ALAN Willis is less of a man than he used to be these days but all the better for it.

The 68-year-old retired forklift truck driver from Aston Fields turned his life around after being told to lose weight.

Alan damaged his knee ligaments after falling awkwardly off his forklift truck.

He already suffered with breathing difficulties - but the accident reduced him to a knee brace and walking stick.

He recalls: "Some days, the knee was so bad, that I couldn't even walk at all.

"I'd retired by now and intended to take life a bit easier.

"But my wife Barbara had noticed my knee was growing and my breathing had got worse.

"I was rushed to hospital and told I'd got a blood clot on my knee which had also got into my lungs.

"Six months later, I was in a hospital gown waiting to go to theatre for surgery when the surgeon and anaesthetist approached me and revealed they'd cancelled the surgery.

"They claimed my breathing difficulties could make the surgery life threatening and it was suggested I should lose some weight instead.

"I'd never even given my weight much thought as I'd always been a little bit overweight.

"I used to work as a tool fitter, but changed jobs in 2010 and became a forklift driver.

"In truth, there wasn't a great deal of work to do and I got lazy. I found myself sitting around in a cab all day eating wine gums to relieve the boredom.

"My breathing had never been particularly brilliant, but I'd never questioned it.

"Four days after the surgery was cancelled, I attended my local WW (weight watchers) at St Peter's Catholic School in Bromsgrove.

"I weighed in at 16 stone 11 at the time - the heaviest I'd ever been.

"After losing three stone, I found my breathing issues had subsided.

"My knee issues improved as well.

"I decided to cancel the surgery altogether and opt for a healthier lifestyle approach instead.

"I've since lost another three stone and I feel fantastic.

"I complete two miles a day on my exercise bike and set myself a target of 7,000 steps a day on my fit pedometer.

"But what annoys me the most is the fact it took an illness to make me get up and do something.

"When I first attended WW, I thought it was going to be full of a lot of mums talking about children and getting rid of baby weight - but it wasn't.

It was full of people like me and wanting the same thing.

"I'm not saying that WW works for everyone - but it worked for me!