Dad sheds more than four stones in weight in just eight months

Dec 22 2011 by Shirley Bartynek, Hamilton Advertiser

A MOTHERWELL dad has lost more than four stones in weight in just eight months.

John Lees decided in April this year that he had had enough of being out of breath just carrying his five-year-old daughter, Abigail, up the stairs to bed.

Weighing close to 21 stone he found himself needing a few minutes to recover as he was short of breath.

John (41) explained: “I decided then it was time to do something about it. Over the past 15-20 years I had got steadily bigger despite trying to follow diets and healthy eating plans on many occasions.

“I have always known that exercise is a big factor in helping take the weight off and in keeping it off, but have always used the excuse of being too busy to exercise.

“My daughter, Gemma, works at M&D’s and I had always passed the Alba Military Fitness classes in Strathclyde Park when dropping her off at work so I decided to take the plunge and go speak to them one evening before class.

“With luck I got to speak straight to Calum the owner of Alba, who talked me through the options that were available. I did not know that they also had extra weight loss challenge classes supported by Herbalife, so I opted to try this for a six-week kick-start bootcamp.”

Alba run all their classes based on three different fitness levels.

Red for new to fitness and returning from injury levels, Amber for the general fitness levels and then Green for people who are at a higher fitness level (or if you want to push yourself a little bit more).

John, a self-employed IT consultant supporting specialist software for the PVC window industry, added: “I started in the Red class one Saturday morning at the end of April and I am pleased to say that I am now doing well in the Amber, very tempted to try Green and over four stone lighter.

“Alba has become something of an extended family to its members as most nights there will be close to 100 troopers, most of whom know you by name and over the course of the evening they have plenty of chances to catch up.

“They also hold many exercise-related events throughout the year as well as several social night outs.”

For more information on Alba military fitness email: Calum Macleod at info@albamilfit.co.uk