Strabane’s Mr Sleek handed prestigious slimming award

A STRABANE man, who shed ten stone in his quest to lose weight, has just been handed a prestigious award by Slimming World. Ryan Quinn, a music teacher, was crowned Mr Sleek in an awards ceremony at the Slimming World head office in recent weeks.

Ryan says he feels ‘delighted and honoured’ to be given the title, reaching his target weight in September last year.

Describing the process undertaken, Ryan says it was ‘lengthy.’

“I was nominated for the award by Sinead at Slimming World around September or October of last year, just after I had reached my target weight. That was just the start of it as, once my nomination went in, there were interviews, Q&A sessions for both myself and Sinead all about my weight loss; why I joined Slimming World, what other diets had I tried, that sort of thing. Then all that went to a panel who decided the outcome. It was almost like a job interview.”

Ryan received the good news just before Christmas that he had officially been crowned Mr Sleek and was whisked off to head office in Alfreton just outside Birmingham for a press junket, all of which was embargoed until the official announcement, and a photoshoot which Ryan says was great fun but all a bit surreal. He remains tight-lipped on any prize he received, only to say that it was cash but refusing to name the amount.

Being Mr Sleek isn’t just a title though, with it comes great responsibility. Ryan, along with his female counterpart Ms Slinky, will undertake a series of media and press events as part of the year-long title.

This will culminate in a ceremony at the ICC in Birmingham in November where Ryan will be officially recognised as Mr Sleek for 2022 as the search for his successor ploughs ahead. He admits to feeling a little daunted by it all.

“It all sounds a bit mad, having to do all these media things as part of having the title. I don’t know what to expect, but it’s all a bit of craic.”

Ryan’s weight loss journey began in September of 2020 when a friend mentioned that they were starting Slimming World and invited Ryan to tag along. His weight had ballooned to over 22 stone during the pandemic and Ryan recognised the need for something to be done. At first, he remained sceptical about Slimming World, but soon found the process showing results

There were good weeks and bad weeks, and Ryan admits that it wasn’t always an easy road, unable to gauge what was a good week, but as he remarks “The bad weeks are never as bad as a fad diet.”

A combination of a good diet, a good mindset and a great support network were vital factors in helping Ryan achieve his goal and, after 53 weeks, Ryan hit his target weight, crediting the support from Slimming World for the

“My support network at Slimming World encouraged me to look at food in a unique way, make better choices. If anyone were to ask my advice on weight loss, I would say ‘join Slimming World, don’t do it alone and be positive’.”