A chocolate factory worker who admits to eating four McDonald's meals at a time has told how he lost 154 lbs and gained a new shoulder.
Left in agony after a motorcycle accident in 2006, John Peate, needed morphine to control the pain in his right shoulder, and assumed his weight had aggravated the problem.
But when the 6.3 ft man from Brill was still in agony after shedding 112 lbs in eight months, he sought help and discovered it was because of his crash 12 years earlier.
Now a trim 203 lbs, John is pain free, after having “bionic shoulder" surgery.
“I'm able to sleep through the night and I don't have that chronic pain. I'm on zero painkillers. It's incredible," he said.
John said his turning point came when his granddad suffered a stroke on his 30th birthday and died two weeks later, in November 2016.
“It was at the wake, when I couldn't bend down to tie my shoelaces," he said.
“I'd always wanted to make my granddad, who was also called John, proud and I wanted to make my wife Lou, proud, too, so I knew it was time to do something about my weight," he said.
Following six months of dieting, Peate realized he needed support and, in July 2017 turned to family friend Lisa Jones. She provided a personalized weight loss plan which starts with meal replacements for guidance.
“I'd known Lisa for years. She lost half her body weight 15 years ago and managed to keep it off," he continued.
“As a big teenager I often felt invisible, but she would always make the effort to speak to me, so I told her about the four McDonald's breakfasts and the kebabs I ate and she didn't judge me," Peate continued.
Always overweight, Peate admits he usually hovered at around 308 lbs, but ballooned to 357 lbs at the end of 2016, when he was comfort eating, as he was upset by his grandma's declining health.
“When I came off my motorbike in 2006, after losing my balance, I was left with pain, particularly in my shoulder. But, because I had pain around my other joints, my knees and ankles, I put it down to the weight," but he had been wrongly attributing the growing pain in his right shoulder to his weight, saying.
“The weight masked the pain in my shoulder, which was like a burning or stabbing pain, which I later found out was due to the accident," Peate said.
“I'd been reliant on morphine to manage it, but it left me zonked and unable to sleep for more than two hours at a time."
But after loosing his grandma his health declined drastically.
“We were very close and, I was extremely worried, so I took to comfort eating," he said.
“I would work the night shift at the chocolate factory, then stop off at McDonald's on the way home, eat four breakfast meals in secret in the car, then go home and have a bacon sandwich with Lou. I was suffering from a lot of anxiety and depression, and the medication I was taking for nerve pain made me even hungrier."
“At the weekend I could easily put away 6,000 to 7,000 calories a day," he said. "I would look forward to the end of a bad day by thinking about what treat I could eat afterwards."
Luckily, all that changed when he began the Cambridge Weight Loss plan – having meal replacements for the first month, which meant ditching the fast food.
And, within seven or eight months, Peate had shed 112 lbs – bringing his BMI down to below 29.
“The first few weeks were not easy but once I got through that and was seeing the results and feeling better it was fine."
“Once I started feeling healthier, I knew I'd get the same comfort feeling from walking up a hill as I would have had from eating a McDonald's breakfast," he explained.
His pain, however, did not decrease.
“The bigger I got, the more pain there was, so I assumed my weight had made it worse," he said.
“When I lost eight stone and was still in agony, I went to see a doctor and found out the pin had been spinning around and the cartilage had also been rubbing away.
Surgeons also discovered there was no cartilage in Peate's shoulder, and he had also developed arthritis.
Going under the knife in July 2018 he had three procedures at the BMI Chiltern Hospital in Great Missenden, which included being fitted with a brand new metal shoulder.
Now, a year and a half later, he has built up the strength in his arm, which was weakened as part of his bicep was removed, and is pain free and able to use the limb normally again.
“It saved my life getting that weight off," he said. “I eat a lot of meat and vegetables and control my carbs and don't have fizzy drinks at all. I stick to around 2,300 calories a day and I'm not going to waste those on drink."
His entire lifestyle changed.
“Rather than take comfort in a pizza, I'll take comfort in a walk. It's really helped with my anxiety and mental health, too," he said.
Praising his wife, Peate says he could never have achieved such drastic weight loss without her support.
“She has been amazing."
“My wife has known me as a bigger man and it's nice to provide her with a bit of arm candy now!"
She is just excited her husband feels drastically better.
“John's journey had added complications due to his surgeries. From the onset of each operation we had to side step his diet plan and just practice maintaining his present weight, until his body had made a full recovery," Lisa Jones said.
“I'm immensely proud of what he's achieved under his circumstances. John is proof that if you understand what foods to eat, in the right portion, that weight loss and maintenance can change your life," she said.
“And with the help of a personal diet consultant, you get one to one attention, and support, this makes such a difference to being able to reach your weight loss goals," she continued.
To follow John's journey visit www.facebook.com/121johnp/