A dad-of-two has lost around four stone after admitting he was worried he would struggle taking his son to the park.
Seán Gleeson, 39, thought he wouldn't be able to play with his child at the park so became determined to shed some weight.
The partial cafe owner weighed 19.5 stone when he made the move to shift some weight.
He told the ECHO : "I have a three, nearly four, year old son and when he was born I realised that I didn't want to get to 40 and him be four or five years old wanting to go to the park and play and me not be able to do it anymore.
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"I realised I need to lose some weight."
Seàn wasn't sure how to go about losing weight, but quickly found a weight-loss programme that appealed to him.
He said: "I heard about MANvFAT which is where you play football to lose weight and everyone loves football.
"It was a really good, gentle and fun way for me to try and [lose weight]."
"I feel way better, two years ago I started running as well.
"I'm not getting out of breath, I've got a lot more energy to play with the kids.
"It's just easier, things are easier and things don't ache as much."
Seàn's wife Laura is happy for her husband, but having given birth in the last year she hasn't embarked on the same journey as her husband.
He added: "She's pleased for me but then at the same time I get in trouble because she's like 'oh I want to lose weight as well' and then I'm like 'you can! you can!'
"We have so many lads turning up who haven't played in ten years, as soon as you get out onto the pitch again you just want to run around after the ball.
"It's a really good way to start people losing weight."
Seán said that he also cut down on alcohol and made efforts to eat less processed foods in his weight loss journey, although it wasn't a massive change to his diet.
He said: "With kids sometimes it's difficult to eat really well, and we do try! We load up with vegetables and we make sure the kids are eating lots of fruits and vegetables and that helps but there are times when you're too tired [to cook a healthy meal]."
There's a sense of community with Seán's MANvFAT team, with them all being quick to have a laugh but helping each other along the way.
The cafe owner added: "Everyone is very supportive with each other, losing weight is quite an embarrassing thing for a man.
"It's not a socially acceptable thing that a fat bloke will try and drop some weight. You're either a dad bod or just buff, that seems to be just what men are.
"So to actually go 'no, I just want to lose some weight, I don't want to be ripped I just want to feel better' is quite a weird thing to do for a lot of people.
Information on how to join the group is available on their website.
