Man loses 17 stone with similar ‘good and low-cost’ meal each day

Mark Stephen weighed 32 stone before embarking on his weight loss transformation, dropping to under 15 stone by changing his eating habits and introducing daily exercise into his routine

Before his remarkable weight loss transformation, Mark Stephen tipped the scales at a staggering 32 stone but successfully shed the pounds to drop below 15 stone by overhauling his eating habits and incorporating exercise into his daily routine. Prior to embarking on his weight loss journey, Mark had relocated to an Airbnb in Nottingham “temporarily” in a bid to become more independent.

When the coronavirus pandemic struck, he found himself living there alone and, feeling cut off from the world, he “needed something” that he “could control”. He said: “And there was very little that I could control other than my weight and what I did with myself.”

How did Mark shed 17 stone?

Mark decided to get moving, and he began borrowing the neighbour’s Shar Pei dog “all the time to go for walks” and soak up some fresh air, reports the Express.

“You were allowed to go out to exercise but not much else. If they hadn’t let me take Oscar the journey would have taken a lot longer,” he explained.

Feeling more determined than ever, he added other workouts to his fresh fitness regime.

Mark began using dumbbells and “I did a lot of the various weight training things that I had on YouTube and got her help a couple of times”.

He also turned to “the resistant bands as I realised walking the dog was great but I’m not using any of the other muscles”.

Mark’s diet overhaul

He disclosed that to shift the weight, he began consuming “the same meal every day” and while it was “terribly boring”, that strict approach “was the only way I could wrap my head around it”. However, he would also “mix it up with different spices and sauces so it wasn’t just tuna and pasta, which made it nice and cheap as well”.

Mark managed to maintain his weight loss for two years, but he still had excess skin he wanted to remove.

Regrettably, the NHS couldn’t assist him because the procedure is viewed as “a cosmetic” treatment, so Mark was unable to undergo surgery following his weight loss.

When he lost his father earlier this year, things were put “in focus” for him and he decided to finance the surgery himself to enhance his lifestyle and appearance, as well as achieve his life goal.

He explained: “This £15,000 that I need for my arms and my belly, I’ve got it in my head as a wall I need to build.

“And each brick in the wall is £25 and that way it doesn’t seem like such an unmanageable task as I’ve built walls with over 600 bricks.”

Speaking about the surgery, he remarked: “It would literally be life-changing, and I’ve done all the hard work and put in all the hard effort.

“It would be amazing as well as I could go out to see mum a bit more.”

NHS tips to lose weight:

• Aim for two or more vegetables a day
• Always include some protein like beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat or other types
• Carbs like potatoes, bread, rice or pasta should make up no more than a third of your meal, and try to have wholegrain versions where you can
• If you eat fish, try to have two portions a week
• Pick lower-fat and lower-sugar options for milk, cheese and yoghurts
• Go for olive, sunflower and rapeseed oil, which have unsaturated fats
• Choose lower-fat spreads and only eat them in small amounts
• Drink six to eight cups of fluid a day