Adam Labib knew he would have his work cut out when a 38-stone 23-year-old asked for his assistance.
Daniel Lewis, from Ladbroke Grove, walked in asking for help in slimming down from 38 stones – and 63 per cent body fat.
“When someone has anything over 57 per cent body fat you are at risk of all sorts of things,” said Mr Labib.
“If, like Daniel did, you have a lot of visceral fat, surrounding vital organs, that is the fat that leads to diabetes, heart disease, high-blood pressure and high-cholesterol.
“Daniel was susceptible to all of those things and he is only 23 years-old. When he first came to see me he couldn’t walk properly because of how much he weighed.
“Over the last five months, he has changed his eating and his fitness but it’s more than that – it’s a complete lifestyle change.”
Mr Lewis has been on a strict diet of Herbalife meal replacement shakes for breakfast and lunch and healthy dinners and snacks, shifting an incredible 8½ stones.
He has been walking to work, doing light exercise and will start a more vigorous
exercise regime once he has lost more weight.
"This has completely changed my life," Mr Lewis said.
"I have tried all sorts of diets before but I've never had results like this. I think it's about changing the way I think about food and my eating patterns.
"It's not just losing weight that has changed, I am less tired, my skin looks better, I have more energy."
His coach added: “When people know somebody who is overweight they just think 'that is what they are like', they don’t think about what that is actually doing to that person.
“I had to call in Daniel’s mum and his friends and say ‘If you allow Daniel to keep doing what he has been doing, you are killing him’.
“There was a lot of emotion," he said.
Mr Lewis sends pictures of himself to his coach by text message, so Mr Labib can keep up with his progress, and charts his weight loss on Facebook to share with family and friends.
“He gets lots of encouragement from friends and family which is great, but I have to be the mean one, telling him it’s not good enough yet.
“He’s got to keep going, and he will,” said Mr Labib.
