A man who shed six stone in just one year told of his incredible weight-loss journey in light of opening a ‘safe space’ gym.

Steve Brenner from Sellindge is behind the brand-new, Mind and Muscle Fitness gym which is set to open next month in Folkestone.

The 37-year-old, who has been a personal trainer for the past six years, says he wanted to open a “safe space” to encourage anxious clients and is hoping his fitness journey will inspire others.

“I started the business alone about six years ago just as a personal trainer,” he said.

“I started a cleaning company about 14 years ago which I ran on and off for seven years.

“There were a couple of times when I was so miserable and so focused on my studying but needed money so had to go back to cleaning.

“But then I decided to completely change my life.”

Mr Brenner then started building up his customer base out of Pure Gym in Folkestone.

“I then became a sports massage therapist and started the Mind Muscle Clinic. Since then, I have expanded gradually and studied my nutrition qualification,” he said.

“At the start of the year, I was doing sports massage therapy out of a room I rented, doing my personal training out of Pure Gym in Folkestone, and doing my nutrition work online. Now, we have taken on this building so we are able to do it all here.

“It was always something I wanted to do. Growing up, I was always into sports – I did sports and leisure at college then I went down the wrong path and started a cleaning company because it was easy and made money quickly but it was also making me miserable and completely changed who I was.”

He says he is hoping his fitness journey will continue to inspire others to take the plunge and join the gym. In 2017, Mr Brenner went from 24 to 18 stone in just 12 months.

He said: “I have had a lot of people follow my progress from when I was really overweight and have seen the transformation I have gone through and have joined me as clients. For my clients, being able to see that I have been there myself – we can relate to each other.

“I haven’t had a great physique all my life – I have been up and down. A lot of my clients are very anxious about going to the gym so when they see what I have gone through, it helps them.”

Mr Brenner’s partner, Kayleigh Dawkins is the operational manager at Mind and Muscle Fitness and tells of how Steve changed his diet when on his weight loss journey.

“He cut out alcohol and he was still eating around 3000 calories a day of clean food such as eggs, oats, chicken, rice, but because Steve is six foot four, that was a good decrease,” she said.

“He also allowed himself one meal of choice off of the plan he had designed for himself, which was often a takeaway. But diets and nutrition are different from person to person, which of course as a nutritionist Steve now understands fully and helps people design a food plan that works for them.

“He also started off in this time doing powerlifting but transitioned into muscle building. He didn’t do cardio at all.”

The 33-year-old added: “Steve has a creative mindset and saw the potential of the site.

“We are trying to do a hell of a lot ourselves and are opening on October 1.

“While there is a cost of living crisis going on, there is also a big awareness around wellbeing.”

The gym will be limited to a maximum of 60 members so the site is a “safe space”.

“We want our original members who we take on first to be our founding members and they will have different perks,” Miss Dawkins says.

“We want it to be a safe space and our members will be part of a close-knit community of like-minded individuals.”