A MAN nearly won a place at a slimming competition after losing over five stone in weight.

Mike Profitt from Great Hollands was one 37 men to win a place at the semi-finals of Slimming World's Man of the Year 2019 competition.

The 44-year-old changed his life for good when he joining his local slimming world group after his wife encouraged him to join.

Mike was congratulated by former England, Leicester City and Liverpool striker Emile Heskey and could not believe he met him.

He said: "My wife encouraged me to join a group with her but she didn’t think I would stay.

"I’m so glad I did, taking that step to join a Slimming World group was one of the best decisions I have ever made.”

A recent 'machobesity report' revealed 95 per cent of men want to lose weight but keep their weight worries to themselves for more than six years, on average.

However, once they set their mind to it they are good at slimming down and on average, men lose 5.7 per cent of their body weight in the first three months at Slimming World.

Women lose an average of 4.3 per cent.

Mike added: "Before I walked through the doors of my Slimming World group I’ll admit I was nervous that I’d be the only bloke in the room, I wasn’t though. And even if I ever was, it didn’t matter because everyone there is so supportive.

“Since joining group and seeing the weight on the scales drop each week, I started to think about how active I was. I’ve since taken up walking and I feel great for it. I go camping now too and I’ve recently qualified as a Duke of Edinburgh assessor."

Louise Hayward, who runs the Bracknell Slimming World group, said: "A lot of people think that slimming clubs are female-only zones, but that’s not the case at all and Mike is proof of that."

Mike wasn't the overall winner of the competition but feels proud of his success.