28st taxi driver's incredible transformation as he sheds more than half his body weight
A taxi driver lost an astonishing 15.5st after he was too big to fit into a hospital scanner. Super slimmer Andy Hill is half the man he used to be after weighing in at 28.5st two years ago.
The dad-of-two is now 13st, losing the equivalent of almost 100kg. His waist measurement is 34 in; it was 68 in. He said his transformation was thanks to Slimming World, the love of his family and sheer will power.
Andy, of Redcar N. Yorks., hit rock bottom when he fell over, and four adults were unable to pick him up. This story comes after a man claimed: 'I lost 10st in a year without jabs, surgery or going to the gym'.
Andy was also 'absolutely ashamed' of himself when he went to hospital for a shoulder injury, which was partly caused by his weight. He needed an MRI several years ago, but he could not fit into a scanner at the James Cook NHS Hospital, Middlesbrough. They booked another appointment at Woodlands private hospital in Darlington, Co Durham. But their scanner was not big enough either. Even diagnosis from an X-Ray was problematic due to his 'body mass'.
Now fit and able to enjoy days out with children Clare and John, 38, Andy recalled: "My collar bone was pushing into my neck and causing spinal damage. They could not fit me into the scanner at the first NHS hospital so they sent me to a private hospital to do a CAT scan. But I could not get into that either. Even with an ultrasound they struggled to assess the injury due to my size. I was absolutely ashamed of myself. I was addicted to food."
To ease the pain from his shoulder at night, he walked from one side of the bed to the other to turn over.During the Covid pandemic, he "got bigger and bigger" due to fast food deliveries. He was worried that he would not be able to walk Clare, 32, down the aisle at her wedding six years ago, and would be unable to dance at the reception. He even contemplated ending his life. "I was so heavy that it hurt when I walked," he recalled."It was terrible on my knees, ankles and calves, they were painful, it got to the stage where I had to sit down every five minutes after taking a few steps."
As he hit rock bottom in March, 2023, a friend persuaded him to join Slimming World. In his first week, he lost 5.5lbs; in the second week, it was half a stone. And he has not missed a weekly session since, a total of 126 consecutive weeks' attendance. He thanked his friends David Dickinson of DDK Airbrushing, and Steph Burgess - Slimming World's Woman of the Year in 2007, for their support. Divorced Andy, 63, proud grandad to Clare's son Remi, six, said: "I haven't looked back."
He has given up bacon sandwiches, drinks with four sugars and doughnuts to cook with healthy supplies of protein. Many of his taxi customers simply do not realise it is him if they have not seen him for a while. He joked: "It is hard to describe my life now.
"I just enjoy doing normal things. I have a George and Dragon tattoo, and one fella told me that even that had lost weight.
"Many passengers do not recognise me and apologise when they realise who I am. I always tell them not to worry. The main thing is that I am happy."
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