A man who lost 30 stone (190.5kg) as part of a lifestyle overhaul will compete in his first bodybuilding competition later this month.

At 25 years old, Jack Ako weighed 47 stone (298kg) when he decided to undergo gastric bypass surgery and embark on a health and fitness journey.

Now a qualified personal trainer, the 29-year-old from Wakefield said his "mindset is totally different" and he has found "a fire and passion to help people", especially the younger generation.

"I was the big kid, then the big teenager and the extremely big adult. Maybe knowledge could have changed that for me," he said.

Ako said his weight gain started due to "growing up with bad nutrition" and being labelled "big" due to his height and frame - both his parents are more than 6ft (1.8m) tall.

"I was always told it was bad genetics, 'you're the big lad', you get used to it," he said.

"The big lad is who I am, so I'll live by it."

As a former rugby player, it was "quite normalised to eat and put weight on", but even after he stopped playing, his mindset didn't change.

His first career was working for the railways, but weight gain meant he couldn't keep up with the physical demands of the job, and he switched to become a bookmaker.

However, the new role meant he was "stationary for long periods of time", and could conceal habits like secret eating.

He described attaching a positive feeling to certain foods, which provided a "dopamine release".

"Different people have their different vices - for me, it was food."

Food noise took over his everyday life, he said, adding that it affected social outings such as going to the cinema, which became "more about the sweets than it was the film".

"Before you know it, you can consume 10,000 calories a day without realising."

According to a 2024 NHS report, 30% of adults aged 16 and over were classed as obese, and 66% were either overweight or living with obesity.

Typically, obesity prevalence increased with age, peaking among adults aged 55 to 74.

Although Ako said he felt as though "something needed to change", the rest of his life was on track - he had a partner, a stable job and owned a house and car.

However, at 25, he felt his health reached the point where he "needed to do what everyone was asking me to do" and lose weight.

Once he made the decision, it was important to build sustainable habits that he could implement every day rather than rush the process, he said.

"It's a slow process - for me, it's taken four years.

"It was a battle of addiction, at the end of the day.

"I had times where I'd slip back into old ways but the more things I put in place to achieve my goals, the easier it got and the more motivated I got."

After taking advice from the NHS, but concerned about the length of the waiting list, Ako underwent private gastric bypass surgery.

Over the first 18 months, he dropped about 14 stone (114.3kg).

"It felt really good and everyone was praising me, but I had nothing to be proud of really," he said.

"Everyone was really happy for me, but I felt like I needed to take it further."

He decided to join a gym - a daunting experience at first, due to worrying about how other people would judge him.

"Sometimes I'd sit in the car and not dare go in.

"I was used to people looking and laughing at me. Certain people would even say things because it would be funny to them."

Outside of his friends and family, the people he found were most supportive, and inspirational, were "the intimidating-looking" bodybuilders.

After falling in love with the sport and finding a community of people willing to help him on his fitness journey, Ako decided to try his hand at professional bodybuilding.

On 7 November, he will compete in a world championship bodybuilding event, in the transformation category.

His other ambition is to develop nutritional education programmes for children, alongside his wife, who is a teacher.

Reflecting on his relationship with food today, Ako said he would still describe it as an addiction, but that his "mindset is totally different".

"I enjoy feeling positive now - I gain my dopamine hits now from achieving little challenges, daily challenges." he added.

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