33 stone man loses 15 stone in a YEAR after seeing 'horrific' photos of himself at his brother's wedding

A 33 stone man has lost almost half his body weight in just 12 months after being shamed by pictures of himself at his brother's wedding.

Gareth Davies, 39, had seen his weight balloon out of control with a junk food diet and lack of exercise.

He was so horrified at the sight of himself alongside his brother David in December 2012 he set himself the target of getting down to the weight he was at the age of 18.

Gareth Davies (left) lost almost half his body weight in just 12 months after being shamed by pictures of himself at his brother David's wedding in December 2012

Gareth, who is 6ft 6 inches and now weighs 18 stone, had seen his weight balloon out of control with a junk food diet and lack of exercise

Gareth, an IT manager, took his inspiration from the Hairy Bikers diet TV series where they stuck to a 1,500 calorie-per-day diet with exercise.

He started walking and then running and a year later has lost a huge 15 stone and is down to a trimmer and healthier 18st.

Gareth, who is 6ft 6" tall, said: 'I absolutely hated all the photos that had me in.

'That's the biggest day of my brother's life and the only photos I liked did not have me in them.

'I turn 40 in February and thought 'it's time to stop being a couch potato'.

'I knew my problem was simple - two much food, not enough exercise. I was thinking, I'm not going to reach 50 at this rate.'

Gareth's exercise plan started with walking then running. He also learned how many calories were in food and ate much smaller portions

Gareth, of Leeds, West Yorkshire, added: 'Now I can be who I want to be. People don't recognise me.

'I can't believe I've done this. I'm surprised every time I look at the pictures.'

Gareth bought himself a treadmill and started off walking and then jogging and joined a fitness regime at his workplace.

He said: 'A few of us started going for a walk on Friday lunchtimes and the first one on January 11 nearly killed me.

'It was about 2km and took around half an hour, I had to stop three times to catch my breath. It was utterly humiliating but the start of a long process.'

He also paid more attention to his diet - and particularly the size of his meals. 

Gareth is now hoping to continue losing weight. He said: 'It's genuinely life-changing. I'm now looking at the future and saying I am looking forward to things'

'I knew intellectually that pizza wasn't going to be great, but finding out that a large pizza could contain two days worth of calories came as a nasty surprise.

'It was also a shock finding that my idea of a portion of "healthy" cereal was in reality about four portions.

'I started weighing everything, and everything I ate was logged in the MyFitnessPal app.'

Gareth checked his diet plan with an NHS weight loss service and started cooking for himself. 

Gareth with the now over-sized jacket he wore to the wedding. He said: 'I absolutely hated all the wedding photos that had me in'

For snacks, he tried to choose the most flavour for the fewest calories, including cereal bars, crisps and chilli coated peanuts.

As well as walking each week with colleagues, he began walking on a treadmill at home three times a week.

Initially he could only walk 2km in half an hour without any incline, then over time got faster and increased his lunchtime walks to four a week.

He started a programme to work up to running 5km and in July started running after work, eventually ditching his walks in favour of runs.

He added three weight training sessions in a week, then in October he joined a gym and started swimming as well as doing regular classes and the 5km weekly Leeds Parkrun.

Gareth said: 'It just boils down to constant progression. At first it's slow, but you have to keep working at it, every time just that little bit harder.

'Never in my life have I been able to run 5km, I not only do that every Saturday now but I'm working on preparing for a 10km in 2014.

'There comes a point where you realise you can actually do exercise, you're not an athlete but you're no longer unfit.'

Gareth now weighs 18st 10lbs and aims to lose another two stones.

He said: 'It's genuinely life-changing. I'm now looking at the future and saying I am looking forward to things,' he added.