- .Nathan Hewitt, 23, weighed 23st by the time he was 15 years old
- .He binged on junk food and spent hours playing video games
- .He was shamed into losing weight when he couldn't fit onto a rollercoaster
- .He lost 12st to drop to a healthy 11st by going on a strict diet
- .At 19 he had surgery to remove excess folds of skin from his body
- .He has now been given a grant to set himself up as a weight loss coach
- .Says he will focus on working with obese children
By EMMA INNES
A teenager who was 23st at the age of 15 has lost half his body weight - and become a weight loss coach.
Nathan Hewitt was one of Britain’s most obese schoolchildren after bingeing on fast food and sitting around playing video games.
But after being ridiculed on a rollercoaster ride at Alton Towers, he was shamed into losing 12st.
Nathan Hewitt, 23, weighed 23st by the time he was 15 as he binged on junk food and didn't exercise
Mr Hewitt was shamed into losing weight when he couldn't fit on a rollercoaster. He went on a strict diet and lost 12st. He now weighs a healthy 11st
And he has gone from being the fat boy who everyone bullied to the slim guy who the girls all want to date.
Mr Hewitt, now 23, from Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales, has set himself up as a weight loss coach targeting Britain’s growing numbers of fat children.
The Welsh Government has given him financial support to get his business up and running with a Young Entrepreneur’s Business Grant.
And some of his first clients are the classroom bullies who made his life hell when he was the fattest boy in school.
Mr Hewitt said: ‘I’ve been there, I know how it feels to be massive - you only have to look at my old photographs to see I was huge.
‘But I can use my experience to encourage other overweight children to slim down and change to healthy lifestyles.’
Mr Hewitt was bullied at school because of his weight and then turned to food for comfort
Mr Hewitt lost weight by going on a strict healthy eating regime and by taking up exercising
Mr Hewitt’s turning point came during a family trip to Alton Towers where he couldn’t wait to go on their latest ride.
But the attendants couldn’t pull the safety bar over him and he had to walk off while people in the queue sniggered and poked fun.
He said: ‘I knew at that moment I had to change my life for good - my weight was making me miserable.
‘I’d put up with years of bullying in school and I took comfort in the only thing I knew and that was food. It was a vicious circle.’
Mr Hewitt was one of the most obese children in Britain. He is pictured before he started to lose weight
Mr Hewitt has now received a Government grant to help him set himself up as a weight loss coach
When he was 19 Mr Hewitt had surgery to remove his excess folds of skin. He is pictured after the operation
But after going on a healthy diet and exercising Mr Hewitt more than halved his body weight to get to 11st.
He underwent surgery at 19 to get rid of the excess folds of skin he was left with - but since then he has not looked back.
He said: ‘A lot of obese children don’t think they can make the changes they need to lose weight - but I’m there to show them they can.
Mr Hewitt said: 'I know how it feels to be massive - you only have to look at my old photographs to see I was huge. But I can use my experience to encourage other overweight children to slim down'
Mr Hewitt said: 'A lot of obese children don't think they can make the changes they need to lose weight - but I'm there to show them they can'
‘It’s hard but it is do-able and I’m the example of that.
‘My life has changed in so many ways - I’m more confident, healthier, fitter. I really feel like a different person to when I was 15 and over 300lbs.’
Mr Hewitt is launching the first of his weight loss seminars ‘Try This For Size: The Weight Loss Breakthrough Programme’ in Merthyr Tydfil which has a problem with child obesity.
He was given a £6,000 grant and the services of a mentor to help him set up as a weight loss coach.
No comments:
Post a Comment