Die early or diet – these were the options which spurred married father-of-two Steve Parker into action. Losing five stone in as many months on the LighterLife diet, he tells Tamzin Hindmarch his success story.

LOOKING back at his childhood 51-year-old Steve Parker believes the typical attitudes of the time shaped his relationship with food in later life.

"I was very much a victim of the 'clean the plate syndrome' – in that you didn't leave the table until you had finished your meal, and that was a doctrine I took with me into adult life," recalls the professional photographer, who today has two grown-up children of his own, Dawn, aged 32, and Richard, aged 25, and lives with his wife Helen, in Springfield Road, Biddulph.

But when he joined the army shortly before his 16th birthday, Steve was easily able to burn off his huge appetite and continue to eat and drink as much as he liked.

Then, in 1987, he left to join the police force, and with youth no longer on his side, his eating habits began to take their toll.

"Suddenly in my new job, I wasn't quite as active as I'd been in the army and the weight began to creep up on me," says Steve.

"I was with the police for another 20 years, and in that time I must have tried about every diet known to man – WeightWatchers, Slimming World, Rosemary Conley – I tried them all. Some worked, but I'd lose the weight and then put it straight back on again.

"I'd always be telling myself I'd start my diet again tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow never comes."

Help came in the form of a blunt but much-needed warning from his GP, without which he believes he faced an early grave.

"Last year, I'd been having neck problems, so I went to visit the doctor," explains Steve.

"He told me that, being morbidly obese, losing some weight would help. 'Here we go again', I thought, 'blame the weight'."

After he stepped onto the scales he was given a stark warning.

"He took my blood pressure and it was through the roof," says Steve. "He told me that if I didn't do something about it, I would probably be a Type 2 diabetic by the end of the year. He said that I was also within the top percentage of the population at risk of heart disease, strokes, and bowel cancer."

Steve took immediate action.

"I was quite depressed about it and was seriously considering having a gastric band fitted," he recalls, until March 2008 when a LighterLife representative attended his local networking group as a guest speaker.

"My wife was very much against the band. But I had reached a point in my life where it had become pretty miserable. My neck ached, my knees and ankles ached, my back ached, I was tired all the time and I had so little energy that going upstairs left me out of breath," he adds.

"LighterLife sounded too good to be true, but I saw it as a last-ditch effort before surgery."

He embarked on a diet of LighterLife shakes, soups and bars, and attending an all-male group.

However, he warns this diet is no bed of roses.

"It's a very strict diet," he says, "and you have to want to do it 110 per cent. If you are only 98 per cent committed to it, you will struggle.

"I found the first week the toughest because I was so hungry. By day three I felt rough, and by day four I felt as if a truck had run over me. By day five, however, I was absolutely fine, and from that point onwards I had no problems. I felt good."

Today, Steve has cut out alcohol all together, and kissed goodbye to kebabs in favour of worldwide adventure – raising thousands of pounds for charity in the process.

He began by running the Wilmslow Half-Marathon in March, securing £300 for wounded serviceman charity Help For Heroes, then he, his wife, and their friend Donna Taylor, trekked along the Great Wall Of China in May, and are expecting to have raised between £6,000 and £12,000.

Steve already has plans for a 500km cycle ride across Vietnam to Cambodia with his son next year, again in aid of Help For Heroes.

"Two years ago, I was a couch potato," says Steve.

"Losing the weight has given me a new lease of life, and I don't ever want to go back."

To find out more from LighterLife, call the Newcastle office on 01782 712323, or the Hanley office on 01782 273073.