Ben getting advice from Physical Activity Assistant Paul Ashwell.
It was goodbye to sugary snacks and hello to fabulous fruit for 39-year-old Ben Storey who lost a massive eight stones in weight (50 kilos) at our Fresh Start group.
Just before Christmas 2015, Ben and mum Mary, from River in Dover, knew that with a BMI of 62.3 and weighing 28 stones (178 kilos), he needed to do something about his weight.
They had been to see their GP shortly before. The news wasn’t great. Mary said: “The GP said to us, ‘when Ben gets type 2 diabetes’. It wasn’t ‘if’, it was ‘when’. We were all terrified.
“In the June, we had heard that the UK’s largest man, Carl Thompson, who also lived in Dover, died at only 33. Reports said that he started eating more after the death of his mum. I thought to myself, if something happened to me, that could be Ben.”
Ben has a learning disability and works with a care manager at Pathways in Dover who told him and Mary about our NHS
weight management Fresh Start groups, running locally.
Mary said: “We were nervous to begin with, we didn’t know what to expect. I remember saying to Ben, we’ll go along and see what it’s like and if it’s awful, we won’t go again.”
Luckily, the sessions weren’t awful and Ben and Mary attended every week for 12 weeks. “At first, I didn’t think Ben was interested – it looked like he wasn’t listening and was bored, but I was wrong, he took in every word. Since we started the group, he hasn’t eaten any of the sugary snacks he used to and he is much more active.”
Ben replaced some of his favourite treats such as cakes, sweets, biscuits and pastries with a lot more fruit and three regular, healthy meals each day. Now, when tea and biscuits are served at the day centre Ben attends, he refuses a biscuit and has fruit instead.
Ben downloaded the Change 4 Life sugar swaps app, which includes a handy bar code reader they can use in the supermarket. “We had a great time in the supermarket when we first started Fresh Start – Ben would go around with his app and zap the food that we were considering, to check the sugar content to make sure we were making the right choices. He has also bought a FitBit, monitoring how many steps he takes a day and how many minutes hen is active for.
“It is the best thing I’ve got,” said Ben.
When Ben was bigger, he had sleep apnoea – a condition where the muscles and soft tissues in the throat relax and collapse sufficiently to cause a total blockage of the airway; it’s called an apnoea when the airflow is blocked for 10 seconds or more.
Mary said “He couldn’t sleep lying down and had to sit up in a chair. Now, he can breathe lying down again. He is happy to lie in bed, playing with his iPad or listening to his music. It is lovely to see.”
As a reward for all of his hard work, and for attending all of the sessions – Dover Leisure Centre gave Ben some free sessions so that he could continue to be active. Ben still has some way to go and would like to lose another two stones before his birthday in April.
More information about our Fresh Start programme can be found here.