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Paddy Fagan, a grandad-of-14 from South Tyneside, has expressed his joy after losing more than five stone in weight.

At his heaviest, the 73-year-old weighed 20st 5lb and is now 14st 9lb - dropping from a waist size of 46 to a 38.

The retired Go North East service delivery manager has revealed that before he joined Slimming World in January 2022, he was always feeling tired and decided to make a change due to health reasons.

Paddy Fagan feels "top of the bill" after losing more than five stone in weight.

Paddy said: "I mainly wanted to lose weight due to health reasons, especially because I have polio and my legs would be constantly aching and I was tripping over a lot.

"I would always feel tired and wasn't really bothered about going out in public for things like shopping.

"I wasn't really one for takeaways but I did eat a lot of things like bread and cheese and then have a few beers and whiskeys throughout the week.

Paddy decided to lose weight for health reasons.

"Since joining Slimming World, I've now cut out eating bread most days and swapped it for things like having vegetables with every meal alongside chicken or fish.

"Another thing that I do differently than before is that I now go to the gym three times a week.

Paddy says that he would eat a lot of bread and cheese, as well as drinking alcohol during the week before he started his weight loss journey.

"Now that I've lost quite a bit of weight, I now feel top of the bill and it has been nice to go shopping and fit into smaller sized clothes."

Collectively in 2023, Slimming World members across South Tyneside groups have lost a combined total of 20,162lbs (1,441st), which is approximately the weight of a fire engine.

You can find out more about Slimming World groups in the borough by visiting: https://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/counties/tyne-and-wear.

South Tyneside grandad-of-14 feels 'top of the bill' after dropping more than five stone in weight