A Thorpe St Andrew man has found national fame after shedding four stone in weight to turn his life around.

Ian Golden, 43, featured in the latest edition of monthly magazine, Men's Running, after combining a new love for exercise with his attendance of a Slimming World class in Catton when he reached the 18-stone mark.

The father-of-two is regional director for the eastern counties for plumbing suppliers Plumbase and has now found a new lease of life.

Ian explains: 'The day before I flew to Belgium for a business meeting my suit felt very tight. I didn't want to sit on a plane not able to breathe.

'Normally I buy good suits, but I went to a supermarket and bought a horrible, cheap and nasty suit with a 44ins waist and 48ins chest.

'I knew my life was going the wrong way to have to buy a supermarket suit that size.'

In July last year, Ian joined the Catton Slimming World group, which meets at White Woman Lane School on Thursday evenings, and started to slowly lose some weight.

At 17st he managed to compete a 60-mile Suffolk Coast Bike Ride, raising �1,275 for the Willow Foundation in the process, before going on to run a 5k Cancer Research fun run in Braydeston last August.

He has since caught the running bug and started running 10k races and bringing his personal best times down with every race. He has now got down to 14st and a 40ins chest and is hoping to organise a cycle ride from Vietnam to Cambodia with some friends.

Ian added: 'I kind of knew Slimming World could work for me, because it would fit my lifestyle of being away a lot and staying in hotels, but it was the exercise that made the big difference.

'There's no reason why you can't have a chicken salad even if you are out and in a restaurant. Going out doesn't mean I can't work it into my plan.'

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