Jim Currie is in the living room of his house in Tillydrone. “I’m exactly half the man I used to be,” he says with a grin.
Just under two years ago, the 59-year-old weighed a hefty 22 stone. Today, he sits neatly on the sofa, tipping the scales at just 11.
His partner Jane Fullerton pops her head in from the kitchen.
“I’m so happy,” she says, smiling warmly at Jim. “I was so worried about the health side of it, you know.”
It has been an amazing transformation for the Aberdeen City Council development worker, who puts his weight loss down to changes in what he eats, and a strict exercise regime that sees the reformed runner pounding the pavement four days a week.
But it is also testament to a determination to celebrate his landmark 60th birthday next month without the weight he’s carried for much of his life.
And to make sure he’s around to see his grandchildren grow up.
“It all boils down to having a longer life,” he says. “Which is what happens the fitter and healthier you are.”
‘My weight is something that I’ve always been conscious of’
It has taken Jim some time to come to terms with his weight.
He remembers at school in Northfield Academy being taken to the nurse to be weighed and then told not to overeat at school dinners.
“I think it’d be overstating the fact to say it scarred me,” he says. “But my weight is something that I’ve always been conscious of.”
Over the years, his weight fluctuated. The scales would creep up and then he would do something about it, through exercise or by going on a diet.
When he hit 40 he got into running, and even entered the Loch Ness marathon before an injury forced him to sit it out.
But every time he lost weight he’d put it on again – until two years ago, when he came to a worrying conclusion.
He’d been running on and off, but suddenly realised he was struggling to walk to nearby Seaton Park.
“I said to myself, that’s not right, I need to do something about it.
“And if I don’t do it now, I’m at the stage in life where I might be curtailing my life. I really need to get fit and healthy now and do it for good.”
He also thought of his grandchildren.
“I wanted to be around for them growing up,” he says, simply.
Jim throws diet plan out the window to lose weight
His first decision was to ditch the diet. He’d cut back on food before and always ended up back at his original weight — or heavier.
This time he would find a method he could stick to.
“I didn’t know how to eat in a healthy way,” he says. “I knew how to cut down and lose weight, but I had no idea what to do after that.”
He started recording what he ate on a calorie counting app. Jim is a trained accountant, so it was perhaps a way for him to audit his food intake; to drill down into his outgoings and incomings.
From that he made changes. No more bread and cheese. Extra helpings were out, too.
Jane recalls the kitchen scales always being on the counter as Jim weighed what he ate. “Second guessing” calories, she says, was over.
Treats were still allowed, but this time only in moderation.
“I still eat chocolate every day,” Jim says. “A chocolate biscuit with my tea. The difference was, before I might end up having six.”
Hitting the road to lose the pounds
Getting back into running also played a major role in Jim’s weight loss, though it wasn’t easy at first.
He had been running off and on since he turned 40, but at 22 stone — the heaviest he had ever been — he found pounding the pavement more difficult.
But, as Jane points out, Jim has inner resolve.
“You’re very resilient,” she says to him on the sofa. “When Jim says he wants to do something, it gets done.”
Jim chortles at the description.
“Resolute and determined, hmmm,” he says with a glint in his eye. “A lot of people would say pigheaded.”
Jim puts P&J Run Fest in his sights
Jim’s running improved quickly. He skipped a few weeks on the Couch to 5K app and was soon setting PBs at his local parkrun.
Today, at nearly 60, he’s running faster than ever. Last month, he took a massive 30 seconds off his Parkrun 5K — his record is now 24 mins, 19 seconds.
“The one good thing about taking up running later in life is that when other people are complaining they can’t run as fast as they used to, I’m still setting PBs,” he says.
Jim has already signed up for The P&J Run Fest 2024 10K on April 14.
What’s more, he’s signed up again for the Loch Ness marathon, and is confident that this time around he’ll make it to the start line.
Ask him what time he’s looking to set, though, and the confidence drains.
“You can’t publish that,” he laughs. “Let’s just say I’m looking to finish.”
Raising money for Aberdeen Blueberry Wellness
At both races, Jim will raise money for Aberdeen Blueberry Wellness, a local community group that provides fitness classes and healthy eating advice in lower-income areas.
Jim became a volunteer with Blueberry not long after he started losing weight and is now one of the fitness instructors for classes at the Tillydrone Community Campus.
“It’s fantastic,” says Jim, who has been able to use his recent exercise journey as an example of what can be done. “Just to see the improvement in people week by week is amazing.”
More wiggle room on airplanes and dealing with excess skin
Jim reached his target weight four months ago and is getting used to his reduced frame, albeit slowly.
When he flew off on holiday recently, he caught himself wondering why he was shuffling around so much in his airplane seat rather than being wedged in as usual.
He’s also come to terms with the excess skin his weight loss has left him, and has no plans to have it removed.
“It’s not something that’s high on my priority list,” Jim says.
“There’s not too many people that see me without any clothes on anyway,” he laughed.
Right now, his goal is to make sure the weight stays off.
But the changes he’s made to his lifestyle have proved so successful he’s started eating MORE to make sure he doesn’t waste away.
Luckily for him, Jane deploys a daily secret weapon that keeps the scales balanced — a delicious, handmade cheese sandwich.
“I discovered that the difference between the calorie count I was having when I was losing weight and what I needed to maintain the weight was a cheese sandwich,” Jim explains.
“So every day Jane will make me a big, juicy cheese sandwich.”
He adds with clear relish: “I love that sandwich.”
Jane, now perched on the arm of the sofa, smiles at Jim’s delight.
“He can make the sandwiches himself,” she says with a conspiratorial wink.
“But mine are better.”
To donate to Jim’s JustGiving page and help raise money for Aberdeen Blueberry Wellness, click here.
Love running? Why not sign up for the P&J Run Fest 2024?
On April 14, we’re going to be hosting the P&J Run Fest at the P&J Live.
The event will bring together people from all across the north and north-east to create a community of runners, and raise cash for the P&J 275 Community Fund.
It will have a 5k, a 10k, and a junior run.
To sign up, click here, and to find out more, you can read our explainer on all you need to know about this new event.
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