A Leeds grandad has shared his dramatic makeover after health scares left him worried for his future.
10 months ago Steve Ramsden, who lives in Rothwell, Leeds, was borderline diabetic. He also had a "big belly", high blood pressure as well as high cholesterol and a bad back.
The paramedic who works for Yorkshire Ambulance Service was carrying a patient one day when his back gave in. After the incident, and speaking to his wife, and two children about his pain, the Leeds man decided it was time for him to make a dramatic change to better his health.
In Christmas 2021, Steven weighed around 15 stone and 11 pounds and was taking statin pills for his cholesterol. Now, he has become "an animal", his son Dan said, and plans to enter bodybuilding competitions after losing almost five stone.
Steven has a grandson and hopes his children will make him a grandad again in the future. He wanted to change his lifestyle so he can be in his family's life as long as possible.
Luckily, his son Dan Ramsen, owns his own personal training business BoFit in Wakefield. For his dad's Christmas present, he offered to train his dad and help him out with his health.
Dan, a dad who lives in Garforth, and shares his fitness tips on Instagram page @danborambo, said: "I went through a similar sort of journey as I was in a bad way in lockdown. That’s how I created my business by sharing my journey, so I wanted to do the same for my dad.
"I gave my dad a training programme for free for Christmas as he was in a bad way. He has always been quite a manly man and then I feel like he lost his way and lost his confidence as got older."
Speaking about how he managed to help Steven to go from a "big belly" to gaining a six pack, he added: "I’d say its been around a year his full transformation. He lost a few stone, and then he cut out drinking and bad foods he had a bad back for a while from being out of shape.
"He did an intense 12 week transformation course and he was really disciplined." Advising people who are older who may want to change their lifestyle, he added: "If you can walk and eat you can loose weight. You can’t go all guns blazing at first if you're older.
"Age is just a number, and turning my Dad's life around has been my greatest achievement to date. This one is really special."
"This bloke will forever be my hero." Speaking about how his fitness has helped him, Steven said: "I'm not borderline diabetic anymore I've gone from 15 stone 11 pounds, to 11 stone 5 pounds - the lowest I've been.
"I take people in an ambulance that are younger than me and they're not as healthy because they're not looking after themselves. They're not thinking about themselves.
"I don't drink much, I eat well and I didn't think I'd see my abs again but I have and I want to look after myself for my family. Loosing that four stone it's brilliant. I feel miles better in my body, my mind, my lifestyle."
To follow Steven's fitness journey click here.
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