A BOURNEMOUTH man has told how he's able to travel again for the first time in 10 years after losing weight transformed his life.

Dave Johnstone, 29, who lives in Charminster, has gone from a size XXL to a medium in just over a year after changing his diet and exercising at home.

Despite never weighing himself and or even having a target weight in mind when he started his new regime, Dave believes he has lost between six and seven stone and has seen his waist size shrink from 40 inches to 32 inches.

Dave says the main reason for wanting to lose the weight was due to social anxiety and he wanted to prove that it was possible to lose weight without going to the gym or following faddy diets.

"I had previously built up a bit of a laddish persona and was proudly known as Big Dave, whilst I’m in no way ashamed of that I felt it was time to stop being a caricature and be myself a bit more - losing weight was a huge part of that."

Dave started his new regime by sharing a food diary with a friend who runs Nick Greenfield Fitness in Brighton and started to get two healthy meals delivered a day through Bournemouth-based company Fr3shbox.

“It’s been more of a change of lifestyle. I have absolutely no target”.

“I do half an hour exercise at home every day.”

As well as the health benefits, Dave has also found the confidence to travel for the first time in years.

“I’ve been fat since I was young, it was holding me back from going on holiday. I hadn’t been on holiday for 10 years.”

Dave has just returned from a trip to Ireland and is planning to visit Thailand later this year.

He said: “It’s nice to feel I can go travelling.”