SUPERSLIMMER James Quin has lost nine stone in just five months – to become a gym instructor.

The 19-year-old former fatty tipped the scales at a whopping 26 stone after gorging on up to 9,000 calories a day.

Mr Quin, who spent his time chomping on takeaways as he played his X Box, admits he used to be lazy and struggled with self confidence.

But, sick of his XXXXL frame, Mr Quin found inspiration from fitness instructor and former Mr Bolton George Armstrong and decided there and then to ditch his unhealthy lifestyle.

Mr Quin, from Horwich, has now incredibly shed more than a third of his bodyweight and weighs in at a more reasonable 17 stone.

He said: "I have always been big and always tried to get out of sports at school. Because of my size I was quite shy and never used to go out with friends. People would shout abuse at me in the street or laugh at me and talk under their breath.

"I admit I was lazy and loved playing my X Box and eating fast food rather than exercising. I ate pizzas, burgers and chips and also had a two-litre bottle of Diet Coke a day. I reckon I was consuming about 9,000 calories a day. It was shocking really."

Mr Quin, who now wears XL clothes, first hit the gym towards the end of last year — and has not looked back.

As well as exercising, the security worker has transformed his diet and now typically eats healthy chicken meals and has swapped unhealthy snack food for yoghurts and protein drinks, and now consumes just 750 calories a day until he reaches his target weight of 15 stone.

He said: "I tried a few diets in the past and never stuck to them, but this time I knew it would be different. After speaking to George on Facebook I decided that enough was enough, I wanted to lose the weight and become an instructor myself, and also do some competitions like him.

"I signed up to the gym at Horwich Leisure Centre and for the first couple of weeks I just did bike and cardio work. As the weight started dropping off me I started doing more and more. Now I go on the treadmill and do weights.

"It was really hard work to begin with, but I really enjoy the gym and once the weight began falling off quickly I was determined to carry on."