Man, 43, lost 3st 4lb and got six pack abs in 16 weeks during staggering weight loss transformation

The slimmer had tried different fitness tricks over the years, including restrictive diets and half-hearted weight training workouts, but struggled to find something that worked.

Instead, he would fall back into bad habits before he decided to make a change for good.

Stefan enlisted the help of personal trainers at Ultimate Performance Manchester to kick-start his transformation.

He told GB News: "Because I was eating so poorly, I was pretty much a zombie at home. I was physically present, but mentally I was on another planet.

"I wasn’t mentally present for my children. Weekends would just pass by with me zombified on the sofa, half-asleep, covered in crisp crumbs or chocolate, while my kids just watched TV. I didn’t play with them.

"I was setting them such a terrible example as a father, and I couldn’t break free of that sense of guilt. The more guilty I felt, the more withdrawn I became and the more food I’d eat for comfort.

"I remember looking at myself in the mirror one day and I was utterly ashamed at what was staring back at me."

Stefan weighed in at 14st 4lb - over one stone more than the last time he'd weighed himself - and knew he had to change his diet and exercise regime.

What was his workout plan?

"I trained twice a week at Ultimate Performance’s Manchester gym with my trainer, Nelea. I also trained once a week on my own, at my local gym, so three strength training sessions a week," Stefan said.

"Depending on how strong I felt, I would also run two 10kms on the treadmill per week – I love running and my 10km times dropped from about 50 minutes to about 42 minutes as I got stronger from the weight training and my aerobic resistance improved."

Stefan explained the workouts often consisted of full body workouts featuring supersets.

He tried moves such as deadlifts, machine shoulder presses, split squats and chin ups.

Over time, the dieter would increase the weight and he introduced more ab work after around 10 weeks.

What did he eat?

Before beginning the plan, Stefan tried to eat healthy throughout the day but would fill up on junk food into the night.

He tucked into takeaways and sweet treats, often polishing off a full chocolate bar.

Stefan said: "As soon as I started training with Nelea, I told her all about my dietary woes and she wrote a specific meal plan for me.

"Breakfast would be a protein shake, followed by three eggs and an egg white. Lunch would be 120g chicken, 125g cooked rice, an avocado and feta.

"For dinner, I would have either chicken or salmon with baby potatoes. Every meal also had vegetables on the plate – that was non-negotiable.

"I ate these meals religiously every day, and my weight started to plummet and my digestive system improved off the scale. As I got leaner and stronger, we upped the carbs on training days, to the point where I was eating literally two packets of 250g rice on training days. A lot of rice!

"But, I still continued to lose weight because I was training so hard and we timed the carb-rich meals exclusively post-training.

"It’s quite a thing to eat 500g of rice at 9am in the morning, but it worked. Nelea would take my body fat percentages every two weeks and even with the dietary tweaks, my body fat consistently came down."

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During the transformation, Stefan lost 3st 4lb and dropped his body fat percentage from 22 to 10 per cent.

He shared advice for anyone else looking to start their own transformation.

Stefan said: "My two top tips are, one, you have to have a strong reason for doing it that will keep you going when the going gets tough.

"There has to be a really strong pain point, a hook, that keeps you on plan with your diet and going back to the gym time after time when your body and your mind are trying to get you to slack off, or chuck your diet in the bin.

"For me, it was getting in shape to prove to my kids I could be their role model.

"So the healthy eating and workouts were non-negotiable. I couldn’t let them down. But you need that emotional pain point to drive you. Just saying 'I’d like to tone up a bit' is so wishy-washy and you’ll get nowhere.

"Two, get a personal trainer. Ultimate Performance is the best. No doubt. There is no way I could have achieved my results without U.P. A personal trainer is an expense, but an invaluable one. You need that accountability to stay on track.

"Hire a personal trainer who cares about your result, who is experienced and knowledgeable and has a track record of success.

"With a great personal trainer in your corner, like I had with Nelea at Ultimate Performance, you’re giving yourself every chance to succeed."