Before the pandemic Dafydd Hudd didn't really think about his food, never taking a packed lunch to work and instead just grabbing a McDonald's while he was out and about.
And the dad-of-two's unhealthy lifestyle had a huge impact on his health, weighing 23st 3lb at his heaviest and wearing XXXL.
But when Covid-19 hit and threw the UK into lockdown, Dafydd couldn't just pop in for a quick Big Mac whenever he was hungry and he realised he had to start planning his meals.
Researching ways to battle his bulges, he came across a weight loss app called Noom, which focussed on behavioural changes and called itself a lifestyle, rather than a diet, so he decided to give it a go.
The 41-year-old, who is married to Melissia, 46, and dad to, Dylan, 17, and Rhiannon, 15, said: "After a trial period, I bought it for six months to see if it would work, but I still wasn't all that serious until the first lockdown.
"I never left home with a packed lunch. I usually just popped to McDonald's or something, but with everything shutting down, I had to think about what I had to eat.
"Instead of just sitting in the van and stuffing my face, I started using Noom and thinking about calories.
"In just two weeks I lost about half a stone. Then I began to lose a few pounds a week quite steadily.
"I did have plateaus, or two weeks where nothing happened, but then I'd have three or four weeks of constant weight loss.
"There was definitely a decent chunk coming off."
A year-and-a-half later, geotechnical engineer Dafydd has lost an incredible 9st, weighing a much healthier 14st 2lb.
He looked so different that one of his friends literally didn't recognise him when they were reunited after lockdown.
Dafydd, of Buntingford, Herts, said: "The funniest thing happened at the local rugby club on one of my daughter's training nights in April 2021.
"It wasn't far off 18 months since I'd been up there and it was a nice, summery evening, so I had a T-shirt on.
"I stood next to one of my friends and started talking to him. He was just being polite and then turned around and asked who I was!
"I said, 'It's Daf!' He said, 'F*** off! Pardon the French!'
'It was quite funny. He honestly didn't recognise me.'
Overweight throughout adult life, spending a lot of time in the van driving to jobs, Dafydd said his diet really suffered.
He said: "I'd tried things like Slimming World in the past, but they didn't work for me. I didn't like the meetings or anything."
His tipping point came at Christmas three years ago when he started suffering with back pain.
Seeing a chiropractor, he was told his spine had a slight kink in it and the muscles either side were trying to straighten it out.
"Obviously, it was wear and tear, exacerbated by sitting down, driving up and down the country," he said.
Do you have a weightloss story to share? Email jessica.taylor@reachplc.com.
"But I realised that all the excess weight I was carrying wasn't helping things."
At his 23st 3lb heaviest, Dafydd had a body mass index (BMI) used to gauge a healthy weight of 43 - compared to the NHS healthy range of 18.5 to 24.9, meaning he was obese.
Now with a BMI of 26.2 and wearing clothes in a medium, rather than an XXXL, he is delighted with the change.
He said: "Everyone has been a bit gobsmacked when they've seen me for the first time.
"Obviously, my mum's seen the progress photos on Facebook.
"But she still can't believe it.
"It was a lovely feeling when I went to visit her in Wales, after not seeing her for over a year and she was taken aback."
While his wife and children grew used to his progress, as they were with him every day, Dafydd says that the weight loss really started to show at Christmas and they could not stop commenting.
He said: "All my clothes seemed to be too big around Christmas when I suddenly went from a very large person to more of a medium person and my kids noticed.
"In January this year everything was too big, so I just chucked my entire wardrobe out and started again.
"I bought all new stuff, so it was expensive, but it felt great."
Now maintaining his weight, Dafydd has changed his diet again, to make sure he does not end up flabby.
He said: "When you lose weight, you lose a lot of muscle, so I'm following a high protein diet now, to try and bulk some muscle back up in my upper body and lower body."
Delighted with his new, healthier appearance, Dafydd looks better, his back hurts less and he feels more able to interact with his children.
He said: "Ironically, I have Covid to thank for a lot of it, but I was also finally ready to do something about my weight.
"I said to someone one day, 'You've got to be in the right mindset to do it and the right situation.'
"Luckily, I had both at the same time and the result was my transformation!"
Dafydd's Diet before
Breakfast - No food. Maybe full fat Coke
Lunch - Tesco meal deal or a McDonalds burger. A share bag of wine gums and a full fat Coke
Dinner - Family meal like big portions of homemade Chinese, spaghetti Bolognese or chicken and chips
Snacks - Cakes, sweets, chocolate
Diet now
Breakfast - Fat free yogurts, with fresh raspberries, strawberries or blueberries and a protein drink with less than 100 calories
Snacks - Small packet of nuts
Lunch - Chicken and rice, or spiced noodles, or beef chilli and water
Snacks - Fruit
Dinner - Grilled steak and vegetables, or homemade curry or Chinese, followed by yogurt or grapes
