I lost 20st.. but I’m back to square one
Weight loss poster boy piles on 11st in lockdown but Dibsy will slim again
A FAST food addict who lost 20 stone after he was “banned” from his town’s takeaways has put on 11st during lockdown.
Darren “Dibsy” McClintock, once a 40st giant, hit the headlines thanks to his huge weight loss in 2018.
His personal trainer Mike Hind delivered posters to takeaways in Middlesbrough, carrying the message: “Save Dibsy - Obesity is killing him.”
The ruse worked as Dibsy climbed Ben Nevis, did the Great North Run, and lost an impressive 20st.
Sadly, he fell into his old ways and returned to the takeaway diet during lockdown, putting more than 11st back on.
Dibsy, 30, now weighs in at 31st and admitted: “I sort of rebelled from it for a while thinking I’d done the graft, now this is my enjoyment.
“I’ve ended up not quite back to square one but with more weight to lose again. With Mike’s help, I’m ready to show people you can backtrack massively like I have, but pull it back again.”
A state-of-the-art 3D body scan of Dibsy suggested he could end up going back to 40st.
But Mike defended him: “He hasn’t had the tools at his disposal in lockdown and
while working away and temptation has been put in his way. He’s made a few wrong choices – it’s not right, but he’s human.
“But his journey is going to continue to inspire and show people about having balance in your life.”
Mike, who runs the Macro Based Diner which helps people eat healthily, is helping with a fitness regime which takes account of Dibsy’s irregular heartbeat. The unlikely duo previously appeared on various TV shows including Good Morning Britain, where Piers Morgan dubbed him “the hero personal trainer” and asked Mike to train him.
And the pair also featured as part of a Channel 5 documentary called Eating Ourselves to Death.
Dibsy has now landed a job at Mike’s diner, and has surrounded himself with the “right people” to help him lose weight again. He said: “I’ve got a holiday next year and at my current weight, I would feel uncomfortable getting on a plane or ready for the beach. I want to get a nice coat for Christmas – I could have got one when I was 21st.
“Everyone still tells me it’s unbelievable what you’ve done, but now I feel like a fraud because I’m not 21st anymore – far from it.”
Dibsy also hopes to help Mike’s client Robert Busby, 30, of Redcar, North Yorks, who aims to lose another 10st after dropping from 33st to 26.4st.
I rebelled for a while thinking I had done the graft
DIBSY McCLINTOCK REGAINING WEIGHT