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DEADLY DIET
I tried to EAT myself to death as one of UK’s fattest men – I’d have 6 cheese toasties for breakfast but look at me now
SEVERELY depressed, jobless and barely able to walk 100 yards, Jack Gibbons' life was in tatters – his only goal was to eat so much that his heart would finally stop.
Tipping the scales at 33st, the dad-of-two was among Britain’s fattest men after scoffing six supersized meals a day that exceeded 25,000 calories - 10 times the recommended amount.
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Jack, from Coalville, Leicestershire, started to pile on the pounds in his late teens after suffering “crippling depression”. When he ballooned to 27 stone nearly two years ago, he tried to take his own life.
After an intervention from friends stopped the attempt, he fixated on eating himself to death as quickly as possible and at night would smoke half a joint of cannabis to help him gorge even more.
Nine months after his suicide attempt, he reached out to unconscious mind therapist Robert Hisse, who helped him drastically reduce his food take and exercise every day.
Security worker , now 28, tells The Sun: “I felt like I was too weak to take my own life so instead I was trying to eat myself into an early grave.
“I was ridiculously depressed, constantly anxious, and didn’t want to leave the house. My average step count was 500, which was walking to the toilet twice.
“I physically couldn’t put on my own socks or shoes and needed someone else to do that for me. I’d even struggle walking to the local shop, which is 100 yards away.
“I was on a downward spiral with my life – I didn’t have a job and I was struggling to be a dad and to be normal in society due to depression.
“My partner and I temporarily separated after an argument so I was essentially homeless, living on my friend’s sofa.
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“I turned to drugs and smoked cannabis every night to help my food addiction and numb the pain when I was too full to allow me to eat more.”
Jack, who is 6ft tall, says he has always been “a big lad” and from a young age battled with food, which he described as his “biggest addiction”.
At 18 years old, he put on six stone in six months due to his depression and his weight continued to soar from there.
He was refused a gastric band when he was 30st because he wouldn't take medication to help him go to the bathroom.
Following his suicide attempt in February 2020, Jack felt there was no way out other than to “continue eating, eating and eating” until he passed away.
“When I tried to take my own life, I remember my life flashed through my head and I couldn’t do it, I didn’t want to leave my kids without a dad,” he says.
“I knew I didn’t want to be on Earth, I wanted to die, and the only way I knew how was to continue eating.
“Two of my uncles died due to being overweight at a young age, 41 and 51, and we have heart problems in our family.
It’s disgusting looking back at how much I used to eat
Jack Gibbons
“I had no mental strength at all and was severely depressed. I was making wrong decisions left, right and centre. I didn’t know what to do.”
This led Jack to increase his already massive meals and add consume as much extra food as he could.
Among his daily intake was 14 pieces of bread, a 12-inch pizza and 10-inch cheesy garlic bread pizza, six packets of crisps and chocolate with nearly every one of his six meals.
“I’d have cheese on toast for breakfast with at least six slices of bread and would raid the cupboards for whatever was there,” he says.
“It’s disgusting looking back at how much I used to eat. They were already big meals and then I was having three snacks that were the size of meals on the side."
'Now I am unstopabble'
Jack’s turning point came in November 2020, when , 44, from Bermondsey, London, responded to a message from him on Instagram.
Robert - who’s worked with Paul Gascoigne, Dame Kelly Holmes and other celebrities - worked to rewire his brain through visualisations, positive affirmations and more.
He tells The Sun: “The change in Jack is unbelievable, when I first spoke to him I could hear the self-pity, low self-worth and depression in his voice.
"He went from not being able to walk around the house and wanting to kill himself to reclaiming his power and getting a bit of swagger too.
"I had to teach him to recreate himself from the inside out and over 30 days we had forced new neuropathways that changed the way he thinks.
"Now he looks incredible and I'm extremely proud of what he's achieved – thanks to unconscious mind therapy he believes he is unstoppable."
Jack practised daily positive affirmations – including his favourite, “I am unstoppable” – and set himself a target of climbing the highest point in Leicestershire, Bardon Hill.
“It was a real struggle because I was still 33 stone but I'm happy, I believe I’m the fattest man to have climbed Bardon Hill,” he says.
Jack's gut-busting 25,000 calories a day explained
JACK Gibbons scoffed a staggering 25,000 calories a day at his worst. Now after using unconscious mind therapy, which helped him to reduce his daily intake to the equivalent of "three chewed-up fistfuls of food
DIET BEFORE
Breakfast: six cheese toasties
Snack: one sandwich, one packet of crisps and chocolate
Lunch: three sandwiches, three packets of crisps, two sausage rolls and chocolate
Snack: one footlong Subway sandwich, three cookies and one bag of crisps
Dinner: large roast dinner
Snack: one chicken wrap and one large portion of chips, one 12-inch pizza, one 10-inch garlic cheesy bread pizza, sweets, crisps, chocolate and four fizzy drink cans
DIET NOW
Breakfast: one bowl of cereal
Lunch: one Tesco meal deal – one sandwich, one packet of crisps and one drink
Dinner: one normal-sized hot meal
The achievement has spurred Jack on to lose eight stone so far and switch his flab for bulging biceps ahead of entering a white collar boxing match in March.
Now, he trains every day through sessions with bare-knuckle boxer Ryan Barrett, gym workouts, runs or walks.
“As well as training my mind, I’ve done something physical every day for the last 18 months and make sure I walk two miles a day at the very least,” he says.
“Every day that passes I’ve been getting mentally and physically stronger. While training is harder as I’m putting on muscle and burning fat, I feel so much better.
“My average step count is now easily more than 10,000 a day and often more, it’s ridiculous how active I am. I must be the most active 25 stone guy in the world.”
'Kids now have a role-model, not a slob'
Jack has drastically reduced his food intake too and now only eats the equivalent of “three fistfuls of chewed down food a day”, which helps him to consume normal-sized portions.
His anxiety has entirely disappeared since losing weight and he no longer suffers “excruciating pain” in his back, knees and joints – and that’s not all.
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“I feel like I’m a better father now too, my kids have someone to look up to instead of seeing a lazy slob, who was constantly depressed and sat on the sofa all day,” he says.
“I go on bike trails with them on the tracks and jumps, they are really proud of me and I feel so much more confident."
You're Not Alone
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide.
It doesn't discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society - from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It's the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it's rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
That is why The Sun launched the You're Not Alone campaign.
The aim is that by sharing practical advice, raising awareness and breaking down the barriers people face when talking about their mental health, we can all do our bit to help save lives.
Let's all vow to ask for help when we need it, and listen out for others... You're Not Alone.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
- CALM, , 0800 585 858
- Heads Together,
- Mind, , 0300 123 3393
- Papyrus,, 0800 068 41 41
- Samaritans, , 116 123
- Movember,
- Anxiety UK , 03444 775 774 Monday-Friday 9.30am-10pm, Saturday/Sunday 10am-8pm
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I lost half my body weight and now I'm so pretty I don't have to pay for anything
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