HE MAY have lost six stone in weight, but Tony Lee has gained a new lease of life.

After transforming himself from being dangerously overweight, the 47-year-old sales manager from Eldene has become a marathon man and his next moment of athletic glory will be when he carries the Olympic Flame in Swindon on May 23.

Tony, who weighed 16 stone, has now shed six stone and turned his life around after he was told he was walking into an early grave.

“I travelled the world living in hotels, eating the wrong meals and taking no exercise,” he said.

“Basically I was killing myself and my doctor confirmed this.

“Fortunately I changed in time and now running is a huge part of my life – in fact I believe it saved my life.”

The wake-up call came when he suddenly started feeling ill and lethargic. Tony went to the doctor and was told he was morbidly obese and had to change his lifestyle.

“I weighed 16 stone and had no energy to do anything. My doctor told me what I already knew, but I kept putting it off. It was just too easy to eat junk food and too much of it too often,” he said.

Tony started going for regular walks and cutting out junk food from his diet. Within a month he was feeling better and losing weight.

“At first I couldn’t walk between lampposts without becoming breathless. But I soon improved and it wasn’t long before I could jog, then run properly,” he said.

Tony soon embarked on far bigger challenges, like signing up for the London Marathon. That was in 2007 and he has since completed four marathons, three ultra marathons – distances greater than 26.2 miles – nine half marathons, including the Swindon Half Marathon, and numerous 10K races.

Committed to sharing his success, Tony has also inspired colleagues and friends to take up running and helped them with training plans.

He said: “I got the running bug and it made my life so much better. Now I try and give it to everyone else. I’m thrilled to be a torchbearer and hope my story will make more people realise you can stop and change. Since I started running I’ve never looked back – now my trainers are the first thing in the suitcase when I go away.”

The father-of-two and grandfather thinks Swindon is a great place to pound the streets – and parks. He goes running four times a week, covering up to 40 miles.

He said: “Coate Water and Lydiard Park are my favourite places to escape it all. You leave behind the stress of emails and phone calls and feel on top of the world. I should have started years ago.”

Registration for the Swindon Half Marathon is now open – visit www.swindonhalfmarathon.co.uk.