A music teacher from Co Tyrone has picked up an award from Slimming World after he lost 10 stone following an embarrassing incident at school.
32-year-old Ryan Quinn from Strabane was named Slimming World’s Mr Sleek after losing the weight after a table he sat on collapsed in front of 900 students.
The music teacher also decided to lose weight after struggling to fit into an orchestra pit for his performances.
Ryan had struggled with his weight since he was a teenager but the embarrassing incident at work prompted him to change.
“I’d just started in a new school and went along to the morning assembly,” Ryan said.
“I sat myself down on a table and it just completely collapsed beneath me – in front of 900 students. It was mortifying but I just brushed it off with a joke like I always did.
“I always used to make the excuse that I was too busy to cook or think about eating healthily, but lockdown actually meant I ran out of excuses.
“I had more free time than ever, yet from March to September 2020, I gained two stone. I really couldn’t blame that on being too busy.”
On the advice of a friend, Ryan was encouraged to join Slimming World after failed attempts at other diets.
He added: “My friend Amanda decided to join Slimming World and asked me to come along too, so for the first time ever I actually agreed.
“Slimming World was nothing like I’d ever tried before. In the past I’d tried the egg diet, the cabbage soup diet, they all left me feeling deprived and didn’t teach me anything about food.”
