A Dundee pensioner who shed more than seven stone says he doesn’t think he would be alive today if he hadn’t achieved the dramatic weight loss.
Angus McBay, 81, was told he must lose weight to be eligible for an operation, prompting him to change his ways after years of regular take-aways.
The former jute mill manager has suffered from lung illness chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) since 2002 but now has the lung function of a man 20 years younger after changing his ways.
In 2013 doctors told him he needed a hernia operation but said they would not even consider putting him under the knife until he lost some of his 22 stone weight.
Angus, who lives in Downfield, said: “Doctors kept telling me if I lost weight it would help my COPD and I thought I’ll do it eventually.
“When I was told I needed to lose weight before they would even consider operating on the hernia I knew I needed to do it.
“From then until now I’ve lost over seven stone.”
He said his COPD was much more manageable.
“I was on a lot of pills and inhalers and now just have one inhaler for the morning,” he said.
“It has been amazing for my health, I couldn’t breathe walking up the road before. I just can’t get over the difference it has made.
“When I got a check up in my late 70s, after losing all the weight, the nurse told me I now have a lung function of someone in their 50s.”
Angus has swapped Chinese and pies for chicken and vegetables and now weighs a healthier 15 and a half stone.
After reaching his target Slimming World weight, he has been eating healthy meals and exercise to maintain it.
I started in my 70s and I’m sorry now I didn’t start it sooner. No way will I go back to how I was before,” he said.
“If I had stayed at my heaviest weight, I don’t think I’d still be here. It has been so beneficial for me so I would recommend it to anyone with weight-related illnesses.”
He said his old diet bore no resemblance to his new eating habits.
“Before I wouldn’t have a proper breakfast but I’d go to the shop across the road and have a couple of cheese rolls,” he said.
“We had carry outs like Chinese and Indian. I ate plenty of bread, rolls, pies, bridies, you name it.
“I wasn’t a really heavy drinker but maybe three nights a week I’d have about three beers and a couple of whiskies so it adds up. Now I’ll just have one beer and one nip or a gin and tonic.”
He added: “For breakfast yesterday I had fruit and yoghurt, at lunchtime we had a tuna and sweetcorn wrap then at tea time we had chicken stewed with vegetables and spices.
“I keep that photo of how I was before as a reminder that I don’t want to go back there.”
