Man shares weight loss tricks that saw him drop 6st
A dad has shared the weight loss tricks he has used to drop over 6st after concern about his health prompted him to overhaul his lifestyle.
At his heaviest Bill Chana, 56, a business development manager from Sutton Coldfield, weighed 19st 7lbs and wore XXXL clothing. He put his size down to a combination of unhealthy eating habits. including daily takeaways and regularly eating out, and drinking alcohol.
"I was relying on fast food or a restaurant for my food," he explains. "On average I was spending £6,000 a year on takeaways including dining out and drinking beers, spirits and wines. In my mind, I wanted to lose weight, but I never thought I could do it."
For Bill, the turning point came after he found himself struggling to complete daily chores such as food shopping without getting out of breathe. Then, in July 2022, he was diagnosed with type two diabetes, high cholesterol, with his GP warning it was time to make a drastic change.
Having joined Slimming World a few months previously, Bill's wife, Sita, 56, encouraged her husband to go along with her and Bill says it helped him kickstart a complete overhaul of his lifestyle. "The first few months was quite astonishing. At my first weigh in, I lost 8lbs and was shocked to see that it was actually working. Before I knew it I'd lost a stone. And at this point the adrenaline kicked in and I knew I wanted to do this 100%."
Bill swapped junk food for fresh home-cooked food and so-called 'fakeaways', such as chicken curry. "It used to be 10% cooking in the house 90% eating food from out of the house and now it’s 100% in the house," he explains. "I have also completely quit takeaways, with everything I eat all freshly made from home. There is that odd occasion when it is someone's birthday and we will go for a meal. But I'll research the venue and make a phone call to them to pick what I'm going to eat and swap out unhealthy items."
As well as switching up his diet, Bill joined the gym and now goes twice weekly. "I mainly do cardio, I will do 25 to 30 minutes on a treadmill and then 25 minutes on the bike - finishing off with 15 minutes on the rowing machine," he says. "I also regularly do some light weights to keep my muscles toned."
Eight months on, Bill has seen his weight drop to 12st 13lbs and he now wears a size L in clothing. Bill describes the transformation as feeling "amazing" and says his friends and family say he looks unrecognisable. "It happens quite frequently," he explains. "My annual boiler engineer thought he had the wrong house. I recognise them but they either have to do a double look or just walk past me."
However, the biggest impact of Bill's weight loss has been on his health. "All the symptoms I was experiencing have gone," he says. "I am naturally in remission. I have no more fatty liver, my blood pressure is stable and cholesterol is normal. Everything has stabilised and I am now medication free. The doctors are amazed to see the amount of weight I have lost."
Bill's diet before
Breakfast: Full English fry up or MacDonald's Breakfast
Lunch: Shop bought sandwich, crisps, coke and chocolate
Dinner: Takeaway eg. chippy, Indian, Chinese or eat out
Snacks: Biscuits, chocolate bar, peanuts and crisps
Bill's diet after
Breakfast: Zero oil scrammed eggs on fibre bread
Lunch: Fruit or tuna salad
Dinner: Brown pasta/chicken curry/ prawns
Snacks: Plenty of water
Read more about weight loss:
I use a traffic light system to maintain my 10st weight loss (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)
Woman determined to be ‘fit at 30’ loses 4st in 4 months without restricting her diet (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)
‘I hid takeaway boxes from my husband, now I’ve lost 7 stone’ (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
