A former secret eater reminds himself of the man he used to be before his 12 stone weight loss with a cardboard cutout showing his former XXXXL frame. Martin Bryan, 36, was just six when he began scoffing snacks in his bedroom every day to cope with bullying.
He began filling up on takeaways for his work lunches and binging sweet treats to cope with his grief after losing his mum when he was 20. By the time he turned 29 he was 27 2lbs stone and a size XXXXL with a 63inch waist size – and began having random fainting episodes.
Martin was told he was pre-diabetic – and enrolled in a local weight loss group. In 10 months he had shed 11 stone – and then lost a further stone after having excess skin removal surgery. Four years on, he has maintained his new figure – 15st 6lbs – and is now even a weight loss coach to help others.
He celebrates with a carboard cut out of his old self to show how far he’s come. Martin, from Glasgow, Scotland, said: “My weight issues started when I was really young – I was a secret eater, I would steal food and eat it in my bedroom.”
“It got worse when I got bullied at school and trips to the dietician didn’t work. Then I lost my mum and I was just eating my emotions to numb the pain.”
“At 29 I was over 27 stone – I could barely get out of bed and needed to buy two seats on the train because of my size. When I was told I was pre-diabetic I realised what I was doing with my life and knew I had to change things. Once I started, the more weight I lost, the more energy I had, the better I slept and the better I felt.
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“I hit my goal and I’ve maintained it ever since – I could never go back. I have a life-sized cardboard cut out of myself from how big I was at the start and people can’t believe I used to look like that. It reminds me where I started and how far I’ve come.”
Martin said food was always his comfort and he was one of the larger children at school. He then began getting bullied for being “different” – as he was gay but hadn’t come out yet. He said: “I used to get picked on because people could tell – I used to hang out with the girls.”
To cope with the bullying, he would steal chocolates, cakes and crisps and secretly scoff them in his room after dinner. His parents took him to a dietician and he started on a weight loss plan but he still snacked in secret and his weight kept rising.
By the age of 19, he was 20 stone and things spiralled further after losing his mum, Margaret McMaster, 43, to a brain tumour when he was 20. Martin’s overeating got worse “to numb the pain” of the loss.
He said: “I would have sugary coffees and donuts for breakfasts, then lunch would be McDonalds, KFC or kebabs. I’d get crisps and chocolates from the work vending machines too. I would consume over 4,000 calories of pure garbage a day.”
“I got so big I would sweat constantly and I could barely get out of bed on my own.”
In December 2018, he took a trip to the doctors after he began having fainting episodes and was told he was pre-diabetic. After a “frank conversation” with the doctor, he realised how important it was to change his lifestyle. In February 2019 he started with a coach using The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan – and lost a stone in a week.
By his third month he was five stone lighter – and by December 2019 he had lost 11st and hit his goal weight of 16st 1lbs and size L. Martin never went back to his old lifestyle and even became a 1:1 Diet coach himself in 2020.
“I want to be a part of changing their lives, being able to cheer someone on and be their support,” he said. In 2023 he had a male breast reduction and a tummy tuck to remove his excess skin, costing £20k – which he paid for with the money he had saved by not buying takeaways and snacks.
This year he had a £13,500 veneers to conceal the sugar damage to his teeth. Now unrecognisable from his former self, Martin still sticks to a healthy meal plan, and exercises six times a week to maintain his trim figure.
He said: “It makes me feel so proud of myself looking back, without my journey I wouldn’t be where I am today. That cardboard cutout is a reminder of someone I once was, and someone I don’t want to go back to. I wear my surgery scars proudly – I call them my battle scars.