St Albans man features on Channel 4’s Fat Fighters
A ST Albans rugby player has turned his life around after appearing on Channel 4’s Fat Fighters programme.
Jack Dayton was featured on the popular diet and fitness show last Tuesday after his weight ballooned to more than 20 stone when an injury ended his sporting career.
During the hour-long programme, viewers saw the 22 year old battle to shed the pounds and get back to match fitness with the help of personal trainer Matt Miller.
Jack said: “When I finished university I was massive and felt really down. I didn’t feel like I was doing anything with my life as I was jobless and just sitting around at home.
“I was doing some work as an extra to earn a bit of money when I saw the advert for the programme and decided it would be a good opportunity to turn things around.”
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After sending in his details Jack was selected to take part and began filming just over four months ago.
He said: “The first week was terrifying, as I immersed myself into it 100 per cent with the diet and the training but I took to being in front of the camera quite quickly.
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“The first day when I was throwing up in the bin was probably the hardest but after that I began to get stronger.”
Matt pushed Jack to the limit through a series of gruelling challenges, as did the other trainers.
There was a slight setback when Jack’s old shoulder injury recurred but he overcame that to complete his programme successfully.
Jack said: “Matt was amazing and is one of the most incredible people; he knows everything and could sense when I wasn’t completely tuned in before I’d even done anything!”
The four months of filming was wrapped up just over two weeks ago, with the programme airing shortly afterwards.
During filming, prop-forward Jack’s body fat dropped from a whopping 38 per cent down to a healthy 18. He shed four stone in weight and built up an impressive two stone in new muscle.
He is now keeping up with his training and is back playing regular rugby for Harpenden.
“It’s nice to be back to how I used to be,” he said, speaking outside the gym on Tuesday. “It was the most mind-blowing, life-changing experience.”
