A dad who almost died due to his 24st weight shed eight stone to be there for his son and says friends no longer recognise him. Jamie Anderson felt he was "too fat for the gym" and regularly downed takeaways as well as drinking five cans of Pepsi a day.
But things changed for the 34-year-old after he was rushed to intensive care with an abscess which caused an infection and saw him spend a month in Pilgrim Hospital, Boston, Lincolnshire. Jamie was told he had diabetes due to his weight which caused him to become septic - as his body struggled to fight the abscess.
He had four emergency operations to drain the abscess and remove the infection - to save his life when the infection got close to his reproductive area. After recovering Jamie - who tipped the scales at 24 stone and struggled to squeeze into a size 4XL - decided he need to make a change for his partner, Amanda Wright, 35, and their son, Oliver, 11.
He switched the nightly takeaways to home-cooked meals and started running before finding the confidence to hit the gym. Now at a slender 16 stone and wearing a size large, Jamie said he is at his happiest and claims close friends don’t recognise him at a glance.
Jamie, who sells static caravans, from Skegness, Lincolnshire, said: “It was touch and go. I’ve got a young child and partner. I didn’t want that to end.
“I decided to put on a tracksuit and started running. I looked at what I was eating. I started losing weight and feeling great.
"People close to me – I can walk towards them and they don’t recognise me at first. I’m what I have always wanted to be.”
Jamie had a wake-up call in February 2022 after he went to his GP with a painful lump. He was told it was an abscess and put on antibiotics.
But, after they failed to ease his pain, he went to hospital and was immediately admitted when they realised he had an infection. Doctors told Jamie he had a high cholesterol and diabetes – which caused him to become septic.
He said: “It became septic and got into my skin. I had a blood disease eating away at my skin.
“They tried to drain in and then it worsened. It got close to my reproductive area.”
Jamie came home after a month in hospital and decided to lose weight. He said: “I wasn’t unhappy. I was a confident person but I had to look after my health.”
Jamie looked at his diet and switched daily Chinese and Indian takeaways and meals out for home-cooked food such as chicken and vegetables. He cut out the five cans of Pepsi he had been drinking and bought a treadmill to start running.
Jamie said: “Seeing the changes made me feel really good. I had felt too fat to go to the gym.
“When I’d lost some of the weight I found the confidence to go.”
Now at 16 stone and a size large, Jamie is able to buy from designer and high street brands for the first time. He said: “I feel more active. More awake.
“It’s difficult to look back. I look at myself then and I’m quite disgusted.”
Jamie is now happy with the weight he is at and works out twice a day. And he still allows himself to have a takeaway once a week with his a family.
He said: “I’ve got some loose skin. I’m going to tone up with weight training.”
Jamie then and now
Before
Weight before: 24 stone
Size: 4XL
Diet
Breakfast: Bacon sandwiches or a McDonalds breakfast
Lunch: Meal deal
Dinner: Takeaway or ready meal
Snacks: Crisps, sweets, five cans of full fat coke
After
Weight now: 16 stone
Size: Large
Diet
Breakfast: Diet shake
Lunch: Diet shake and snacks such as cake bars or a packet of crisps
Dinner: Chicken and vegetables
