Man who shed 20st after being Told by Doctors He Would Die Within Five Years Shares His Transformati

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A man who shed almost 20 stone after being told his weight would kill him has shared the tale of his incredible transformation.

At his heaviest, Zain Harper weighed 35 stone – he was unhappy in life, suffered from an array of health problems, and had to go to work in slippers because he couldn’t get his shoes on.

Since shifting the pounds, the 43-year-old from Manchester has soared in his career, come out as gay, and is now training to be a personal trainer.

“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been,” he said.

Zain explained that he had struggled with his weight since childhood, and was often bullied in school.



Ill-health during his early years- along with frequent spells in hospital - saw his family trying to comfort him with food at a time when awareness of obesity and its dangers were little-understood. For Zain it led to unhealthy habits which took decades to ditch.

He told the M.E.N: “As I child I wasn’t very well and spent a lot of time in hospital, in those days there were no warning about healthy eating, my parents would give me comfort food and I’d just eat and eat. The next thing I know I couldn’t get out of bed let alone exercise, I was bullied and I’d comfort eat, I was stuck in a vicious cycle and by the time I was 16 I was 21st.”

During his lowest ebb, Zain would think of nothing of munching his way through chips, pizzas, curries, desserts and fizzy drinks. Depite countless attempts at dieting, he just couldn’t seem to break the bad eating habits.


He explained “Over the years I tried so many diets, Slimming World, Weight Watchers, everything. I’d lose around 3st and then hit a wall. In my early 30s I worked at the University of Manchester and I’d go to work in slippers because I couldn’t put shoes on, I had to switch to an automatic car and I was given a disabled badge.

“I was depressed, had high blood pressure, angina, arthritis, sleep apnea, basically everything but diabetes which was a case of ‘when’ I got it, not ‘if’ I did.

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“Then the doctor told me I’d be dead in 3-5 years and that was my wake up call. I had to change.”

It’s been more than a decade since Zain underwent a gastric bypass at a private hospital in Leeds, at the time the procedure wasn’t available on the NHS.


Within 18 months, he’d dropped around 15 stone and lat
The NHS management consultant, who is now 16st and a regular gym goer, added: “My boss died, and it was that loss that made me realise how short life is. I made some big decisions and I’ve never been happier.



“I’m now training to be a personal trainer, and I hope to be able to start a scheme in schools educating children about having a healthy lifestyle and also the impact it has on their mental health.

I want to help children who need to lose weight to do so, but in a fun way, where its not just about exercise, but also about nutrition, teaching them to cook healthy meals, and how it all works together.”

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