A 41-year-old pilot who had to quit flying during lockdown started to pile on the pounds and found himself requesting bigger and bigger uniforms when he returned to the air and hit 18stone – risking his career. Chris Cowley, 41, an airline pilot from Manchester, says obesity had been a constant problem, partly thanks to airport food.
He would often grab unhealthy food in the airport as he was working, leading to his weight creeping up. “I was brought up on quite a healthy diet, and my parents would always encourage me to eat as healthily as possible,” Chris said. “However, when it came to me making my own decisions, I soon saw the weight increase. I would often eat fast and convenient food.
“At work, I would eat whatever was available on the plane, or pick some fast food up when walking through the terminal building. I wouldn’t really track the calories and wasn’t too concerned of the health impact of what I was eating. I have never been a massive drinker, but my drink of choice was beer which gave me a distinct ‘beer belly’.
“My weight has always been a problem for me, I’ve been obese for as long as I can remember. Because it was the norm to me, I never really considered it a problem and did little to get control of it.”
Chris would yo-yo diet, especially when being face with medical tests at work. “I have to have a medical for work every year and there is a strict BMI limit of 35 before you get into difficulties with extra medical tests,” he explains.
“I would spend most of the year above this limit and then about a month before the medical date, I would starve myself in an attempt to lose that bit of weight to get my BMI to a level where I would just pass. Afterwards I would go back to normal eating, allowing the weight to get out of control again.
“I started a new airline in 2023 and during the uniform fitting, I had to keep asking for bigger sizes, it was quite embarrassing. I worked for Thomas Cook Airlines, which went bust in 2019, and then we were hit with Covid.”
Chris had to find a non-flying job for a couple of years, and spent most of that delivering cars and vans, spending a lot of time travelling the country. “This meant eating unhealthy services and petrol station food as and when I had the time to pick something up,” he adds.
“When I started flying again, I was based in Luton, so had to commute there from Manchester. Again, this meant eating quick and convenient food. All this meant my weight increased to its worst of almost 18 stone. In late 2023, I started working for an airline based in Manchester which afforded me the time to start eating healthier and get on top of my weight and lifestyle.
“I was never happy with my weight, but being overweight for so much of my life, it had almost become the norm. I’d made many attempts of shifting a few pounds, usually to some sort of success, but as soon as the results slowed down, I’d get disheartened and quickly go back to my old ways and the weight would pile back on.”
Everything changed one day when Chris was scrolling on LinkedIn. He came across a video that a friend had shared, of a quick workout by personal trainer Jason Pestel, who specialises in fitness and health for pilots and airline staff. “When I looked at the link closer, I saw that the PT was Jason and he specialised in helping airline crew get to grips with their weight and fitness,” Chris recalls.
“We had a Zoom chat to discuss my options and started working together in January. I also signed up to a football club called Man v Fat that aims at helping men lose weight through playing football. Jason and I chat every Monday to discuss my diet and exercise plan for the following week, working around my flying roster.
“He will give me a workout to do in the gym that I can easily follow. He started me off with a daily calorie and macros target for the week, beginning with a calorie goal of 1800, and a deficit of around 500 calories. My exercise routine would mostly focus on strength training with a bit of cardio.
“Now that I have lost weight and have got fitter, I can do more circuit based exercises, and I have started running. I ran the Manchester 10k in May 2023 in a time of one hour and 20 minutes. My personal best for a 10k is now 48 mins, which shows how my fitness has improved since the Manchester 10k.
“I am now training for a half marathon next February. I track all my food to allow me to plan my meals for the day and help me keep on top of my diet. This is particularity important on flying days where I can plan my meals and makes sure I don’t pick on unhealthy snacks from the aircraft or airport shops.”
Having started the year off at 113.5kg, Chris managed to get to his target weight of 80kg by October, dropping from wearing XL to M clothes and from a 38 to a 32 inch waist. “The benefits have been both physical and mental,” Chris explains.
“I now have much more energy to do activities with my two children aged two and six. I’m sleeping much better which is a great benefit, especially with the random roster pattern that I can work. I’ve found that my immune system has improved too.
“I used to get a lot of niggly colds and coughs but since I’ve lost weight, these are few and far between. The mental benefits have been incredible. It’s been an amazing feeling to order medium clothes instead of the XL and it’s given my self-esteem a massive boost.”
Chris feels proud of his achievements, and wants to encourage others to take their fitness into their hands.
“My family are all very proud of what I have achieved,” he concludes. “My friends are amazed at the transformation.
“I have always been known as the larger, ‘jolly’ one of the group, now I’m just the jolly one, I hope! I have also inspired a lot of friends to go on their own fitness journeys which is the best compliment I could get.
“It’s taken a lot of determination and sacrifice to get to where I have so quickly. I have given up a lot of my social life for the year, and all but given up alcohol, which was normally at the centre of most of my social events!
“I have still allowed myself nights out, but I have been accountable for what I eat and drink and tracked everything. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy journey but the results have been worth it. The next step is going to be to keep it off, but I now have the knowledge and the confidence to take on that battle! It’s important to keep going on the weight loss journey. I’ve had weeks where the scales haven’t gone down, and some weeks where they’ve even gone up.
“It is easy to get disheartened and give up, but you have to trust the process! Allow yourself days and nights out and holidays, the odd day off isn’t going to knock you off track. Just make sure you are accountable and get back into your diet and gym routine as soon as you can.
“Jason, my PT, has been a huge part in my journey. He has given me the knowledge and confidence to deal with my weight. He has encouraged me every step of the way. I’d recommend him to anyone who is wanting to get fitter or lose a bit of weight to have a chat with him, whether they are in the airline industry or not.”