Man achieves dream career as firefighter in Clare after losing eight stone

A Suffolk man has achieved his dream career of working in the fire service, after losing an incredible eight stone.

Will Curtin, 23, went from 25 to 17 stone, losing a dramatic four stone in eight months, and he kept his healthy lifestyle until he was able to apply to Suffolk Fire and Rescue.

In January, Mr Curtin passed his tests for the fire and rescue service, a dream he had held since he was 14, with the help of his watch commander, Mark Hill.

He passed his medical in June and is now on call at Clare Fire Station.

“I have always had a sweet tooth and enjoyed cakes and sweets and takeaways as a treat,” he explained.

“But in 2014, when I got with my girlfriend, and we moved in together, happiness and laziness hit and I went off the rails on the food. It was takeaways every night and frozen, processed food.”

On top of this, Mr Curtin’s family owns Café Clare in Well Lane, which he thinks accelerated his weight gain.

His mum was the first person to try to convince him to lose weight.

Mr Curtin said: “I just said no, I’m fine, I don’t need to. The truth was, I did need to.

“We joined Slimming World as a family – my mum has lost six stone, my dad two stone, my wife four stone and I’ve lost a total of eight stone.”

“At first, when my mum mentioned Slimming World, I said ‘there’s no way I’m standing there in front of people’.”

But with perseverance and the right frame of mind, he began shedding pounds.

After Mr Curtin contracted bronchitis and was told by the doctor that this could be caused by being overweight, he decided he needed to do something.

However, after he got married, his weight fluctuated for six months when he fell back into bad habits.

Mr Curtin said his additional weight loss and getting back on track was mainly due to Tony Howland’s advice.

Mr Howland managed to lose a staggering 15 stone, halving his weight from 30 stone.

He said: “I met Tony at one of the Slimming World groups and he got me on to his Facebook page ‘fighting the food monster manual’ – I bought a manual and my weight losses were back.

“I cut the starchy carbs and lost an additional five stone in a matter of months.

“I felt great. I applied to be a retained fire fighter and joined the gym.

“My dreams were coming together because of my weight loss, my determination and my hard work.”