A man who was conviced he was going to die before he hit 30 managed to lose a staggering 13 stone in a year - all without any fad diets or weight loss jabs. Arran Chidwick, 24, weighed 27st 8lbs at his heaviest and would eat family bags of crisps, kebabs, Chinese takeaways and burgers. Previously struggling to fit into airplane seats, tie his shoelaces and struggle to buy clothes, Arran is now set to run a half marathon thanks to his incredible weight loss transformation. He knew he needed to make some drastic changes, as he tragically feared he wasn't going to make it to his 30th birthday.
The huge lifestyle change came after a Boxing Day blowout with his pals in 2023 where he decided enough was enough and with a local PT. While he didn't realise it at the time, Arran believes his binge eating was a coping mechanism to deal with the trauma of an accident he was in when he was a child. Over the next year, Arran lost 13st 7lbs through a change of diet and exercise - swapping junk food for fruit and veg and a protein-based diet - and now weighs 14st 10lbs. He even managed to run the Great Scottish Run 10km at the end of last year and plans to take on the half-marathon this year.
The 24-year-old waved goodbye to burgers, chips and curry sauce for lunch and replaced it with low-fat turkey slices on a crumpet, finished off by a low-calorie rice cake. The easy switch helped him lose three stone in just three months - a rate of weight loss that's far quicker than weight loss jabs like Ozempic. Arran, an aircraft fitter from Auchinleck, East Ayrshire, Scotland, said: "I felt I was gonna die before I was 30 and I knew I needed to make a change. I was in a way depressed myself. My way of dealing with past trauma was binge eating - I would eat whatever I wanted and drink at the weekends constantly.".
He said it got so hard tieing his shoe laces, and couldn't find clothes in shops he wanted, and had to start shopping online. His size also meant people would stare and said: "Everyone would stare at me at the pub, sweating at concerts, people judging you at football games, struggling on the plane. I'm glad it's by me now, but it was horrible.". He knew things had to change after he had some drinks with friends and said his heart was racing the next day. "My mum told me she was going to end up burying me before her. My granddad died at the end of 2022 as well so I wanted to do this for him.".
Prior to his weight loss journey, Arran struggled with anxiety because of his weight. He said: "I didn't realise but my form of coping with it was eating until, you take a step back and look at it now that I've realised that. When I went for my new job I thought no one would want to hire me because of my size.". However since losing weight, he's much more confident in himself and wants to show others they can do it too. Arran initially scheduled his PT sessions when the gym was quiet as he was "embarrassed" about his appearance, but as his confidence built, he was able to shed an initial 3st in just three months.
"To start with it was basic circuits and then we gradually got doing more cardio with a bit of weights. I started going to the gym myself but I scheduled my PT when it was quite quiet at the gym as I was embarrassed - now I go 4-5 times a week. "At the end of last year, I managed to the Glasgow 10km and I'm looking to do the Glasgow half-marathon this year. Within 3 months I'd lost over 3st and I'd lost over 9st by June time. My goal was to be able to go to Download festival in June below 20st - by the time I got to the festival I was 18st and I burst out crying.".
While he doesn't have a goal weight, he said he wants to build muscle and has vowed to never go back to the size he was before. "Because I've done it right I built muscle whilst losing weight and I don't have that much loose skin. I tracked every calorie and it's important not to feel sorry for yourself and think everyone is against you - you're the only one that can change yourself. His words of advice for those looking to lose weight is to "really go for it" and to "believe in yourself". "I'm of course a little bit worried but I hope this is me for the rest of my life," he said, and added: "Now the gym is just a part of my life - I could never see myself going back to that.".
Diet before:. Breakfast: Two breakfast rolls (sliced sausages black pudding) packet of crisps, fizzy juice. Lunch: chips and cheese curry sauce, burger. Dinner: Chinese, kebabs - "nothing that's good for you". Diet after:. Breakfast: Crumpet thins, bananas. Big bottle of water every day. Lunch: Turkey crumpets and banana or a rice cake. Dinner: Food prep company called Prime Pep or chicken fajitas. Do you have a story to share? Email niamh.kirk@reachplc.com.
