'Everything is different': Wigan grandad reveals how he lost nearly five stone in just four months

Paul Brett, 55, says he had struggled with his weight for years and admits he spent thousands of pounds on personal trainers and strict diets.

But as soon as he returned to his old habits, the pounds gradually crept back on.

However, the grandad-of-seven finally found something that worked for him thanks to encouragement from his daughter Rachael.

He said: “My daughter has done Slimming World before and told me to go. I used to think it was for women, so I was never going to go.

"But I have arthritis in my knee and needed a knee replacement, so I thought I needed to get some weight off. I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, my blood pressure was high and I needed to do something.

"My daughter said I should go to Slimming World. I thought I would go once, sign up and never go again – that was my plan.”

Paul, who lives in Marsh Green, weighed 22st when he went to his first meeting at St Mark’s Church in Newtown on February 20.

As the regular consultant Hannah Bolton was not there, he agreed to go back the following week to find out more about it – and to his surprise, he had lost one stone!

That encouraged Paul to stick with it and he found he was losing weight every week.

He said: “At first I thought it was a faddy thing, I didn’t understand. I thought it wasn’t for men, but when I went, I found there were a few men there.

"The diets I have done before say you can’t eat this or that and I stopped eating everything I liked. The only thing I have given up now is white bread and I eat brown bread instead.”

Paul says he has made changes to what he eats, including his wife Kathleen cooking “fakeaways” instead of them buying takeaway food and him making his own burgers from low-fat mince for a barbecue.

Just four months later, he weighs 17st 1lb, is recovering from knee surgery and is working towards losing another three stone.

He is already seeing the benefits of shedding weight and hopes to have a different outlook on food for good.

He said: “Everything is different. I’m not as tired, my blood pressure has come down and I don’t think I’m pre-diabetic now.

"I’m in recovery with my knee and it has to be easier because I am nearly five stone lighter. I hate to think that it would have been like with another five stone on it. I was carrying that around day in, day out.”

Paul certainly has no regrets about biting the bullet and going to a slimming club and now hopes to encourage other men to do the same.

"There must be lots of fellas out there, a bit like me, who think it’s not for them, but they should give it a try because they will be surprised,” he said.