How to Lose Weight at 48 Years Old - Pete's Sucess Story

Pete squeezed himself into the aeroplane seat, and pulled the seatbelt tight across his tum, as his wife Kathie plonked herself down in the seat next to him. It was January 2016, and the couple were both full of holiday excitement as they jetted off to Morocco for a spot of winter sun. 

After 30 years of marriage, with the kids now grown up, Pete and Kathie thought it was time they started to enjoy themselves a bit more, and this holiday to celebrate Pete’s 48th birthday seemed just the getaway they needed.

But when the air hostess came round to deliver their inflight meals, Pete was horrified when the tray table from the chair in front wouldn’t make it past his protruding stomach. Pete knew he was overweight, but he hadn’t realised just how big he’d become.

"I’d spent 13 years as a delivery driver for a local Indian restaurant, and the midnight masalas had really taken their toll," says Pete. "When Kathie saw that the tray couldn’t get past my belly, she took my hand and very gently told me she was worried about me. I was bit taken aback, but I knew in my heart of hearts that I couldn’t go on like this."

After the embarrassing incident on the plane, the couple carried on with their holiday, tucking into treats as normal. But back in the UK Kathie persuaded Pete to join Keto Diet with her.

"We’d been together for 30 years but it hadn’t taken me that long to realise Kathie was always right," says Pete. "I couldn’t believe it when I stepped on the scale and saw that I’d ballooned to almost 300 pounds stone. I was mortified, but Kathie was quick to support me. 'I love you, we’ll do this together,' she told me."

Over the years, Kathie had gained weight too, and wanted to lose about 75 pounds. When Pete would come home from his nightshift at the Indian, he’d bring back her favourite korma with some onion bhajis. They’d often sit and eat together late at night, with Kathie exhausted from her busy day at the hospital where she worked as a nurse.

The weight went on quickly: by the time their daughter Keisha, now 24, was born two years after the wedding, Pete had piled on 45 pounds, and by the time their son Perry, now 21, came along two years after that, Pete was up to 145 pound.

Now, they had every reason to want to stay fit and healthy: at 48, they’d just become grandparents for the first time, and had another granddaughter on the way.