Retired Warrington performer drops 9 stone in a year

Orford resident, Treflyn Jones, began his weight loss journey in 2019 at the age of 73.

Treflyn and his wife Ann previously worked as children’s entertainers and were well-known around Warrington as the popular clown duo, ‘Silly Billy and Candyfloss’, performing not only at events and children’s parties but also making it onto hit BBC show, Noel’s House Party.

After losing his life-long love of clothes and feeling tired of his own reflection, Treflyn made the brave decision to change his bad-habit ways, leading him to his successful weight loss.

The 76-year-old retiree heavily researched weight loss before discovering a ‘one meal a day’ regime on YouTube.

Back in January 2019, Treflyn weighed 20 stone but within a few months of the strict intermittent fasting he had lost three stone and went on to lose the remainder bringing him down to his current weight of 11 stone within the first year.

Treflyn, originally from Barmouth in Wales, explained how the ‘one meal a day’ way of life utilizes ‘intermittent fasting’ where the person spends 23 hours of the day fasting with a one-hour window to eat a low-in-carbohydrates meal.Treflyn Jones after losing 9 stone (Image: Treflyn Jones)

Giving an insight into the fasting, Treflyn said: “During my fast I feel euphoric, I wake up feeling really energised. The fast allows your body to cleanse itself.

“Sometimes I even do an extended fast of 96 hours if I feel I have overindulged to much over a period of time.”

And even now he still follows this regime which he refers to as ‘a way of life’ as opposed to a diet.

Speaking of the build-up which lead to his ‘life changing’ weight loss, he said: “I always struggled with my weight, one day I realised I was the wrong side of 21. Everything I wore was big and baggy. I felt trapped inside my own body. I prayed to God to help me.”

He added: “This is a way of life for me, I am a carbohydrate addict so without this I would have no control. Every day I make the decision and choose not to eat.

“I miss things like chips but when I occasionally allow myself a treat, I feel unwell after it, I feel aches and pains come back that disappeared when I first started fasting.”

Treflyn weighs himself each morning as well as journaling what he eats each day to keep himself on track.

He said: “I encourage anyone starting a weight loss journey to journal every day, it is a day-to-day journey and if you only weigh yourself once a week you could miss a day of progress you may have had.”

During his battle with food, he came across Warrington GP, Dr Joanne McCormack, who began specialising in health and wellbeing, running her own low carb meetings and online YouTube channel, after seeing an increase in her patients being diagnosed with diabetes.

After ‘hunting down’ Dr McCormack and ‘knocking on her door’ to thank her in person for her help, Treflyn was then inspired to start a weight loss group in Warrington which was held at the Hawthorn Centre in Padgate, but the meetings were later forced to move onto zoom during Covid and have continued this way.

As well as running the group, Treflyn started the Facebook group ‘LOCALOFA’, short for low carbohydrate low fat, which currently has more than 2000 followers, where many members share weight loss stories and healthy meal ideas.Treflyn and Anne Jones worked as children's entertainers for many years around Warrington (Image: Treflyn Jones)

And his following spilled over to his YouTube channel which brings in more than 9000 subscribers, many who describe Treflyn’s journey as ‘inspirational’.

Throughout his videos he shows his audience his weight loss by trying on the same clothes again over a time scale, with garments becoming visibly baggier at each stage.

One member of the LOCALOFA group who follows the ‘one meal a day’ regime, Harvey Olikh, lost a life-changing 30 stone with the help of Treflyn.

Ann Jones, 75, also practices the intermittent fasting with her husband and has endlessly supported his journey.

She said: “I feel proud of him, to see him slimmer and enjoying buying clothes again is great. The work he does is amazing, people have said to him ‘you have saved my life’.”

She added: “We as a society eat out of habit, not because we are hungry.”

Treflyn said his one piece of advice to people who are wanting to start losing weight would be to ask yourself ‘why do you want to lose weight and what is stopping you from doing it’. To find out more information on the ‘one meal a day’ weight loss scheme, visit the Facebook group @LOCALOFA or check out Treflyn’s YouTube channel ‘Warrington Low Carbohydrate Group’.