A man who went on a "six-month eating binge" looks unrecognisable after losing 18 stone while eating food from Aldi.
Neil Scurrah, 41, had issues with his weight from the age of eight but when his dad passed away from cancer, he turned to food for comfort. After piling on the pounds, he tipped the scales at almost 37 stone, wore 6XL clothing and had a 60-inch waist.
But as his mental health hit "rock bottom" and even getting out of bed became a struggle due to his size, Neil was jolted into action. He started walking regularly and cut down on his calories to lose 18 stone in just under four years.
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His waist dropped to 38 inches, and his shirt size dropped to a comfortable XL - and he even lost weight on his feet, dropping from a size 12 to an 11. Neil qualified as a personal trainer so he could help others feel as good as he did when he shed the pounds.
Neil said: "I had tried to lose weight so many times, but I had failed every single time and I had just said to myself that this time, I was going to do it different. I didn't need to do a fad diet, which was the route I had gone down before because I had failed every time.
"I said to myself that everyone always thinks weight loss is black and white, like you either eat everything or you eat nothing. I decided to sit in a little grey area, I said I would still have a takeaway but just once a week.
"I decided to stick to around 2,500 calories a day and give myself two to three treat nights a week, and then I just would go on walks. After around two to three months, things really improved quite quickly and it proved to me that it wasn't my obesity that was holding me back, but it was the way I was living that was."
Neil, who started his weight loss journey on Boxing Day in 2013, said he would gorge on four slices of toast with butter "as thick as cheese" with a full tin of beans, six scrambled eggs and four rashes of bacon for his lunch. He'd then follow that up with a KFC fully loaded meal, six hot wings, three zinger burgers for dinner and wash it down with a Krushem.
But he swapped the sugary cereals at breakfast for Greek yogurt with protein powder, mixed berries and granola from Aldi. And he now enjoys a sandwich on wholemeal bread, packed with protein and salad for lunch and a healthy dinner of chicken fajitas on wholemeal wraps with chicken breast, air fried peppers and lots of vegetables.
Neil, from Blackpool, said he can't believe it's the same person when he looks back at photos of himself from 10 years ago.
The 41-year-old has now become a personal trainer and online weight loss coach - helping others lose weight. He often shares his favourite low calorie Aldi food on TikTok.
Neil said: "I created a before and after video. I had never really documented my journey but using old Facebook pictures, I created a timeline of me in 2011 and me now.
"I posted and woke up the next morning and I had about 5,500 followers straight away. People were commenting asking how I had done it, and that it was amazing.
"Within six months I had 100, 000 followers. I then told them about the weight loss plan I had developed, that I was planning to run alongside my personal training clients.
"I signed up my first client on May 4 2021 and she still works with me now and has lost over 180lb. This morning I have signed up my 354th client."
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