This week’s Amazing Loser Samuel has gone from a self-proclaimed hermit to a fully-fledged exercise addict, living life to the full and becoming a valued member of his MAN v FAT Football league. He spent years living with the negative effects of being overweight, but as soon as the weight started coming off he wondered why on earth he didn’t give it a proper shot before…
Name: Samuel Thorne
Age: 27
Height: 5′ 9″ / 180cm
Location: Stoke on Trent
Occupation: Accountant
Highest weight: 147.3kg / 23st 3 / 325lbs
Current weight: 88.9kg / 14st 0 / 196lbs
Weight lost: 58.4kg / 9st 2.7 / 128.7lbs
How did you get to the position where you needed to lose weight?
I started putting on weight when I moved away to university. I’ve always struggled with social anxiety and became a bit of a hermit, taking comfort in food.
Eventually, I swapped uni to one closer to home but my habits didn’t change, if anything they got worse. The only exercise I’d get would be walking between classes and with the extra money I had from not living away, and no real hobbies to spend it on, junk food and takeaways became the norm.
Following graduation, I got a job as an accountant which meant spending every day sat at a desk with eating the only interesting thing you can really do. I’d get home from work and go straight to the shop to get snacks for the night.
I’ve since been diagnosed with and have been getting help with depression, which I think explains a lot of the bad habits I got into. I’ve always been a terrible comfort eater so when feeling low reaching for comfort food was my common outlet.
1. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Old cliché but it couldn’t be truer for weight loss. You’ll have good weeks and bad. But as long as the trend is going down, you’ll get where you want to go
2. You’ll never fully appreciate the benefit until you’ve done it. It’s easy to convince yourself you’re comfortable as you are, or not particularly unhealthy. But once the stairs start to get easier or a trip out seems less daunting, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start earlier.
3. Don’t feel uncomfortable exercising, regardless of your size. The vast majority of people will be focused on themselves and their own lives, and those that do notice you will have nothing but respect for someone trying to make a positive change.
