Before and After: Mike Vaughan said he could barely climb the stairs to his apartment at his heaviest. Now he is a chiseled 270 lbs 

Mike Vaughan said finding out his partner of five years was having an affair was “a blessing in disguise” as it finally pushed him back into the gym, and make healthier life style choices.
A man says finding out his girlfriend was cheating spurred him to lose 12 stone in just 18 months.
At 26 Vaughan from Manchester, UK, weighed almost 450 lbs and lived on a diet of chips, bread, fizzy soda and fastfood.
Initially, he started dieting after realizing his health was at risk, then he learned his girlfriend of five years had been cheating on him.
Although devastated Mike says it was just what he needed. Mike told the Manchester Evening News : “I was in a bad place. I started to sink back into it, eating junk food, not going to the gym.”“My life could have gone in one of two ways. Go back into a depression and comfort eat and go back to square one, or use it as motivation to really improve my life.
“I wasn’t going to let something like that destroy everything I had worked for, I would use it to spur me on and I did.
“I put everything into my diet and training, and I can honestly say now I’ve never been happier.”

Mike said he had been ‘comfort eating’ for years before he decided to change, but finding out his partner was cheating spurred Mike to lose more weight 

He can fit two of himself in an old pair of jeans after losing 162 lbs in just 18 months

“Since then I’ve found the consistency that I needed so much.
“Her cheating was a blessing in disguise.”
Mike said he was always the ‘biggest guy’ in school, and being overweight just seemed normal to him.
“I finished school at 15 and weighed 252 lbs. It was from then things started to spiral weight wise. I’d gone from playing football with friends most nights after school to doing next to nothing but while still eating junk food.
“I did three years of college which consisted of no exercise and lots of fast food. I started university weighing around 322 lbs and that’s when it really got out of hand.

Mike Vaughn:  ‘I ate to deal with stress’ 

“I didn’t know how to cook anything but toast so most nights it was pizza or bacon cheeseburgers with boozing three or four nights a week and this went on for five years.
“My family and friends would express concern but I was in such denial I would just get annoyed whenever my weight was mentioned.
“Eating was my way of dealing with any kind of stress.”
In February last year, Mike, who works in Salford as a quantity surveyor, reached his heaviest weight of 444 lbs.
“It was sickening,” he added.
“I was in a depression because of my weight but didn’t know how to change.
“Then suddenly something inside me just clicked.
“I knew that if I kept going the way I was going I wasn’t going to be around much longer.”

Mike signed up to a boot camp and then a gym, while opting for a healthier diet

Mike Vaughan weighed over 400 lbs before his weight loss

Mike’s diet

Before:

• Breakfast – four pieces of toast with beans
• Lunch – sandwiches and crisps
• Dinner – fastfood, pizzas, burgers
• Snacks and drinks – soda and chips

After:

• Breakfast – four eggs and feta cheese
• Lunch – salad, or meat or fish with vegetables or halloumi
• Dinner – similar to lunch
• Snacks and drinks – water

“I couldn’t even make it to my second floor flat without struggling to breathe. I had to do At the urging of a friend, Vaughn signed up to an intense six-week boot camp and managed to shed 14 lbs. Encouraged he added: “I wanted to keep it up so I signed up for a gym in Stockport.
“I was petrified thinking a guy of my size should not be doing things like that.
“But they came up with a personalized plan for me, group personal training, healthy eating, it was such a huge change and I really struggled for the first six months but then it just became habit.”
Mike had lost 49 lbs when he learned about his girlfriend – her departure led to him dropping down another 140 lbs down to 274 lbs.
“He hopes to hit 238 lbs by the end of next year and ultimately wants to be half his heaviest weight.
He said: “I highly doubt I would be in the position I’m in now if we stayed together.”