Jon Vidler feels he has a 'second chance' at life after losing a whopping 20st 7lbs.
At his biggest, the 42-year-old was a size XXXXXXXL. Standing for more than a few minutes was a real challenge and he experienced severe panic attacks, triggered by worries about his weight.
It all started when Mr Vidler, from Hampshire, UK, was bullied at school. He would come home and eat 'spoonful after spoonful of brown sugar' to comfort himself. This habit extended into his adulthood, with Mr Vidler eating 'whatever and whenever I wanted'.
A wake-up call came when he was required to have a CT scan as part of a routine procedure, but he was almost two stone over the 32 stone weight threshold.
Mr Vidler said: "They went ahead with the scan even though I was over the threshold and thankfully got the information they needed - but I had to be pulled free from the machine because it was such a tight fit.
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"In fact, the motorised table stopped working as a result of the extra weight. They said that the only other option was to be referred to an equine centre where they scan horses.
"It was moments like that which really struck me - I wasn't just putting my life on hold because of my weight, I was putting it in danger too."
The decisive moment came when Mr Vidler joined Slimming World for a second time in 2015.
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He said: "I was welcomed back without any question and this time something just clicked.
"I fell in love with Food Optimising - so I still enjoyed delicious meals like curries, chillis, burgers and chips - I just prepared them in a different way and cooked most of my food from scratch."
In a remarkable turnaround, Mr Vidler was named Slimming World's Greatest Loser 2019. He now weighs only 13st 5lbs, has completed several 10km races and has set his sights on climbing Mount Snowdon in June.
His transformation has been so dramatic, that even members of his family don't recognise him.
He said: "I was recently best man at my brother Anthony's wedding, which was a great day for me because I felt so much more confident than I had ever done before.
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"I had to laugh though when my uncle asked my dad why Anthony hadn't asked me to be his best man... He literally had no idea it was me and wanted to know who this impostor was."
To top it all off, Mr Vidler is now hoping with his new trim figure he will be able to find love.
He said: "My biggest dream is to find someone to share my life with.
"I feel like I've got a second chance and I want to fill it with things that I used to miss out on because of my weight, so meeting that special someone to share those memories with me would be amazing."
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Top work.
Featured Image Credit: Slimming World