Berkshire trucker Dave Tubs turns to yoga to lose weight

Berkshire trucker Dave Tubs turns to yoga to lose weight

Trucker Dave Tubs used to live up to his name, weighing in at 19 stone thanks to a penchant for the steak and kidney pies served up at greasy roadside cafes. 

But after beating cancer twice, Dave, 49, from Berkshire, was determined not to let his spiralling weight play further havoc with his health, and resolved to turn his life around. 

Now the divorcee has shed an impressive seven stone, after swapping junk food and pub sessions for yoga and mindfulness. 

Dave said his mates - who used to call him Tubs but now refer to him as Lightweight - teased him mercilessly for his unlikely new hobby, but said he 'couldn't let my love of pies give me diabetes'. 

Dave Tubs, 49, from Berkshire, was a heavy drinker with a 20-a-day smoking habit and a penchant for pies he picked up at greasy truck stops 

Now Dave, who has beaten cancer twice, regularly cycles for 10 miles at a time, and weighs in at a trim 12 stone

The trucker said he decided to explore yoga and mindfulness on the advice of a group of slender middle-aged women he got chatting to in a Berkshire wine bar - and he's never looked back. 

He's also now a keen cyclist, regularly racking up 10 miles at a time on his bike.  

Dave was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in his 30s and was forbidden from eating solids as he battled the disease, consuming only healthy liquidised meals and wholesome soups whipped up by his then wife-to-be, who he has since married and divorced.

But Dave, who lives in Ascot, said he still managed to gain weight. He piled on further pounds after his divorce eight years ago, filling up on calorific snacks and greasy meals fr om cafes during the long hours spent on the road. 

But, after hearing about the link between type two diabetes and obesity on the news, he decided he had to lose weight and started cycling. 

Dave attends weekly yoga and mindfulness classes - much to the amusement of his mates

Divorced Dave, 49, says his friends have stopped laughing about his new lifestyle, but he still hasn't persuaded them to take up yoga 

Single Dave has lost a whopping seven stone after resolving to turn his life around 

'When I told my mates about yoga, they took the rip massively,' said Dave. 

'They didn't get over that for weeks.

'They've stopped laughing at me now â€" but they still won't do yoga.

'But I couldn't let my love of pies give me diabetes.'

Now nicknamed 'Lightweight', Dave admitted that, in is heavier days, he was fond of a pint or two.

'I'd be in the bar after a long shift,' he confessed. 'Now I go cycling â€" five, or 10, miles. I haven't given up drinking, but it is a lot less drinking.'

Before his weight loss, partly because of the long hours he spent on the road, Dave relied on fatty junk food.

Breakfast was a takeaway pasty from Greggs, lunch was chocolate and crisps and dinner was usually a roast dinner, or family-sized pie.

He spent his night propping up hotel bars, supping pints. He also had a 20-a-day smoking habit and never exercised.

Pub grub: Dave used to be nicknamed Tubs - now his friends refer to him as Lightweight 

The 49-year-old became worried for his health after learning of the link between obesity and Type 2 diabetes 

'I gorged on other snacks all the time, too,' said Dave. 'Family bags of crisps, sweets, you name it â€" I ate it.

'I loved snacks as well. All were ridiculously high in calories. I'd have huge bags of crisps, chocolate bags and Mini Cheddars. 'It was all disgusting. No apples or bananas â€" all unhealthy.

'What can I say? I was a growing lad.' Currently single, but looking for love, Dave partly attributed his weight to his bachelor status.

'I was living a good single life,' he laughed. 'I was a social butterfly. I would drink every night.

'But, I was not unsuccessful with the ladies. I was quite cocky â€" but always a gentleman.'

He also fe lt he was invincible â€" because he had survived cancer twice.

'I had a little bit chopped out of the gonads,' he said. 'The left one blew up to the size of a football, so I visited the doc and was referred to hospital.' At Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, he was given surgery.

But, just a year later, he was given the devastating news he had cancer of the oesophagus - a form of the disease often linked to obesity and smoking.

He explained: 'I was in the shower and started bleeding out of every orifice.

'My wife-to-be called my then-boss and said, 'Dave isn't coming to work.'

She took him straight to the GP and, again, he was referred to Heatherwood Hospital.

He opted for private treatment and had one pipe leading to his gullet removed.

'A tumour the size of a baseball was cut out,' he said. 'I thought, "I've beaten cancer twice," and carried on eating.'

But now, Dave said, he would not dream of disrespecting his body. 'Out with the cigarettes and in with baking,' he explained. 'I love baking cakes.

'I'm getting into hypnosis, too.' 

Dave and his boss Olly Leavy, plus two other colleagues, are taking part in ride. Revolve24, a 24-hour cycling challenge at Brands Hatch in, as a team of four in September 24 for Cancer Research UK. His company, Conquip, is sponsoring him. 

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