For the past four weeks a group of Need A Cab volunteers have agreed to change their lives – ditch the takeaways and the pints and become healthier.
Twice-a-week the group meet at Morgan's Fitness with health coach Gavin Seymour who puts them through a gruelling exercise class. This is then followed by a seminar provided by Plymouth Community Healthcare.
This week the team were shocked to hear how much the cheeky pint could affect their lives.
The basic government guidelines are that men should not regularly exceed three to four units of alcohol a day (equivalent to a pint and a half of 4 per cent beer), and women should not regularly exceed 2-3 units of alcohol a day (equivalent to a 175 ml glass of wine).
After a recent week away in Benidorm, the Need A Cab drivers are shocked when they hear how much calories their beloved pints of beer carry.
A pint of lager with 4 per cent ABV can contain 180 calories, that's similar to eating a slice of pizza. Cutting out the alcohol can also make you feel better in the mornings, give you more energy and improve the condition of your skin.
Many people enjoy a glass of wine or a pint of larger when they get in from a stressful day at work but these odd drinks can soon have you piling on the weight.
If you drink more than 10 pints a week you could be taking on more than 120,000 calories a year. In fact there are more calories in a single measure of spirits than in the same volume of single cream.
Gavin reminded the group about the importance of their calorie deficit, meaning you need to burn more calories than you consume.
He said: "Alcohol has limited nutritional value and I want to teach the group about finding ways of socially enjoying themselves, but at the same time not drinking as much as they may have been used to.
"If someone has approximately a 500 calorie deficit every day for a week, they will lose a pound of weight. Overall the guys are doing great and Huw for example has been able to drink only on weekends when he was drinking 50-60 pints a week."
For more information you can contact Gavin Seymour, the I Love Life health coach at www.gavinrseymour.com There is lots more information about alcohol on the NHS Change 4 Life website www.nhs.uk/chang e4life
The Herald will be catching up with all of the team over the coming weeks. Here we meet two more of them.
Name: Trevor Garbett (PR)
Age: 55 years old
Start weight: 15 stone (suffers from Chron's disease)
Family: One step-daughter
Job title: PR Manager and driver
Thoughts so far: "I'm really enjoying it. The aim is to make a change to my life. As a Chron's sufferer I never eat bread or dairy anyway and cheese was an odd treat but cakes and biscuits are my downfall. If I had a cup of tea I had to have two or three biscuits with it - now I might only have one.
"I have started eating breakfast every morning and I'm having shredded wheat with peaches on top and fruit juice because I can't have milk. For lunch I may buy a low calorie meal and I'm having chicken salad for my dinner. I work till 5am so my days are really long.
"I used to eat for eating's sake. Now I buy a big bag of nuts to snack on during my night shift. I just need to be aware of what I am eating and reducing the quantity of everything.
"I think anybody can be fit and healthy it's just having the determination to do it. I joined the gym last year and I have been twice. These sessions with Gavin are the most exercise I have done in 20 years.
"I want to generally feel better about myself. I want to be able to go up and down the stairs without puffing the whole way up. I used to play a lot of squash and run for Devon – it's quite sad really I have let myself get like this."
Name: Julian Bowley (Tin Tin)
Age: 51 years old
Start weight: 16 stone 9 lbs
Family: I have a girlfriend - three children.
Job title: Driver Liaison Manager
Background: Julian was once a martial arts instructor but after suffering two heart attacks he's not as fit as he once was. He is taking on I Love Life in a bid to become fitter and healthier once more. Last week he was suffering from a ruptured vein.
Thoughts so far: "After I ruptured my vein two weeks ago I was told not to do any exercise for five days. I'm just starting to get back into it. I'm not in the best of health at the moment after suffering two heart attacks. I'm doing I Love Life to get back to living at normal health.
"Exercise is like a drug and we can get to the point where we take on too much - that's what I did. In my head I know what Gavin is teaching the group but my body can't do it.
"Some of these guys used to come to my classes, I used to teach them martial arts, and now they are twice as fit as me. That's not good for me.
"I look after all the drivers at Need A Cab and their welfare. We have all started cooking in the office and we cleared out the fridge and now it's filled with healthy stuff. We have a George Forman grill and I'll do steak for everyone from time to time. Bit by bit we are educating our drivers.
"My downfall was having sugar in my tea and coffee but I cut down to a sweetener and I don't even have that now. Since talking to a health adviser they have scared the living day lights out of me with regard to hidden sugar in food."
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