A father who weighed 23st 7lbs and could drink up to 15 pints of beer in a single night out has lost nearly a third of his body weight after committing to a daily 30-minute cycling challenge.
Nick Drane, 45, a basketball head coach from Ipswich, Suffolk, said he has always been a "big guy" at 6ft 4in and would often "show off" about how much he could eat. He played basketball at National League level before moving to Canada as a student athlete in his early 20s, weighing around 16st at the time.
From 23st 7lbs to a turning point
After returning to the UK, Drane won the title of National Coach of the Year for basketball multiple times, but admitted that diet and exercise were never his "priority", leading to a "horrendous" relationship with food. By his late 30s, he had reached 23st 7lbs, wore trousers with a 42in waist, and could "easily finish" a KFC family feast of 16 pieces of chicken and six portions of chips. His local kebab shop even made a bespoke 3XL mixed kebab loaded with extra chips, cheese and mayonnaise just for him.
His "eureka" moment came in August 2020, when a friend pointed out that he had consumed "well over a case" of beer, yet Drane realised he was "not remotely tipsy".
Daily cycling and press-ups
From September 1 of that year, Drane committed to cycling for 30 minutes a day for 30 days, a challenge he has maintained ever since, along with daily press-ups. He has since lost 7st 7lbs in total. Drane, married to Naomi, 45, and father to Oliver, 18, and Freya, 14, told PA Real Life: "Even when I lost my father or a couple of very dear people in my life, I still get on the bike that day. I've been on the bike when I've had Covid, I've been on the bike when I've had sickness and diarrhoea, I've even been throwing up on the bike."
He added: "I think I'll probably cycle 30 minutes on the bike every day for the rest of my life. I'm way happier, I'm a better dad, I'm a better husband and I'm a far better basketball coach."
Overhauling diet and habits
Growing up, Drane said it became "a thing" for people to comment on how much he could eat. He recalled: "I remember going to a barbecue when I was really young and saying to my mum that I wasn't hungry, but they brought out extra food because new people I was meeting had been told how much Nick eats. Mr Competitive here felt like he had to live up to that, so I did it."
At his heaviest, Drane would start his day with three takeaway breakfast baps, each containing two sausages, two fried eggs, cheese and onions, or a mocha topped with caramel, cream and two sugars. He would regularly eat "two or three" sandwiches and a sharing bag of crisps for lunch, before a McDonald's meal of a Big Mac, 20 nuggets, a chocolate milkshake and a double cheeseburger. For Sunday roast, he would devour an entire chicken on his own while his wife and two children shared another. He estimated consuming "well over" 4,000 calories a day and would drink up to 15 pints of beer on a night out "like it was nothing".
Since 2021, Drane has "cutting right down" on takeaways and alcohol, and now follows a diet of 2,500 calories a day, which he said is what the NHS recommends. He said: "I'll have a smoothie of a handful of spinach, a banana, two scoops of protein, two scoops of creatine, some Greek yoghurt and water. Then I might meal prep something (for lunch) like chicken and rice, and have an omelette in the evening."
Current weight and future plans
Drane now weighs 16st (102kg) and wears size 34in waist trousers, provided they fit over his thighs, along with large or extra large tops. He has kept up his daily cycling routine for more than 2,240 days, clocking up 1,120 hours, and has turned his attention to weightlifting at Riverhills Health Club and Spa. The only time he skips a training session is when the gym is closed on bank holidays, in which case he adds an extra 30 minutes either the day before or after.
He added: "It's a way of life for me now. Other than being a good dad and a good husband, taking care of myself is the most important thing in my life. It's just transformed me. I'm not a fat guy that needs to take breaks to sit down constantly... there are just zero negatives to what I've done."
