{"id":78867,"date":"2023-09-26T03:47:45","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T03:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/posterboyedit.com\/?p=78867"},"modified":"2023-09-26T03:47:45","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T03:47:45","slug":"dream-of-playing-footie-with-my-kids-helped-me-lose-half-my-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/posterboyedit.com\/world-news\/dream-of-playing-footie-with-my-kids-helped-me-lose-half-my-weight\/","title":{"rendered":"'Dream of playing footie with my kids helped me lose HALF my weight'"},"content":{"rendered":"
An obese dad who weighed over 26st says his dream of playing football with his kids helped him lose more than half his weight.<\/p>\n
Mark Marsden, 31, was 26st 7lb at his heaviest but now says he’s ‘never felt better’ after slimming down to far more healthy 13st.<\/p>\n
The professional singer and DJ admitted that ‘pure greed’ and his ‘addictive personality’ had led him to pile on the pounds throughout his 20s.<\/p>\n
And in 2021, he needed to be fed by his brother for three months after he was left bed-bound from agonizing back spasms brought on by his weight.<\/p>\n
During this time, he had to be ‘supervised’ when seeing his son, Riley, now 11, and daughter, Amelia, now five, as he was physically unable to look after them.<\/p>\n
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Singer and DJ\u00a0Mark Marsden, 31, (pictured, middle) was 26st 7lb at his heaviest<\/p>\n
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He’s managed to slim down to a far more reasonable 13st<\/p>\n
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Mark said he put on the pounds during his 20s\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mark felt particularly saddened that he couldn’t be ‘bothered to play football’ with his little lad due to his hefty frame.<\/p>\n
But he turned his fortunes around when he undertook a weight loss programme with Slimming World – and said his relationship with his kids is now ‘fantastic’.<\/p>\n
The dad-of-three said: ‘It’s horrible to think that at one point a father couldn’t be bothered to play football with his son, but I didn’t have it in me.<\/p>\n
‘I was too tired and I didn’t have the mindset that I could be active and have fun.<\/p>\n
‘The relationship with my kids is now fantastic, and my son has picked up my healthy lifestyle choices.<\/p>\n
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He said his dream of playing football with his kids pushed him to lose weight<\/p>\n
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He says he’s started booking Fridays off to spend time with his children<\/p>\n
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The DJ says his time at WeightWatchers helped him lose weight<\/p>\n
‘I’ll actually book Fridays off – I won’t do any DJing or singing. We might just go to the beach or play football.<\/p>\n
‘A lot of the time we’ll go to the gym. I’ve just picked up a six-month pass, and that way I will go twice a week.<\/p>\n
‘I’ve never felt or looked better in my life.’<\/p>\n
Mark, from Aston in South Yorkshire, said he’d got into harmful eating habits during his childhood when he was being looked after by his entertainer dad.<\/p>\n
During this time, he said he’d become used to gorging on a diet of takeaways – while being allowed to tuck into mostly fast food whenever he liked.<\/p>\n
Mark said: ‘My dad was a bloke and didn’t really cook meals. We looked after ourselves. We’d eat whatever he was fancying. It wasn’t a healthy meal.<\/p>\n
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Mark said his dad dictated his diet when he grew up<\/p>\n
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He mostly ate takeaway food without thinking about his health<\/p>\n
‘A lot of times it was takeaway. It might have been a buffet at a kid’s party or at a karaoke or something – it was always fast food.<\/p>\n
‘As I got to maturity, I got that freedom to eat when I wanted, whatever I wanted, and I massively piled weight on.<\/p>\n
‘The main reason was pure greed and obviously convenience as well.’<\/p>\n
Mark said friends and partners hadn’t criticised his weight gain, telling him they liked him how he was during his 20s.<\/p>\n
But just over two years ago, in May 2021, his eating habits finally took their toll when he was left bedridden for three months due to painful back spasms.<\/p>\n
He said: ‘I’d got nerve damage in my back through the excess weight I was carrying. My muscles went into protection mode and tensed up.<\/p>\n
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He also said his friends and family never said a word about his weight gain<\/p>\n
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He was forced to spend three months in bed due to debilitating back pain<\/p>\n
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Mark said he managed to lose around three stone once he had become mobile again simply by moving around<\/p>\n
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Mark, who now goes to the gym at least twice a week, said he’d lost his job as a car painter during his period of paralysis and had to take a job in an office<\/p>\n
‘I couldn’t move. I’ve never been in worse pain in my life.<\/p>\n
‘For a solid three months, I was being fed in bed by my brother, and my kids were just being brought round to the house to see me.<\/p>\n
‘I couldn’t really do anything for them. I just spent that amount of time in pain and misery – it was the worst time of my life.<\/p>\n
‘[My daughter] needed a lot more attention than I could give her. That made me really upset and got me down.’<\/p>\n
Mark said he managed to lose around three stone once he had become mobile again simply by moving around.<\/p>\n
And although he’d tried various diets, he decided to join Slimming World in November 2021, where he spent the next year cutting down his weight.<\/p>\n
He said: ‘Within six months I’d lost seven stone just through following their food plan, a lifestyle change sort of thing.<\/p>\n
‘After that, I started exercising, and I felt really good – like I wanted to exercise.’<\/p>\n
Mark, who now goes to the gym at least twice a week, said he’d lost his job as a car painter during his period of paralysis and had to take a job in an office.<\/p>\n
But he had never given up singing and DJing, which is his life passion.<\/p>\n
And he’s now been able to turn this into his main profession, touring around the country while singing everything from power ballads to swing and jazz.<\/p>\n
He added: ‘I’m actively trying to get to the front of the stage and I buy a new suit every week – it’s fantastic.’<\/p>\n