Ashley Spendiff from East Bridgford realised he needed to make changes to his life when his weight reached 36 stone and he was diagnosed with diabetes in November 2021.
After the loss of a close friend, Ashley’s comfort eating became worse and he would eat at least five takeaways a week.
His fitness journey started with him going on walks, which he found difficult due to his excess weight and he would constantly be fighting for breath.
In April 2022, a friend introduced him to open water swimming and combined with a strict diet, the results were remarkable.
Ashley attended two open water swimming sessions per weekend and was soon completing four, two-hour swimming sessions per week! 
He explained: “My friend introduced me to open water swimming in April 2022 and I’ve never looked back.
“When I was diagnosed with diabetes that’s when I became determined to lose the weight as before then my size had never affected my health.
“I knew that now it was, I had to do something about it.”
Since the shift in Ashley’s lifestyle and diet, he has lost a staggering 20 stone, and now weighs just 16 stone! He has also reversed his diabetes diagnosis, with no requirement for additional medication.
Although Ashley is delighted with the transformation, he still feels very self-conscious and when undressed he has between two and three stones of excess skin.
At times, the weight of this can be very uncomfortable and following a visit to his GP was told the NHS weren’t able to help as the skin removable is classed as a cosmetic procedure and that it was only available to certain postcodes in the UK.
Following this disappointing news, Ashley spoke with two private clinics and both gave an estimation of around £35,000 for the four procedures he would require to remove the excess skin.
Following suggestions from his family and friends, Ashley has set up a Just Giving page to try and help fund the surgery himself.
To find out more about Ashley’s journey or to make a donation please visit his page at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ashley-spendiff.