It was never meant to be like this!

Of course, only a very select group of specialist weirdos actually set out to be fat, and I certainly don't fit into that category. As far as I'm concerned, I didn't get fat, fat got me. I was like the guy in this video, but without the correct shoes...



Belly got me. When I was 18 I used to survive on a diet of lager and cigarettes. Seriously, I rarely ate proper food, and I used to be waiting outside the pub next to college, with my mates, looking out anxiously for the barmaid to open the doors at 11am! And I was stick thin. I weighed about 12 stone.

Then I stopped drinking (pretty much), packed up smoking, started driving and piled on the pounds. It probably didn't help that I found myself a wonderful girlfriend and settled down into a contented lifestyle with plenty of takeaways and a job that chained me to the desk. The quarter pounders stacked up, the delicous cheese steak sarnies slipped down, and when I wasn't looking someone stuck nearly 7 stone on me and I couldn't play football without my ankles hurting! It came as quite a shock, I can tell you.