'I was risking my flying career at 18st then I found a way to ditch 74lbs'

A 41-year-old pilot who had to quit flying during lockdown started to pile on the pounds and found himself requesting bigger and bigger uniforms when he returned to the air and hit 18stone - risking his career. Chris Cowley, 41, an airline pilot from Manchester, says obesity had been a constant problem, partly thanks to airport food.

He would often grab unhealthy food in the airport as he was working, leading to his weight creeping up. “I was brought up on quite a healthy diet, and my parents would always encourage me to eat as healthily as possible,” Chris said. “However, when it came to me making my own decisions, I soon saw the weight increase. I would often eat fast and convenient food.

“At work, I would eat whatever was available on the plane, or pick some fast food up when walking through the terminal building. I wouldn’t really track the calories and wasn’t too concerned of the health impact of what I was eating. I have never been a massive drinker, but my drink of choice was beer which gave me a distinct ‘beer belly’.

"My weight has always been a problem for me, I’ve been obese for as long as I can remember. Because it was the norm to me, I never really considered it a problem and did little to get control of it.”

Chris would yo-yo diet, especially when being face with medical tests at work. “I have to have a medical for work every year and there is a strict BMI limit of 35 before you get into difficulties with extra medical tests,” he explains.

“I would spend most of the year above this limit and then about a month before the medical date, I would starve myself in an attempt to lose that bit of weight to get my BMI to a level where I would just pass. Afterwards I would go back to normal eating, allowing the weight