An Aberdeen man who lost six stone in eight months has told The Press and Journal how his weight loss has changed his life.
Barry Henderson was bingeing on junk food and revealed he would eat eight packets of crisps in one sitting.
The Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) storeman has now dropped from 19st 12lbs to 13st 4lbs after he radically improved his lifestyle.
He has now gone from an XXXL clothes size to a large.
Trauma put Barry on the wrong path
In 2019, his life changed when he was attacked.
The injuries he suffered left him with a fractured skull, a bleed on the brain and 13 metal stitches in his head
The assault led to him having a “dark, dark depressive episode”.
“Since then it’s been highly traumatic for me,” he said,
The passionate Aberdeen FC supporter admitted he was living like a “hermit” and cut off all his friends.
“Stuck in a rut,” Barry’s routine would be work, come home, binge eat and gamble, with his bed becoming a “safe place”.
Suffering from anxiety, depression and stress, the NHS Grampian employee, who is a massive fan of TV sitcom Only Fools and Horses, decided to enlist one of his heroes to help him.
David Jason inspired Barry
Sir David Jason, who played Derek “Del Boy” Trotter on the show is one of Barry’s heroes. He met him in Milton Keynes in August, which he described as being a “dream”.
Despite being “very, very nervous” about meeting the actor, Only Fools and Horses is one of Barry’s coping mechanisms.
He said to the celebrity: “I’m Barry, I suffer with severe anxiety, stress and depression, but thank you for changing my life.”
Giving him advice, Sir David told him he was waking up in the morning with a “non-positive attitude”, adding: “You can’t change the past, but you can change the future.
“Get up tomorrow, feel today could be the best day of my life, and you’ve got to do things to change, and you’ll slowly see yourself getting better physically and mentally.”
Crisps and cola diet had to stop
And Barry took the actor’s advice with full throttle and was inspired by it.
Taking up regular walking, he stopped binge eating, which was causing him problems.
He would sometimes walk from his home in Sheddocksley to Tesco on Lang Stracht at 11.30pm at night after getting an “unbearable urge” to eat unhealthy snacks. He would buy 24 packs of crisps and a box of eight Coca-Cola.
“Before I knew it, I’d eat eight bags of crisps and drunk four tins of Coke, and I’d only been home two hours, if that, maybe an hour.
“And that was my thing, my coping mechanism.”
Knowing that he may have a second chance to meet Sir David in either February or March 2025, this inspired him to make the change.
“That stuck in my head. I can actually prove to myself and to David Jason that we can do this together. Just with his words and my actions, we can do this.”
Barry also joined the gym. He had been “self-conscious” about going to it but it is now “second nature” to him.
Admitting that he will always suffer from anxiety and depression, as it is part of his “psyche”, he now turns to “positive releases”, including the gym and buying healthy food.
Going from a size XXXL to a large people’s positive comments helped him keep losing weight.
His waist size went from 44 inches to 34 inches.
Reunited with David Jason
Barry said: “Once you lose the first bit of weight, you might get one or two people mention you’ve lost a bit of weight.
“That spurs you on a bit more to keep going and to keep going.”
And last month, he met his hero in Milton Keynes again and Sir David noticed the difference.
Barry told The P&J: “He said, ‘you look so much better and you’re feeling good within yourself’. He really made me feel great that I met him again and everything was good.”
“He said this encounter will “spur him on” as he continues his ongoing journey.”
Conversation