A father who was desperate for the perfect 'beach body' overdosed on diet pills and was given hours to live.

Lewis Brown, 25, from Haverhill, Suffolk, took a large amount of the controversial DNP pills to help him lose excess, for him to add more muscle, after becoming obsessed with working out.

He even took steroids to go from a healthy 10 stone to a 15-and-a-half stone frame.

But when he turned to the 'fat burners' the poisonous chemicals increased his body temperature to 42 degrees and was 'cooking' from the inside.

Lewis Brown, 25, from Haverhill, Suffolk, took a large amount of the controversial DNP pills to help him lose excess, for him to add more muscle, after becoming obsessed with working out

Mr Brown (right) spent three days in a coma and a week in intensive care, before doctors were forced to perform three operations to cut out his entire muscle at the front of his left leg (left)

Worried doctors at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge were forced to put Mr Brown in a coma while they covered him in ice.

But when his muscles started to die, his devastated family were called to say goodbye.

Miraculously he pulled through, but not before medics were forced to cut out a leg muscle which had died.

Mr Brown said: 'I was so out of it about getting bigger that I thought I was unstoppable.

'I just wanted to be better than anyone else.

'I was a different person then - everyone has said. All I was interested in was getting bigger and I just didn't know what I was doing.

'I'm just lucky that I'm still alive.

'I remember seeing a story about DNP and people who died and just thinking they weren't taking them right.

'But I have done it myself now and I can tell you, you just get caught up in it so quickly.

Miraculously he pulled through, but not before medics were forced to cut out a leg muscle which had died

Pictured is Lewis Brown's leg where doctors had to cut out some of his muscles

The near-fatal dose was the exact number taken by student Eloise Parry, 21, from Shrewsbury, who died just months earlier.

Mr Brown thought he would be fine despite reading up on some of the horror stories.

Realising his mistake in July last year, he started to get hotter and hotter and drove himself to hospital.

Medics ordered him to neck a charcoal drink to 'soak up' the chemicals, but the toxic chemicals were already attacking his body.

Mr Brown (pictured in hospital) thought he would be fine despite reading up on some of the horror stories.

His temperature soared to a staggering 39.8 degrees, and doctors put him in an induced coma and gave him ice baths, while warning his family to prepare for the worst.

BODY LOSES ENERGY WITH DNP DNP causes the body to run out of energy, accelerates metabolism to a dangerously fast level and causes the body's temperature to rise. He had taken three or four of the controversial tablets a day for a couple of weeks in early 2015, but on July 23 he took a large amount in 12 hours - his first day of re-taking the tablets. DNP is sold mostly over the internet under a number of different names but contains 2, 4-Dinitrophenol. It is marketed mainly to bodybuilders as a weight loss aid as it is thought to dramatically boost metabolism. According to a study in the Journal of Medical Toxicity more than 60 deaths have been attributed to DNP. Advertisement

Mr Brown said: 'I was hoping the steroids would keep the muscles, but the tablets would strip the fat.

'I took three in the morning and I didn't feel anything for a few hours, so stupidly I took another five.

'They said if I didn't drink it (the charcoal drink) I could die.

'I remember drinking it, but that's the last thing I remember.

'Apparently after that I started to get really confused and they called my family.

'My body was just heating up and cooking from the inside out.

'I was put in the coma I think to stop my body moving and doing anything that would cause heat.

'The doctors told my family I could have just two or three hours to live, and that I wouldn't make it through the night. They all thought that was it.'

Lewis Brown, 25, (left before he became addicted to working out) from Harerhill, Suffolk, who nearly died after he got addicted to being buff and overdosed on controversial diet pills DNP

Lewis Brown, 25, started going to the gym to get fit but quickly became obsessed with working out and started taking steroids to gain a 15-and-a-half stone frame

He spent three days in a coma and a week in intensive care, before doctors were forced to perform three operations to cut out his entire muscle at the front of his left leg.

It had been killed off when it was 'cooked' by the drugs, and it took Mr Brown four months to recover and get back to work.

Mr Brown lives with with his partner Tara Wetterson, 25. He had previously never revealed the full extent of his obsession to his family before.

He forked out around £100 a month for the medicines, which he would inject or take orally two or three times a week.

He spent three days in a coma (left) and a week in intensive care, before doctors were forced to perform three operations to cut out his entire muscle at the front of his left leg (right)

Despite noticing he was becoming aggressive and obsessive, the gym fanatic continued work out.

But now he has spoken out to raise awareness of the dangers of steroids and diet pills, which can be easily bought for as little as 3p.

He said: 'I've got this leg now, but it's just something I have to deal with.

'Before I was a bit reclusive and everything annoyed me, and I didn't want to do anything.

'Now I'm getting back to my old self. My family are really relieved.

'The doctors have said I'm very lucky to be alive.

'I'm going to go back to the gym because I like to keep fit, but I'm never touching pills or steroids ever again.'