Slimmer Ian's charity bike ride plan

Earlier this year the father-of-two from Northallerton had ballooned to 19 stone on a diet of ready meals and television, and the most exercise he did was walking to the car to drive to work.

But in the last few months he has lost more than four- and-a-half stone due to a controversial diet plan which now has a programme designed specifically for men. Now he is in training to do the 169-mile cycle ride for Alzheimer's disease next year.

"I'd never really worried that much about my weight but it just kept creeping up. In fact, I couldn't have told you how much I weighed as I refused to get on the scales. I did try a few diets but nothing seemed to work as a part of me always wanted to be thin, but just never really got round to it."

Ian does have a history of heart problems and diabetes in his family and he was concerned that the extra weight could increase his risk of contracting these conditions.

Ian heard about the Lighter Life Plan after his boss successfully lost a lot of weight on it. The plan drastically restricts calorie intake and for the first few weeks bans people from eating conventional food at all, replacing it with their own shakes. The company, which recently developed its Man Plan,says the food packs, which cost 66 for a week's worth of shakes, are specially developed to satisfy daily nutritional needs and stresses that clients are medically approved by their doctor before taking part. Counsellors trained by the company provide weekly therapy sessions to change the way people think about food.

However, some health professionals and dieticians have raised concerns about advising people to take such a reduced calorie intake.

Ian, 49, admits that six weeks into the 12-week abstinence programme, in which his diet was restricted to 550 calories a day - a quarter of the normal recommended calories for a man – he did become extremely tired and needed more sleep. However, he has nothing but praise for the programme which he was on for a total of 24 weeks.

"It was good to share experiences in the groups with other men and realise that you are not alone. As the group progressed ideas were shared and the support to carry on was there as we were all in the same boat," he said.

"Each week when you get weighed everyone is rooting for you to lose weight and when you come out of the weigh-in people praise you for losing the weight and that spurs you on. The support and how you develop as a person and also being able to give that support and experiences back to people attending the course really helps."

Although he had initially set himself the target of losing 24lb on the programme, he ultimately eclipsed that by losing five stone.

"Starting it was the hardest bit, but I lost 10lb in the first week which really spurred me on. You could actually see the weight loss straight away. My wife was still eating normal food and I was cooking, but just didn't want to eat it as I felt full all the time. I gave myself the target of Christmas but reached it before then. I seem to stick at around 14st 2lb and can't get any lower."

Ian believes the plan has helped to educate him about food and also has encouraged him to take up exercise. "I have completely changed my lifestyle, although I make sure that I still enjoy life. I do have the odd takeaway but I cycle almost every day usually cycling six miles in the morning and at night."

Driven by inspiration from his wife, daughter and son, he is now in training to fulfil an ambition which he believes he would never have been able to tackle at his former weight.

"Next year I have set a target of cycling the coast-to-coast in aid of Alzheimer's disease as this is a personal goal of mine and I have also seen the effects this disease has had on the lives of those around me."

He hopes to complete the ride from July 8 to 11 next year in memory of his father-in-law who died of Alzheimer's at 65.

LighterLife counsellor Susan Hampton said: "We launched the Man Plan because many men were being prevented from losing weight, and changing their lives, due to the stigma attached to slimming programmes.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Since 1996 more than 200,000 have embarked no the Lighterlife programme.

LighterLife is a weight-loss and weight-management programme for men and women who are between 16 and 75 and have a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or above.

Typically, this means you're one stone or more overweight.

There are three programmes, Lite if you have a BMI of 25 to 29.9, Total for those with a BMI over 30 and Men.

The programmes are based on the fact that while on the diet a person takes in fewer calories than their body needs.