Craig Wright was a takeaway addict before a warning from his fertility doctor changed everything.
A man who weighed almost 36 stone has shed over a fifth of his body weight so he can become a dad. Craig Wright, 33, was told by fertility doctors that losing weight would help help him and his partner become parents.
The admin assistant, from Fife, said his weight has been a “rollercoaster” his whole life before he weighed in at his heaviest in May 2024 – 35 stone 11 pounds (228kg).
Describing his life as “living in a prison” at the time, Craig said he couldn’t take his dog for a walk, struggled with basic tasks like fitting into chairs, and was so “terrified” of judgment that he would collect his prescriptions after dark to avoid being seen.
When his wife, Samantha, 30, signed up for Slimming World in January 2024, Craig was inspired to join four months later and said seeing the scales at his first group meeting was “brutal”.
Craig told PA Real Life: “I stood on the scales and I just looked straight ahead.
“The consultant wrote down the number and I saw it, and I was taken aback because I knew I was big but I didn’t think I was that big.
“It put the fear of God in me, as I was just not expecting it to be that much.
“I knew I needed to do something, otherwise I was not going to live my life to the fullest, have a baby, or see my dog grow old.
“All those things just hit me all at once and I got a bit emotional.
“Seeing it was just awful.”
Craig said he has always struggled with his weight because he ate when he was sad and was sad when he ate.
He said he was “constantly getting bullied” at school so he would go home and eat, and it was a “vicious cycle”.
On top of that, Craig said he saw the way his father, James, ate as a delivery driver, including buying “takeaways consistently throughout the week” and having “massive portions”.
“Back then, I thought that was a normal thing to do,” Craig said. “But looking back now, I know that was horrendous.”
As a result of James’s diet, he suffered three heart attacks before the age of 53, with the latter being fatal.
Craig was 14 at the time of his father’s death and said: “My dad was fantastic and I loved him to bits.
“But the fact that he passed away so early in my life is probably another factor of why I ate like I did.
“I was just trying to process those feelings with food.”
In the years since, Craig said this continued, especially when he started working at McDonald’s from the age of 18 for six years where he “took advantage of free food”.
Craig said his diet worsened when he started working on the night shift: “My sleep schedule was all over the place and I was having takeaways up to five times a week, on top of all the McDonald’s I was eating.
“It was not a healthy routine at all.”
At his heaviest – wearing clothes up to 8XL – Craig said he would have four pieces of white toast for breakfast lathered in butter, half a packet of bacon, six eggs and a full can of beans, while lunch could be a Domino’s pizza and dinner could be a takeaway Indian or kebab.
He added: “At night, it was lots of snacks – chocolate, crisps, ice cream – just gorging myself.”
Craig was averaging around 7,000 calories a day.
As for exercise, Craig said: “I’d take our dog Kobi for a walk and I’d get out to the gate, but I could only walk to the end of the road, which is maybe 30 steps.
“Then I had to stop because I was out of breath.”
Over the years, Craig said he tried to lose weight by changing his diet or using programmes like Weight Watchers, and going to the gym, but it “never worked” or he eventually lost motivation.
He said: “The easiest way to explain it would be a rollercoaster, just ups and downs with it constantly.
“I feel like I’ve tried every diet known to man and it’s just been abysmal.”
Craig met his partner Samantha in 2017 via a dating app and they married in 2021. They have been trying for a baby ever since marrying but Craig said, about two years in, they wondered: “Why isn’t it working?”
So, six months ago, the couple went to a fertility doctor who put everything into perspective.
Craig said: “The doctor mentioned a lot about weight loss and you have to be as fit as possible to have the best chance at having a baby.”
A month later, Samantha joined Slimming World. She did a 5K charity fundraiser in May 2024 that Craig attended and this was the motivation he needed to join the same weight loss programme.
Within days, he stepped on the scales and was “taken aback” to find out he was 35 stone 11 pounds.
As part of the programme, Craig and Samantha closely monitor their diets and exercise.
Craig said he slowly began building up his fitness: “I started walking from one end of the hall to the other and we’ve got some steps outside as well so I walked up and down those.
“From there, I tried to walk as much as possible, including taking Kobi out and just trying to work past the feeling I was going to pass out.
“It was six months into it – where I managed to do my first 5k walk – that I felt most proud.
“Now I feel like I can do 5k in my sleep!”
Today, Craig has lost eight stone and gone from wearing an 8XL to a 4XL.
An average day off will see Craig eat a plain bagel with four eggs for breakfast before taking Kobi out for two walks a day and joining a strength or boxing class in the evening.
Craig is down to 28 stone and said he is “getting out as much as possible”.
He said: “For me, it’s literally just a case of eating less and moving more.
“I no longer feel like I’m just in the gutter 24/7… and I’m definitely a lot more positive than before.”
Craig said he and Samantha have been told by doctors that they are “doing all the right things”, and they hope to be able to have a baby soon.
On why preventative health is so important, Craig added: “The longer you leave something, the worse it gets.
“So if you catch something early and you do something about it, you’re moving in the right direction.”
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