Stagger, it can be done. I havent been through anything like that, but I was 16 stone aged 28 when I decided to take sport seriously. If you can sort your diet and training out at the same time, the results can be huge. In the 6years since, I've become professional in one sport, and moved on to fell racing.

I'm not one to look back with regrets, but if I hadn't 'wasted' half my life playing football to a crap standard I wonder what I might have been able to achieve. But at least with fell running there's heaps to look forward to, hopefully many years of enjoyment.