A 34-stone man has shocked his friends and family by losing an incredible 14 stone in less than a year.

Jack Towers, 21, began his weight loss journey in January after a health scare at the doctors forced him to change his lifestyle.

He joined a slimming group to try and achieve his goal weight by cutting out unhealthy food from his diet and slowly introducing exercise.

Jack said: “I always struggled with my weight as a child but it wasn’t until secondary school that I began to eat excessively because people didn’t notice.

“When I got my first job it became easier because I started having money to spend on junk food and takeaways.

“Then when I got my car I was able to go to McDonald’s drive-through so it just spiralled out of control.

Jack was eating takeaways about three or four times a week which, at the time, he found more convenient and cheaper than cooking healthy meals.

Then in January, Jack, who weighed 33st 12 lbs at the time, had a doctor’s appointment which became the catalyst to his weight loss.

“The doctor told me I was close to being pre-diabetic, it was then that I made the conscious effort to do something,” said Jack “I said to my doctor you’re not going to recognise me in six months time.

“I lost nine-and-a-half stone without any exercise, it was through healthy eating alone and cutting out fast food.

“Then after six months I started introducing exercise by going to the gym or things like walking up the stairs to get to my flat.”

Jack is now just three stone away from his target weight of 16 stone.

He continued: “I feel like a new person, little things like putting on my socks and shoes were such a struggle before and it was painful doing minimal things.

“My friends are shocked. It’s crazy, some of them who i haven’t seen in a long time don’t even recognise me.”

Jack also said his confidence has grown, especially since joining a slimming group, where he recently won the Mr Sleek winner.

“My mum said for me to go with her when I was 18 but I was embarrassed so I never went, but after going to the doctors this year I knew that I only had one chance left to do it.

“The first time I went I was so nervous, I was so tempted to walk away.

“It was hard but I had to overcome it and then once I got in there it was fine.

“It’s like a big group of friends, we pick each other up when we need to and celebrate each other’s successes.”