WHEN running for 90 seconds is impossible, completing your first marathon might seem unthinkable.

But that is the reality for a Birchwood man who has lost more than 10st in training for next month’s London Marathon David Poyser, a content analyst at Betfred’s head office in Birchwood, weighed more than 22st and reached the semi finals of Slimming World Man of Year in September.

And the 27-year-old has lost the weight in just two years.

He said: “I have transformed my life and undertaken a huge weight loss journey.

“Running in the London Marathon will be the pinnacle of my achievement after not being able to run for more than 90 seconds when I started.

“It is a very big personal achievement for me as somebody that two years ago was weighing in at more than 22st.”

And David believes anyone can achieve the weight loss success he has.

“My attitude is just a bit different now,” he said.

“If I have a blowout one day then I’ll just shrug it off and continue with my regular diet the next day.

“A lot of people tend to think they have failed when they have a blowout which makes them give up on the whole thing and that’s the guilt that makes you feel like that but in reality, one bad day or week is very small in the big picture.”

David is running the marathon on Sunday, April 22 to raise money for the Royal National Institute for Blind People, which offers practical and emotional support to people whose lives have been devastated by sight loss.

Running for RNIB was inspired by his colleague Mark Rogerson, from St Helens, who lost 90 per cent of his vision two years ago.

Mark runs the London Marathon every year for the charity that has helped him get to grips with life.

In return for guaranteed entry to the race, David has pledged to raise at least £2,000 for the RNIB.

Click here to donate. 

How David shed more than 10 stone...

David's diet before losing the weight:

‘I would get multiple takeaways per week, two to three easily.

I’d be eating junk food all the time – big bags of crisps, I loved Pringles.

Packs of Haribo, full packs of biscuits and plenty of chocolate as I always have, and still do, have a love for chocolate.

On any one day I might have ordered a large Dominos pizza to myself, and then afterwards I would watch films or wrestling and use that as an excuse to ‘get a munch’ which would include at least one big bag of crisps and a big bar of chocolate.

Sometimes I’d buy a box of mini shortcakes from Asda and then buy some whipped cream and squirt it on the top of the shortcakes when I ate them.

It’s bad thinking about it but I would generally have a two litre bottle of fizzy pop every night too.’ 

David's diet after losing the weight: 

‘My diet is obviously pretty unrecognisable now.

I make sure I have my three meals a day so I don’t go hungry.

I’ve found soup is really great for satisfying hunger so I tend to have soup for my lunch every day to keep hunger at bay until dinner time.

My dinners are portion controlled now as well, I weigh everything I cook, which sounds like a pain but once you’re used to it, it pretty much becomes second nature.

I build my meals around meat – I have a lot of spaghetti bolognese and stir fries.

I’m partial to a good steak as well!

In terms of junk food, I’m still not perfect and doubt I ever will be, but I manage it a lot better now.

On most days when I get my sweet craving I will just have smarter snacks.

I eat low calorie crisps like French Fries and Muller light yoghurts, Alpen light bars and low calorie hot chocolate.

That tends to satisfy me enough to stop me reaching for the more hardcore junk food.

I’ll allow myself treats here and there, usually socially.

If you shrug off your bad days and just continue the next day then you will make progress.

I know I’ve had a particularly bad blowout one day and have still lost weight that week.

It’s just all about management.

Nobody is perfect and everybody loves treating themselves. It doesn’t mean you have to give up on a generally healthy lifestyle.'