A man who found himself struggling to climb the stairs has lost more than 6st after rediscovering his love of football and playing a weekly game of five-a-side, earning a huge compliment from his five-year-old daughter who says he is “so much more fun now”. Tom Read, 31, a customer service adviser weighed 25st at his heaviest and said his weight caused him to avoid social gatherings as he feared he was “the largest guy in the room”.
Wanting to be a “fun dad” and be able to take part in his children’s sports days, Tom joined the Man v Fat weight loss programme, where he played a weekly game of five-a-side football with other men hoping to lose weight and as a result, went from wearing a size XXXXXL-XXXL to a XL. While Tom said the programme does not require dietary restrictions, he started to adapt his own daily diet.
Cutting out his snacks of share bag crisps and swapping his breakfasts of four rounds of toast and five pains au chocolat for protein porridge, Tom started to shift the pounds. Tom, who has two children aged five and two, said: “Joining the football programme was probably the best decision I’ve ever made.
