Sean's Story

I’ve never been skinny, but then I’d never been over 21 stone, either. Well, I was. I reached those dizzy heights of obesity when I allowed myself to balloon out of control, largely due to depression, of which my size was, ironically, a tiny, tiny part of.              

I knew I wouldn't live to reach 30, so I just didn’t care.

At 23, I tried to end it all. I failed - I became even lower as a result.

After that, I bumped into a girl I used to go to college with. She saved me from myself, in one respect, yet in another, a gang of misfits I decided to play football with, after not playing for the best part of a decade, saved the rest of me.

I love football. I realised I was crap from a very early age, so, with a footballing family around me, and a middle name of Shankly, I watched the game in an analytical way. I tried to outsmart my opponent, as I knew I would never be good enough to match them technically or physically.

But then I even began to fall out of love with the game, because I couldn't be a part of it. How could I play now? I’d have someone half my size and half my age running away from me. I could never stick to diets. I would feel ashamed going to the gym or out exercising in public.

Then MANWELL showed me the way. The community of like minded men who enabled me to feel part of something that I thought had gone. I rediscovered my love for the game. I discovered that I could lose weight, and keep it off, even after injuring myself a week before the season started and not being able to run since.

Do you know what I did? I watched what I was eating. I counted the calories in everything that passed my lips, and I stuck to it, because I had a team and a group of men around me who made me feel good about it. A group of men who made me feel normal.

So, although we are still at the beginning of our journey, and I plan to lose much more than the 3 stone 4 I have already shed, I thank you for what you have done for me in helping me to do so much, whilst doing so very little.

So, how did I lose weight? I calorie counted.

Why did I lose weight? Simple. I had a band of brothers standing at my side each step of the way, and they continue to do so.