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A couple who weighed 36 stone between them said a “devastating selfie” prompted them to shed the pounds – and the husband even took up body building.

Barry and Janet Burns, 56 and 53, would drink four pints of milk and two litres of fizzy pop per day.

Mrs Burns also admitted to eating entire packets of Hobnob biscuits as a snack.

But, after Mrs Burns suffered a health scare and her husband "nearly died" when a selfie showed how big he really was, the couple transformed their lives.

Mr Burns is now training to be a bodybuilder.

“Doctors told me they were worried about my high cholesterol,” said Mrs Burns.

(Image: PA Real Life)

“I found my mum dead on her kitchen floor at 63 after she’d had a heart attack. I didn’t want to suffer the same fate.”

For pipefitter Mr Burns, his wake up call came when he took a mirror selfie in October 2013 and “nearly died” at the shock of how big he looked.

Remembering the moment he knew he had to change, he said: “I never thought of myself as fat, I just thought I was big across my shoulders but seeing that selfie was devastating.

“Looking back, I should have realised sooner. I’d got to the point where I’d be huffing and puffing just putting my size XXXL shirt on.”

Initially, Mr Burns joined a local slimming club, but only shed a stone in four months.

After “hitting the wall” he opted to sign up for a gym membership instead, joining Xercise4Less in Rotherham.

(Image: PA Real Life)

His wife had joined the same gym just three weeks before.

“I’d never been in a gym before, I didn’t even know how to use most of the equipment,” said Mrs Burns.

“I got a free personal training session when I first signed up and only managed 52 seconds on the cross trainer and two-and-a-half minutes on the treadmill. Straight away, I wanted to push myself to do better.”

Now, the couple hit the gym virtually every night, with Mrs Burns taking part in around 22 classes per week, from circuit training to high intensity cardio, and Mr Burns training for next year’s Drug Free Bodybuilding Association championships.

Mrs Burns says she gets “the shakes” if she has not exercised in a while.

Between them, they have lost eleven stone, with Mr Burns going from 17 to 12 stone, and previously size 24 Mrs Burns dropping to a size 12 and shedding six stone of her former 19 stone 10 pounds frame.

(Image: PA Real Life)

Her body mass index (BMI) has halved, going from 52 per cent to 27 per cent, whilst her husbands has dropped from 50 per cent to 27 per cent.

The reformed junk-food addicts have also completely overhauled their diets. Before embarking on their new, healthy regime,

Mrs Burns confesses she and her husband would snack on “anything they could get their hands on,” including chocolate, crisps and fried bacon.

Mr Burns cites his downfall as milk, sometimes drinking up to four litres a day. “I could have drunk a cow dry,” he said.

Now, the couple make everything from scratch with fresh ingredients and dine on steamed fish, quinoa salads and homemade peanut bars.

Mr Burns also drinks protein shakes to bulk up for his dream of competing in a body-building competition.

“It’s about changing the way you cook,” said Mrs Burns.

(Image: PA/Real Life/Xercise4Less)

“Our diet was terrible. We’d never read the labels on food and had no idea what we were putting into our bodies.

“Having Barry lose the weight alongside me has helped, but I was always determined to do it anyway.

“Now, I feel amazing. I don’t feel my age at all and I’m proof it’s never too late to get in shape.”

Echoing his wife’s sentiment, Mr Burns said: “Since joining Xercise4Less, the fat has melted off me.

“There’s still a bit on my belly I could do with losing, I don’t kid myself about that, but I’ve got a great level of fitness now.”