I was a 58 year 19 stone obese diabetic with high blood pressure and high cholesterol who was heading towards that moment where I become too old or too unfit to do anything about it. Never looked in the mirror except to have a shave.

When you have been a player; multiple marathon runner, good squash player, decent footballer who prided himself on his engine you sort of live in the past …..”yes I will start running and everything will be alright ….. I will just lose six stone. The tipping point was on holiday on a relatively easy walk started to struggle after one hours walking slipped off the mountain path was hanging onto the undergrowth as my legs dangled over a pretty high drop, could not pull myself up did not have the strength or fitness as I was hanging there I promised myself if I got out of this I would sort myself out.

My daughters went to Impact, one of them bought me five personal training sessions for my birthday. I sat in the car trying to pluck the courage to go in. I had spent most of my life in gyms but had just got out of the habit

Roll on my first session…

It was a much more scientific approach than I expected and the coach (Rich) was excellent he spent a long time understanding my capabilities, I had just had a knee operation and he worked around that brilliantly, and very quickly emphasized that weight was not just about what you did but about what you ate. I was quickly lifting weights that I could only dream of.

I am still on a journey but have achieved a much better balance of exercise and diet. I am 16 stone but more importantly I am fit, I set realistic personal targets I play squash, go to the gym four times a week, and contemplating a half marathon in the first half of 2017.