactive and regularly eating takeaways such as pizza and kebabs at least three times a week.
His routine was to go to work, come home, watch television and snack constantly on family-sized bags of crisps and sweets.
He consumed about 4,000 calories a day – skipping breakfast, then eating foods like burgers and massive sandwiches for lunch, having a few for dinner.
She wore size XXL with a 44-inch waist and had no problems with her weight or appearance during her twenties and early thirties.
He added: “It (my weight) didn’t stop me from doing anything or going anywhere, I was totally okay with it actually.
“I wasn’t worried about it and it didn’t affect me too much.”
That changed in the summer of 2023 when he visited Gulliver’s World theme park in Warrington with his then-girlfriend and her daughter.
He struggled to fit in with some riders, which made him realize he needed to make a change.
“I wanted to take them to Alton Towers but I thought if I couldn’t go on the trip with them they would miss it too,” he said.
“I felt a little embarrassed.”
In August 2023, he stepped on the scales and discovered he weighed 20st 2lb (128.7kg).
He said: “I didn’t realize I was that heavy, and I just knew I had something to lose.”
At 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m), this gave him a BMI of 44.2, placing him in the severely obese category.
Over the following months, he eliminated snacks from his diet completely.
“In the beginning, it was hard at work because I always found myself snacking a lot at work but after a few weeks, it became more of a situation, if I didn’t buy it I couldn’t eat it and I had to Got used to it, after a while it didn’t bother me anymore,” explained Reece.
In October, he and his girlfriend broke up, which prompted him to lose weight.
By November, he had lost 4st 1lb (25.9 kg), bringing his weight down to 16st 1lb (102.1 kg) – a 20.2% reduction in body weight.
However, with a BMI of 35.3, she was still classified as obese, so she was determined to continue losing weight.
That same month, in November, he joined Man V Fat, a weight loss program for men that includes weekly football games.
Reece said, “Joining Man V Fat helped me because it allowed me to get out of the house and meet new people, which was what I needed at that time.”
“Everyone there was in the same boat, wanting to lose weight, and it made me realize how unfit I was, I had to struggle to run after a few minutes on the field.”
In addition to the Man v Fat program, he began attending bootcamp sessions several times a week.
He reduced his daily calorie intake to about 1800, eating a breakfast bar for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and a high-protein dinner, and adopting a trend of taking out only occasionally.
By September 2024 he had lost 5st (31.8 kg), losing weight to 11st (69.9 kg) while wearing medium clothes with a 30-inch (76 cm) waist.
His BMI is now 24.3, which puts him in the healthy weight range.
Reece now feels more confident and his health has improved.
Although he is self-conscious about loose skin, he believes that the improvements in his health and well-being have made it worthwhile, although he is considering surgery in the future.
Rees said: “I’m a bit conscious of excess skin when I go swimming and things like that, and I struggle to be confident about it.
“But I’m hoping Jim will help with it some, or I’ll get surgery if I can afford it, because I think that’s the only thing that really helps get rid of it.”
He hopes to get down to 10st (63.5 kg) in the next few months and is confident he will continue his weight loss.
“I’ve been within the healthy BMI range for the last six weeks, so I think I can do this for a long time, I just don’t see myself going back to where I was before,” he said.
He’s not too worried about the festive period and his progress, saying: “I’ll take care of myself a bit, but once it’s over I’ll go back to what I was doing before so that it has an impact on my weight loss. But don’t even fall.” excess.”
This story is published from a wire agency feed without any modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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