A couple who had become ‘addicted to takeaways’ have managed to change their lifestyles - and lost more than seven stone between them. Mark and Sarah Smith from Manchester were jolted into action when he had a heart scare and decided to change his ways.
And Sarah was with him every step of the way - losing weight herself. The couple had got into the habit of having takeaways and several bottles of wine every night - and came to the conclusion they weren’t happy.
The pair realised subsequently that at one point they were spending £60 a night on wine and food like pizzas and kebabs - sometimes two a night, the Manchester Evening News reported!
Mark, 39, explained: “I’d been really unfit for quite a long time, and a couple of years ago I had a vascular issue where the blood flow was restricted to the left hand side of my body and my eye dropped on one side.
“I did make some changes to my diet at that time, but quickly slipped back into old habits of eating takeaways and drinking wine every night. I was generally living an unhealthy life. We both put quite a bit of weight on and we were both unhappy.
“We were arguing all the time, we weren’t active. It got to the point that Sarah said ‘right, we need to do something about this’.”
The pair who have been together for 18 years used to go out to Greggs at lunchtime together - but now go on joint trips to the gym. Mark has managed to lose an incredible 4 stone - and has turned his beer belly into a six pack.
Sarah, 44, has lost three stone and is in the best shape of her life, discovering muscles and energy she never knew she had. They have now made exercise and eating whole foods part of their everyday life.
The pair say their relationship has improved too. Sarah explained: “It was a combination of everything, I was not coping with my grief after I lost my dad, and my emotions were all over the place. I was worried about Mark’s health and really unhappy at home - we were both miserable, grouchy and we’d take everything out on each other.
“We were just existing. We were in this constant cycle of get up, go to work, get home, have a drink and feel alright for a while but then waking up and feeling sad.”
The couple had got into the bad habit of getting home exhausted from work and, instead of making a meal, ordering takeaways on delivery apps. They would crack open a bottle of wine while waiting for it to arrive and get through maybe two or three bottles of wine between them. Now they’ve deleted Deliveroo. Mark said: “If I gave you access to my Deliveroo account from that time you’d be shocked. I’ve now deleted the App off my phone as it was just so easy to order a takeaway every night without hardly thinking about it when it already has your card details stored.
“The neighbours joked about the amount of takeaways we used to have - you know it’s bad when even the neighbours are commenting. We’d have a takeaway at 7pm, then sometimes be ordering a McDonalds takeaway with desserts at 11pm.”
Sarah adds: “I’d hardly eat in the day, and the first thing I’d sometimes be having was wine at night when we got in - then the food later on. We very very rarely cooked at home.”
They signed up at UP Fitness in Manchester last October, initially to two workouts a week, but soon extended it to three. Sarah says: “I knew they’d be tough and put you out of your comfort zone, they do push you and that’s how you achieve personal best. But they look after you at the same time.”
Mark, who is 5’ 10”, had a starting weight of 15 stone 8lbs, but is now a healthy 11 stone 7lbs. It took him just six months to drop the 30kg and he has gone from struggling to fit into 38” waist trousers to a 32”.
Sarah, who is 5’ 7” was keen to tone up and has gone from her top weight of 11 stone down to 8 stone - and has toned up her whole body in the process. She has gone from wearing a size 12/14 to a size 8.
Mark says: “We both feel absolutely incredible, the change in everything that this has made is absolutely ridiculous. I’m fitter, I look better, I feel better - all that sort of stuff it’s been a complete transformation.
“It has completely changed our lives and our relationship. It’s rescued it to a certain degree.” Sarah added: “I’m so much more confident. In the past I would always get Mark to come with me to things, but now I do things on my own. We cook together now, it’s like another hobby we’ve got together.”
Mark’s daily diet before
Breakfast - Coffee and a cigarette
Lunch - Greggs sandwich with a pasty - and a bacon turnover just for the walk back to the office.
Dinner - Takeaway pizza or kebabs, bottle of wine
Mark’s daily diet now
Breakfast - Fruit, porridge, honey, peanut butter and protein shake
Snack - Rice Krispies marshmallow bar
Lunch - Chicken, veg and rice or sweet potato
Snack - Bagel and jam/peanut butter
Dinner - Steak or fish with veg, or home-made spaghetti bolognaise.
9pm - Protein shake
Sarah’s daily diet before
Breakfast - Coffee or Diet Coke
Lunch - Nothing, or Greggs sausage roll or a packet of crisps
Dinner - Bottle of wine, then takeaway.
Sarah’s daily diet now
Breakfast - Porridge oats, peanut butter and fruits and protein powder
Pre-workout - Portion of fruit
Lunch - Chicken veg and rice or sweet potato
Post-workout - Blueberry muffin
Dinner - Home-made chilli or curry - no shop bought sauces, all made from scratch
