Medical student dumped for being 'too chubby' becomes professional bodybuilder



Jack Darby, 23, was made to feel ashamed of rounded 14.5st build

Ex dropped hints that he should join a gym before she dumped him



He decided getting into shape was the best revenge

Spent 18 months lifting weights to achieve muscular physique



A trainee doctor who was dumped by his ex-girlfriend for being 'too chubby' has become a professional bodybuilder.

Jack Darby, 23, from Wolverhampton, was m ade to feel ashamed of his rounded 14.5 stone build and decided getting into shape was the best revenge.



The medical student at Leicester University has spent the last 18 months bodybuilding to achieve his muscular physique - and can now lift one and a half times his own body weight.

Jack Darby piled on the pounds after boozy nights out at Uni (left) but is now a bodybuilder (right) - he has spent the last 18 months lifting weights to achieve his muscly physique



'I've been walking around campus and have definitely noticed girls looking my way,' he said.



'Before, I was pale and podgy and I felt uncomfortable taking my top off, but now I'll happily walk around naked.'



Four years ago Jack, who is 5ft 11in, felt embarrassed taking off his shirt in public, and was worried that his rounded belly and love handles were a turn off.



He regularly ate fast food and developed a beer belly after boozy nights out.



Happily loved up with his long-term girlfriend, Jack, then 19, became uncomfortable when she compared him with other men with toned physiques.

'She never told me I was fat, but she kept dropping hints about going to the gym and I noticed her looking down at my gut,' he said.

'We'd be sat drinking in a pub and I'd see her eyes following fit, muscly guys. She'd also swoon over men on the TV saying, "You could be like that if you wanted to be".

Jack's diet then

Breakfast

Bacon sandwich / cinnamon bagel Lunch

Super noodles and garlic bread Dinner

Microwave burger and chips Snacks

Crisps, muffins, chocolate bars

Jack's diet now

Breakfast

Porridge with banana and cinnamon

Fat-free natural yoghurt with blueberries

Protein shake



Lunch

Lean ground beef with broccoli and pasta



Dinner

Chicken breasts sauteed in olive oil and herbs, with sweet potato and avocado



Depressed and stressed, Jack began over-eating to deal with the break-up and put on over half a stone in weight.



Jack piled on the pounds after boozy nights out at Uni, pictured left and right, before he began his transformation



Looking down at his sagging belly, he was determined things could change and started doing weight training in his room.

After six months of pumping iron and doing cardio at the university gym Jack transformed his average midriff into a ripped set of abs.



He was so proud of his sculpted new body that he decided to take it further and began bodybuilding.

'I knew I was shaping up and my friends were amazed,' said Jack, who now boasts just six per cent body fat.

'This May, he will enter his first major body-building competition at the Body Power Festival, the UK's biggest fitness convention and he's also looking for love'

'I'd been watching all these videos of bodybuilders and fitness models on YouTube and decided I wanted to be just like them. My friends laughed at me, but I knew I could do it.'

Instead of scoffing on junk food, Jack cut out the carbohydrates and began training every morning before going to work at Leicester Hospital.

'All I wanted was to get rid of my tummy at first, but it's become so much more than that,' he said.

'Girls who usually wouldn't even look at me are all over me now.'

Soon, Jack will be working as a full-time doctor, but he also hopes to become a personal trainer in his spare time. He has lost three stone of fat and replaced it with pure, raw muscle. He now weighs in at 14 stone.

This May, he will enter his first major body-building competition, the Body Power Festival, which is the UK's biggest

Jack during an amateur bodybuilding competition (left); he combines his training with his medical studies (right) and has been compared to Dr Christian Jessen from ITV's Embarrassing Bodies



On the hospital wards, people even compare Jack to muscly Dr Christian Jessen from TV's Embarrassing Bodies.

'It's so flattering being compared to Dr Christian,' he said.

'He has a great body and with my bleached blond hair and tight shirts, I can understand the resemblance.'



This May, he will enter his first major body-building competition at the Body Power Festival, the UK's biggest fitness convention and he's also looking for love.

'When I told people I was going to become a bodybuilder they'd laugh in my face. Now I hope I can meet a nice, intelligent girl who's into fitness like me,' he said.