THE numbers are finally stacking up for bank manager Michael Stevens after he shed almost eight stone to play football with his daughter.

Michael, 43, who manages Barclays in Wimborne, vowed to lose weight in June 2010 to help train Alisha, a defender with Oakmedians’ girls football team.

He said: “One day, after I’d been kicking the ball around the garden with Alisha, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

“The look she gave me made me realise that I had to do something about my weight, for her sake. That was the final straw.”

Michael and his wife Tina joined Northbourne Slimming World group. Following Slimming World’s programme, they changed their diet and stepped up their exercise.

Tina, 39, said: “We cut out snacks and takeaways, re-placing them with fruit and healthy foods.

“We got Charlie, a chocolate brown Labrador, and long walks with him have made such a difference.”

Over the next 18 months Michael’s weight plummeted from 18 stone, 13 lbs to 11 stone, 8 lbs while Tina, who weighed in at 14 stone 13 lbs, lost three and a half stone.

Michael said: “It’s made such a difference to our lives. I used to have no energy after a day in the bank; now we go on long walks at Avon Heath country park and in the New Forest.

“I’m fit enough to put Alisha through her paces and I’m treasurer of her team.

“My customers don’t recognise me; they tend to take a double-take when they see me for the first time after my weight loss.

“A doctor friend says I’ve probably increased my lifespan by 20 years which is incredible.”

Other Northbourne Slimming World group members have been an inspiration.