A New Year's Resolution

And an 8 stone loss!

Alan Mc Ginley

Alan McGinley is one of the small percentage of people who made a New Year’s resolution – and actually stuck to it!

More than 8 stone lighter, his decision to join Scottish Slimmers was the best he’s ever made.

'Mind you it took me around 10 years to finally make that commitment and actually do something about my weight,’ laughs 57-year-old Alan from Clydebank.

‘I’d started to put on serious weight in my mid 40’s and by the time I’d reached my heaviest weight I’d all but written off the idea that change was possible.’

A routine check up at his doctors led to an appointment with a cardiologist who advised Alan to lose weight.

‘Even as my ears were burning with his advice, it still took me some years before I acted on it,’ says dad-of-two Alan.

‘Eventually when I did decide I really had to get focused and do something about my size, one of the tipping points that made me do it was changing my job.

‘One of my first tasks was to take part in a video ‘vox pop’ at the Arthritis Care annual conference.

'I talked about wanting to lose a few stones to take the pressure off my knees. I realised I didn’t want to turn up a year later the same size, this was my trigger to do something about my weight at last,’ explains Alan.

Now a staggering 8 stone lighter Alan says, ‘Walking is now more of a pleasure than a chore and any visits to the doctor are free of the usual discussion of ‘lifestyle issues.

'Previously I’d always thought of weight loss as a short-term quick fix, 2-3 months of effort for some visible gain.'

And with a chuckle Alan says:

‘A surprising dividend of my weight loss is the number of times I’ve been called ‘dapper’. As a lifelong scruff it’s certainly not something I have been called before!’