Dad loses almost half of body weight after being told he was too fat for Alton Towers ride

Blake Lewis, 33, used to weigh 23 stone.

He was shamed into losing almost half of his body weight after he was told he was too fat to go on an Alton Towers ride when he visited the theme park with his young daughter.

In May last year he visited Alton Towers with his family. He went to get on the Go Jetters Vroomster Zoom but found that the CBeebies Land ride safety bar wouldn’t fit over his stomach.

This kick-started something in Blake, which led to him shedding almost half of his body weight by himself with regular exercise and healthy eating.

He lost 10 stone after feeling embarrassed about not being able to go on the ride, a situation which left his daughter in tears.

Inspiringly, he managed to do it without any help of weight loss groups. He stuck to a regime of healthy eating and regular exercise, no doubt spurred on by his experience at Alton Towers.

“I had always wanted to lose weight ever since having children but never had the will power.” Blake, who is a care assistant from Church Gresley, Derbyshire, said.

“I’d take my children to the park and play with them and thought I could probably run better than a lot of slim people.”

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When some of his overweight friends were diagnosed with heart disease and type 2 diabetes, he started to feel concerned.

He believes it was the ride that did it for him, though.

“My daughter Sophie didn’t understand why we couldn’t go on the ride because we had sat down alright.”

“I knew I was big but when I couldn’t get the belt over my stomach I thought: ‘This doesn’t happen to people every day. Something is not right.’”

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Blake said there was “no nastiness” from the staff members who asked him to get off of the ride, but that something clicked in his head.

“That's when I thought enough was enough and I needed to do something about my size.”

He had an addiction to junk food - which included takeaways, crisps and chips.

Often, he’d reach 5,000 calories in one day.

When he lost the weight, he dropped his calorie intake dramatically from 5,000 to 1,000 calories per day, choosing to batch-cook his meals so he always had something available.

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He decided not to join a gym and instead opted to create a gym in his garage. He paired this with walking the one and a half miles to his work each day.

“Stick at it hard for the first few weeks then you’ll be encouraged when the pounds start coming off.” Is the advice he offers people trying to lose weight.

“Some were concerned that the weight dropped off so quickly that I’d make myself poorly. In fact, I’ve never been healthier.”

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