A budding actor fed up of being cast as the fat King shed a whopping eight stone so he could bag a part as a dashing prince.
Jamie Tuthill, 25, was always typecast for “funny and fat roles” in his local Christmas panto.
The research assistant, who weighed in at 21-stone, proudly lived up to the part and never bothered to count the calories.
[half]
[/half]
[half]
[/half]
But when he struggled to squeeze into an XXL costume to play the part of the rotund king in Cinderella for the second time Jamie wondered if he should cut back on the calories.
Then, when a video of the panto was played at his local pub, instead of being proud of his performance Jamie was mortified about how he looked.
Jamie, of Fressingfield, Suffolk, yesterday(Weds) said: “I knew I was big but I never realised just how big until that moment.
“I saw myself and was horrified, it seemed like it was on such a big screen.
“Because I was jolly and quite confident people didn’t tell me how large I was getting.
“You know when someone asks you to name the fat kid at school? I was that kid, and I didn’t want to be big anymore, I’d been big my whole life.
“When I got the role as the fat King for the second time I suddenly stopped and thought, have I been typecast here? I don’t think I’d have ever got any other role other than the funny fat guy.
“I never went for bigger roles as I was worried I wouldn’t fit into the outfits.”
Slim Jamie, who now weighs just 13 stones, added: “I used to love doing am dram because it gave me a chance to be anyone but me.
“Now I would like to do it for the right reasons.
“Perhaps this time around I could get the role of the prince.
“I would love to be the hero who has women falling in love with him, something that was out of the question before.”
Jamie was overweight from childhood and pilled on the pounds by scoffing half a loaf of bread a day as well as snacking on crisps and chocolate.
He joined Harleston Players amateur dramatics group in Suffolk, when he was 16, and played Cinderella’s King for the first time.
When he joined another group the Fressingfield Players he was typecast for the same role.
Thin Jamie now only eats bread on Thursdays and tries to include as many fruit and vegetables in his diet as possible.
He also eats Quorn instead of meat every other week.
Fit Jamie now goes to Zumba classes twice a week and is a member of his local Weight Watchers group.