Obese businessman spends £20,000 on clothes after halving his weight

A security firm boss who lost 11 stone after a gastric band operation has shelled out £20,000 – on a new wardrobe of slimmer clothes.

Frank Fry, 50, ballooned to 24 stone after years of gorging on unhealthy snacks and takeaways during gruelling long shifts at work.

He paid £7,000 for gastric band surgery in 2008 and his weight dropped so rapidly that he was forced to buy new clothes every few weeks.

His waist shrank from 52 inches to 32 and Frank is now at his ideal target weight of 13 stone.

But the father-of-three is so proud of his new figure he is splashing out on designer clothes – taking his total spend on clothes to £20,000 since his op.

Yesterday Frank, of Felton near Bristol, said: ”I used to wear jogging bottoms, sweatshirts and big jackets because I couldn’t fit into anything else.

”But as the weight started to fall off, I became interested in clothes again and I started buying things I liked.

”I worked in nightclubs for years, so I always used to be smart. Now I’ve got racks of shirts, shoes and trousers. I had to start from scratch and buy everything again.

”When I was big I would never look at the size, and I would buy clothes from High and Mighty then cut the arms and legs to a normal length.

”Being able to buy clothes off the peg again is great and I like to buy good quality. Now that I can, I’m happy to spend a couple of hundred pounds on a good shirt.”

Frank, director of Bristol Security Group, played rugby and boxed when he was younger and was a muscular 13 stone but was forced to stop due to back and shoulder injuries.

Sitting around on security jobs, the combination of a more sedentary lifestyle and an unhealthy diet saw him gain more 11 stones over a decade.

Frank would start the day with a fry-up for breakfast and would then receive a hefty free lunch from restaurants he had contracts with.

He would go home for a large evening meal then head out to another late night job before finishing with a takeaway or another restaurant meal in the early hours.

He was forced to give up his lifelong hobby of horseriding when he hit 20 stone – but even that was not enough to make Frank lose weight.

The moment of ‘revelation’ finally came when he woke up one morning and could not get up out of bed.

Frank – who had a 64 inch chest at his heaviest – said: ”I remember waking up and trying to sit up and I just couldn’t move – so I had to roll out of bed.

”Tears came to my eyes and I thought – what’s happened to me? It was a moment of revelation.

”I realised that subconsciously I would never look at myself in shop windows and I would never glance below my chest when I looked in mirrors.

”People are supposed to eat to live, but I was just living to eat. I realised then that I had to do something.”

Frank attempted several diets but was unable to resist junk food so he decided on a gastric band operation to fight the flab.

The band was fitted in June 2008, restricting his stomach and leaving him able to eat just a fraction of his former diet of takeaways and fatty food.

With the band in place, Frank, who owns Amici Restaurant in Bristol, had to change his eating habits and learn to love healthy food.

He now has cereal or eggs and toast for breakfast, soup and bread for lunch, and a balanced meal in the evening.

He added: ”I used to eat far too much rubbish far too late at night and I’ve had to change all that.

”Before I wouldn’t have contemplated vegetarian food but now I have it quite often and I stop eating when I’m full.

”I eat child’s portions now and I’m much more sociable – instead of having my head down for the whole meal I’m actually enjoying the company.”

Eating reduced portions of healthy food, he dropped 11 stone over the next two-and-a-half years to reach his target weight of 13 stone.

But the weight loss was so rapid Frank was dashing to the shops every few weeks to buy smaller clothes.

He now has huge wardrobe of designer clothes and thinks nothing of splashing £150 on a shirt to show off his new figure.

Frank added: ”I used to eat far too much rubbish far too late at night and I’ve had to change all that.

”Before I wouldn’t have contemplated vegetarian food but now I have it quite often and I stop eating when I’m full.

”I eat child’s portions now and I’m much more sociable – instead of having my head down for the whole meal I’m actually enjoying the company.”