Neil 'Razor' Ruddock sheds 6 stone after gastric sleeve surgery

Neil 'Razor' Ruddock has shed more than six stone after undergoing gastric sleeve surgery.

The 54-year-old former footballer has lost 93lbs after going under the knife, and admits he would've "never been able to" achieve that figure through diet and exercise alone.

He wrote on Instagram: "After many years of struggling with my weight, I decided it was finally time to take positive action.

Late last year I had gastric sleeve surgery with Transform Hospital Group @wearetransform and I’m now well into my weight loss journey.

To date I have lost 93lbs - something I would never have been able to do through diet and exercise alone.

My friends and family, especially my wife Leah, have been supporting me every step along the way."

Razor admits he is still "some way off" the weight he wants to be, but he is feeling a lot better about himself.

He added: "I’m still some way off my final goal weight, but I’m already feeling great about my body and have more confidence in myself.

"This really is a fresh start for me, and I’m excited about this new chapter in my life."

In June 2020, the ex-Liverpool defender told how he was "technically dead for several seconds" during an emergency heart operation.

He had to stop filming TV show 'Harry's Heroes: Euro Having a Laugh' halfway through to go under the knife, after doctors discovered his resting heart rate was at least 130 beats per minute, when it should've been around 60 to 70.

He said: "'Harry's Heroes' sent me to a heart surgeon to check everything was alright because I was getting dizzy just running upstairs. I thought, 'Oh, no, it could be brain trauma after heading too many footballs.'

"But they found it was from my heart beating too fast, so that was a big wake-up call.

"Just going up the stairs it must have been going at 140 or 150 beats a minute - that's a workout rate. It's gone back to 60, 70 or 80 beats now when resting.

"They also found out my heart had been stopping for up to seven seconds every night."

The former West Ham star admitted the pacemaker op was the "worst pain of [his] life".

Razor's op came after years of heavy drinking, and the star admitted he sometimes downed up for four bottles of wine a day, followed by beers and cocktails.

He added: "At my worst I was crazy - I was doing three or four bottles of wine a day, easy-peasy, plus spirits, beers, cocktails."