Walking football and healthy eating helped me lose over 7 stone

By Les Pointer, Telford resident

After a chance meeting with hero John Aldridge, Telford resident Les Pointer decided to take up walking football and healthy eating to lose over 7 stone.

When I was 21 years old I had a training accident in the RAF that required reconstructive surgery on my left knee. As a result of the injury I was discharged two years later on medical grounds and subsequent complications.

For roughly 15 years I was using a walking stick to move around. During that period, I had a further five operations (four on my left knee, and one on my right knee). I also received ‘cordial epidural’ injections into my spine four times a year, for 8-10 years. After a long hard slog, I was finally able to ditch my walking aid and the spinal injections.

During this time I went from being a healthy, fit 12 stone, up to my heaviest of 21 Stone 7lbs. Having previously been a sporty person I became depressed about my weight and lack of mobility.

I then met Sid from the Healthy Lifestyles Service and we agreed to work together to try and get me fit and healthy again. It was hard work, for months on end I would yo-yo up and down, but Sid was always positive, always patient, and would offer advice, counsel, and encouragement at every opportunity.

The moment everything changed

After 9 months of going nowhere, all of a sudden everything clicked. Sid had said that it could take a while for my body to adjust after two decades of bad eating habits and no fitness,  so I was not to be discouraged. After my son’s sixteenth birthday in 2017, I saw a photo of myself from his party and decided that this would no longer do.

From that day forward I controlled what I ate, when I ate, and made myself exercise even when my knees hurt. I changed my eating habits to ensure that I ate three meals every day, with no snacking in between meals (except fruit), and massively reducing my sugar intake. I did not cut anything out, I just made better choices about how much and when I could eat things. I set alarms on my phone to help me get into healthy eating habits, and set an alarm in the evening from when I would stop eating. My wife and children were also getting into it, reminding me constantly when my alarm went off. My target was to lose 6 stone 7lbs by my next birthday.

Along with my healthy eating I took up walking football once a week at a very low intensity. That increased to two sessions a week (still low intensity), as I got fitter over the ensuing months. I also played tennis with my children as much as work would allow. I am now a lot fitter, play football three times and week, and play tennis with my children. Taking up walking football has been a great way for me to socialise as well, and I’ve made several new friends playing the game.

On my birthday weigh-in I smashed my goal and weighed in at 14 stone 7lbs, a total loss of 7 stone in 21 weeks. I’m not sure how I lost so much weight so quickly. I didn’t follow any diet plans, I was never hungry, I just ate all the right foods, at the right times and exercised between three and four times a week.

I have a great before and after photo of me with one of my heroes – John Aldridge. The first photo was taken just a few days after my son’s sixteenth birthday when I’d decided I needed to do something about my weight. John and I joked that I looked like I’d eaten Ian Rush, his old Liverpool strike partner from back in the day. When I met him again a few months later on Boxing Day 2017 I just had to get another photo with him to see how far I had come.

I am extremely grateful to Sid and the Healthy Lifestyles Service. He motivated me and always gave me the belief that I could do it, even though it was frustrating for so long, until everything clicked into place for me. Without his patience and advice I know that I wouldn’t be where I am today.