THIS weekend, Darren “Dibsy” McClintock will be taking his place on the starting line of the Great North Run.
Alongside 57,000 others, he will be competing in the world’s biggest half-marathon — but just 12 months ago he was so fat he had to be banned from local takeaways and couldn’t even walk up the stairs to bed.
Tipping the scales at 40st 3lb, he faced the stark choice of changing his ways or risking death while he spent his nights sleeping on the sofa.
His life was turned around when gym boss Mike Hind spotted him at his healthy diner and offered to take him under his wing with a free fitness regime.
Dibsy, 28, was consuming 11,000 calories a day — an average man needs around 2,500 — feasting on sausage sandwiches, pizzas and takeaway kebabs.
Mike printed leaflets saying, “Save Dibsy, obesity is killing him. Do not serve this man”, and together the pair handed them out to all his local takeaways and asked the owners not to let him in.
At the time, single Dibsy was miserable. He couldn’t get a job and had to wear specially made clothes.
Now, ten months on, he has lost nearly half his body weight, passed his driving test and got a girlfriend.
He has given up fizzy drinks and booze and swapped takeaways for a calorie-controlled diet and exercise.
He is down to 3,500 calories a day and is burning 2,000 of those with his fitness regime.
His gruelling training schedule comprises three gym sessions a day.
And it has paid off. At 21st 3lb, he is close to his target weight of 20st.
Exhausted Dibsy, recovering in Mike’s gym after a training session, said: “If someone told me last year I would be entering the Great North Run I would have thought they were crackers.
“I was at death’s door because of my lifestyle. I was a million miles away from doing a half-marathon.
“But I have got to the starting line thanks to hard work, determination and the support of an incredible group of people.
“Obesity is a major problem in the UK but I am living proof that it can be beaten. If I can do it, then anyone can.”
The UK is the third fattest nation in Europe, according to the World Health Organisation, with more than a quarter of the population officially obese.
And the North East, where Dibsy lives, is one of the fattest regions in the country.
He has struggled with his weight all his life, and the death of his father from cancer when he was 18 only worsened his comfort-eating.
His huge bulk had a devastating effect on his life.
He couldn’t get a job, visits to the cinema were out because the seats were too small for him and he had to book two seats whenever he travelled by train or plane.
He couldn’t even wear a watch because no strap was big enough for his wrist.
Dibsy knew he had to act after a heart scare landed him in hospital last year. A doctor told him he would die unless he changed his lifestyle.
It was just after that when he visited Mike’s diner with his mum.
Married dad-of-three Mike began putting him through his paces at his Mas Body Gym in their home town of Middlesbrough and provided all his meals from his healthy eating diner.
Dibsy said: “I am much more confident now. Physically I am in a better state than I have been for years.
“Mentally I am the best I’ve ever been in my life.
“There are so many things I can do for the first time that other people take for granted.
“I have never been able to drive because I couldn’t fit behind a steering wheel.
“But I have now passed my test, which has given me an incredible amount of freedom.
“I love heading to the beach for a walk with my labrador Rosie. And I can take my mum for trips out now. For the first time ever I have been able to buy clothes off the peg.
“I went to a sports shop to buy some tracksuits and I was like a kid in a toy shop.”
Among all the developments in his life, the one that has put the biggest smile on his face is a new romance.
He is coy about naming this love interest, as they have only been dating for a couple of weeks, but he said: “It’s lovely just to have someone to share this journey that I’m on.
“She messaged me when I started losing weight and has kept in touch and it has grown from there.
“We talk every day and she really supports me. It’s great on an evening when I have finished my gym for the day just to have someone to spend time with and share a bit of banter with.”
Dibsy has been disciplined with his fitness and diet routine but he did nearly fall off the wagon once.
He said: “On a Saturday night a few months ago I was at home and bored.
“I was looking through Facebook and everyone seemed to be having a takeaway and a few beers.
“I put a message up saying I was struggling and was thinking of having a takeaway myself.
“Someone alerted Mike, who was at a family party, and within 15 minutes he had phoned me and said he was coming round.
“We went out for a walk and he talked to me about what we were trying to achieve.
“Then he took me to the hospital, where you can get weighed, and he showed me how much weight I had lost.
“He said, ‘That’s why we are doing this’. I was so pleased the next day that I hadn’t given in to temptation.
“I can’t put in to words how grateful I am to Mike for everything he’s done.”
Ahead of the Great North Run Dibsy has completed the challenge of climbing the 4,411ft Ben Nevis, in Scotland.
Mike, 36, said: “One of the big issues in his past is his dad dying. So to inspire him I thought about what is the closest he can get to his dad.
“Well, you can’t get closer to heaven in the UK than the highest mountain, so we climbed that.
I used up nearly every one of my nine lives and put my family through hell
Dibsy
“It took us three and a half hours to get up there.
“Dibsy scattered some of his dad’s ashes and it was a lovely moment.
“On the way home someone said, ‘What’s next?’. Dibsy’s journey began in the North East so I thought it would be a good idea to finish here, and there is no bigger local event than the Great North Run.”
Dibsy and Mike managed to get last-minute entries thanks to local charity Boro Walkers. Dibsy said: “I don’t know how much I will be able to run and how much I will have to walk, but I will do it.
“Being cheered on by that wonderful crowd will be a fantastic experience.”
Many along the route will recognise Dibsy, whose profile has soared since he began dieting.
He has appeared on TV’s This Morning and won the backing of hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.
The celeb pair pledged to contribute to the £15,000 he needs for an operation to remove 4st of excess skin once he hits 20st.
He is not eligible for the surgery on the NHS as he embarked on his weight loss programme privately.
After the op, Dibsy will be getting a job for the first time in his life. Mike said: “He will work in my diner serving other people who need to lose weight.
“He will be a living, breathing example of what can be achieved with a good fitness routine and sensible diet. He will be an inspiration.”
Dibsy has already become a mentor for others. He said: “I get messages every day from people all over the world. It is often a case of, ‘I can’t do it, I have tried and tried and I just can’t lose weight’.
“I answer every one of them and tell them I am living proof that it can be done.
“The most important thing is to not leave it too late. I used up nearly every one of my nine lives and put my family through hell.
“My mum used to lie awake at night to check I was breathing.
“I tell people, ‘don’t do that to your family. Go to the doctor or to the gym, there are people out here who can help you’.
“The most important thing is to start as soon as possible.”
