Former Boyzone singer Keith Duffy says he was "very overweight" when he presented RTE talent show You're A Star back in 2007.
The star admitted his weight hit 17 stone when the boy band finished touring.
The Dub says he didn't realise how much weight he had gained until he celebrity fitness trainer Paul Byrne approached him in a car park.
Keith, who now sings in boyband BoyzLife with Brian McFadden, said he enjoyed too much of the "good life", and had to shed three and half stone to get back to full fitness.
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"When Boyzone got back together, I was very overweight. At the end of 2007/2008 I put on a lot of weight. I put on a few stone, three stone maybe. I was about 17 and half stone.
“I didn’t think I was fat. I was happy. Jay slags me now because I was about 30 or 31 and my goddaughter was being baptised in Barcelona and the photographs at home, he (Jay) is obviously tiny in them and I have a big fat face. He slags me to this day, saying ‘Jesus dad, you look older there than you do now’.
“Paul Byrne got a hold of me. I was hosting You’re A Star at the time and a mutual friend of ours, Brian Whitehead, told Paul to get me into the gym.
“Paul came up to me out of the blue in a car park in Wicklow when we were shooting You’re A Star and he said, ‘I’m going to train you and get you into shape’. I thought he was a rude f****r.
“But he was right. I needed to lose weight. Boyzone were talking about getting back together and I needed a trainer. So we started working out.”
Keith says “the good life” caused him to gain three stone.
“Good life, good living, I wasn‘t working and getting lazy dazy,” he added.
Keith says Paul got whipped him into shape.
“This isn’t about losing weight. This is about being fit for life. Paul is not just a trainer who’ll get you to lose weight, he’s a life coach. He’s full of positive and mental attitude. He brings the best side out of you.
“When you’re down, he picks you up. This is like a hub of really nice people.
“Especially after Covid. Everybody has been so down. I get down, yeah. I get down from time to time. Absolutely. If I’m having a bad time, the first place I come to when I get home is here. Lisa will send me straight in here. She’ll know by my demeanour.
“The gym is the place where my life gets changed and I get put back on. I get fixed in here. You come in here and you hit the reset button. It’s brilliant,” he added.
Paul has a new gym at the Powerscourt Townhouse in Dublin’s city centre.
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