Jason Manford reveals he's lost nearly 3 stone in six months after New Year vow

Jason Manford has revealed he has lost almost 3 stone since New Year’s Day when he made a resolution to lose weight.

The presenter, 40, had previously reached 17st 5lb but has now dropped to an impressive 14st 10lb and can now fit into sixe 34 jeans after rising to a size 40.

Speaking to the Mirror, Jason admits he has thought about his weight throughout his life and has been hurt by weight-related nicknames, but is now feeling more positive about his body during his transformation.

Jason said: “You get to the point where you go ‘Am I getting enough joy out of life if I’m thinking about my weight?’’.

“I think I’ve thought about my weight every day of my adult life.”

“Not crying about it, but [I’ve] gone upstairs and tried to put something on that doesn’t fit, or got out of breath chasing the kids. To get to a point where I’m thinking about it in a positive way feels good.”

He confessed that he doesn’t want to be thinking about how he looks on camera and worrying if he looks ‘fat’ from certain angles.

It comes after Jason’s doctor warned him he was obese, and a shock realisation on New Year’s Day that he had reached a weight of 17st 5lb which jolted him into action.

The performer had already tried to lose weight by repeatedly trying a range of diets – including Keto and Atkins – but had simply put on the pounds again after losing them.

But he then started to record his weight every day and counted his calorie intake with an aim of 1,500 to 2,000 a day and keeping it in a deficit.

He also added more exercise to his regime and began going to the gym around twice a week and walking more, but aims to keep it simply by eating less and moving more.

Jason has enjoyed support from a Facebook group he set up in 2017 called The Jason Manford Weight Loss Support Group during an initial diet pledge, which has 78,000 members and includes new mums and people trying to avoid weight loss surgery.

The Dad-of-six has also been cheered on by his wife and children – he has four from his first marriage, and two from his second with Lucy Dyke whom he married in 2017.

The stand-up says seeing his weight loss results has been a consistent boost for him, and that he gets a ‘buzz’ out of it.

Although he insists his weight hasn’t made him “sad” he admits to having had low mood and anxiety earlier this year, and he also finds it moving that men have been able to speak out about struggles with their appearance.

He also said: “They can laugh about being the chunky one of their friends’ group, but actually they don’t like it and don’t want to be that person”, and that he is that person to a degree.

Jason had initially been troubled by his weight and at an early stand-up gig he received a heckle by someone who called him “the fat Michael Owen”.

However, although briefly hurt by the comment he decided to adopt the Michael Owen nickname during his own sets after thinking it was actually quite good, and it became one of Jason’s first jokes at his Live at the Apollo feature.

He explained he started to write jokes about being overweight as a defence, in an attempt to take the power away from the hecklers.

He continued by saying he used to think that most comedians who were funny were overweight, and that larger comedians could connect with audiences more.

Jason became a regular on Channel 4 panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats before presenting BBC’s The One Show in 2010.

Jason has also appeared in various stage productions such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and was due to make his pantomime debut as Muddles in Sleeping Beauty at the Manchester Opera House but the performances were cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

However, he is set to start a whopping 180-date comedy tour called Like Me. Minus fat jokes.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk