Credit: SWNS
A man who struggled with alcohol all his life, drank two litres of spirits and eight beers every weekend has quit the booze and is now becoming a personal trainer.
Kevin Lamb, 47, started bingeing on cheap cider when he just 19 before moving on to vodka and other spirits.
He piled pounds with weight ballooning to 217lbs.
But he finally decided to quit the booze after he collapsed in pain and ended up in hospital for 12 days and doctors warned he would kill himself if he did not stop.
And to cap it all Kevin, who has shed four stone, is studying to be a personal trainer.
A man who struggled with alcohol all his life, drank two litres of spirits and eight beers every weekend has quit the booze and is now becoming a personal trainer.
Kevin Lamb, 47, started bingeing on cheap cider when he just 19 before moving on to vodka and other spirits.
He piled pounds with weight ballooning to 217lbs.
But he finally decided to quit the booze after he collapsed in pain and ended up in hospital for 12 days and doctors warned he would kill himself if he did not stop.
And to cap it all Kevin, who has shed four stone, is studying to be a personal trainer.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00What turned into Thursday, Friday, Saturday was all I lived for really.
00:03Sole idea of getting as much down my neck as we could.
00:05It's an addiction that's far more commonly accepted, isn't it?
00:12I'm Kevin Lamb, I'm 47.
00:14We're talking today about some issues in the past and some of the changes I've made to
00:18get my fitness back really and get back up and running after a few dodgy years in my life.
00:23I think where I grew, kind of like a working class area, everyone's the same.
00:32We all just got into drinking right away and then when I went to university,
00:36I just carried that on.
00:37I've always kind of like had an issue really with binge drinking, you know,
00:40but I've never kind of quite got to grips with it until the last few years.
00:48Good times you have a drink, bad times you have a drink, celebrations you have a drink,
00:53funerals you have a drink, everything's related around having a drink, isn't it?
00:56What turned into Thursday, Friday, Saturday was all I lived for really.
00:59Sole idea of getting as much down my neck as we could.
01:02It's an addiction that's far more commonly accepted.
01:08My favourite tipper was Jack Daniels.
01:09I used to drink bottles of Jack Daniels, no problem at all,
01:12and wash down with a few cans of Heineken.
01:14I used to sit there, you know, if I had friends around or something like that,
01:16I'd be sat around there long on my own.
01:18I didn't need any encouragement whatsoever.
01:21It's just identifying them behaviours.
01:22Requires quite a lot of self-reflection,
01:24but I can't turn around and pinpoint something where I thought,
01:26I wish I should have stopped there.
01:31I never really labelled myself as an alcoholic,
01:33and, you know, it went from socially just to problem drinking.
01:36Any kind of relationships I've had, any arguments or any fallings out with anyone
01:40I've ever had over the years has been through, you know, drink.
01:43Majority genuinely my behaviour when I was drunk, you know,
01:46when you're in the middle of it, it's, you know, it just feels tricky to get out of.
01:50Friday, Saturday, Sunday, every week hung over.
01:52I realised the shape I was getting in, but I wasn't interested, you know,
01:54I was like, no, I didn't think it would happen to me.
01:57When I was in hospital then, I was in there for 12 nights,
01:59obviously as I was up in Scotland, a couple of friends came up and visited,
02:02but the majority of the time I was sat on my own.
02:05I realised then there was an issue, but then I got out of hospital,
02:08I had a bit of a spell off it, and then went back to it just as bad as I was.
02:12You know, the rest is what I've said to you, that's when I joined the gym.
02:15Getting up and coming to work is not a chore, you know,
02:18the way as it used to be, you know, coming on a Monday and I'd just be that
02:22tired and still hung over from the weekend that you'd just be watching the clock ready to go home.
02:26Comes to the weekend, I have a big run planned,
02:29that runs in place deliberately at the weekend because it keeps me from,
02:32I can't, you couldn't do that hung over, you know.
02:34I think this training now and having a coach, that's kind of like helped me,
02:38helped me along a number of things, you know,
02:40I think this training now and having a coach, that's kind of like helped me,
02:44helped me along and worked, the two of us are now,
02:47you know, we're doing motivational speaking on the topic.
02:49Thanks to my work I do with Tony, I can see the product of where that's got me to.
02:54I'm feeling better, stronger, fitter than I've ever been.
02:57I mean, I'm 48 in two weeks, I'm fitter than I was at 21.
03:00I just turn up at the gym now and do the programmes that he's planned for me
03:03and it keeps me on the straight and hard.
03:05I've lost about four and a half stone altogether here.
03:11The biggest thing I took away from it was,
03:13was kind of like put my energy into going to the gym
03:16and I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:20I think it's the fact that that's my biggest mistake, I wouldn't acknowledge it.
03:24I had people saying to me, you know,
03:25I didn't think you're drinking too much, you didn't think this,
03:27and I was like, no, no, not really, I'm only 40, you know,
03:30and then it comes and hits you with a bang,
03:33but listen to people and don't be scared to hold your hand up, really.
03:37I think it's the fact that that's my biggest mistake,
03:40I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:43I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:46I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:49I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:52I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:55I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
03:58I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.
04:00I've met people at the gym now who are some of my best mates to acknowledge it.