UK dad who ballooned to 30st shed almost half his body weight by dancing to TikTok songs

A dad who once weighed 30st has become a viral hit after losing over 10st in just under a year and posting his dramatic weight loss progress on TikTok.

Adrian Scarlett, 52 started his huge weight loss journey on July 12 2021 after fearing he wouldn’t get to see his young children grow.

Now the dad-of-four has shed a whopping 10 stone five pounds in just a year, even winning a £5,000 competition for weight loss recently.

He now weighs just 20 stone after his yearlong effort saw him shed an amazing 67kg’s.

Adrian, from Hereford, started posting videos on TikTok under the username Bye_Bye_Fatman as a way to track his weight loss, but soon gained 54.8k followers – seven of his videos have had more than one million views.

Along with his wife Debra, Adrian hopes to both inspire people in similar positions but also to help combat the stigma around men’s mental health.

Adrian, a Head of School, said: “It's very strange. I’ve been a big guy throughout my adult life. Because I’m still losing weight, probably some of it hasn’t sunk in yet.

“The loose skin is the obvious different change. I'm still adjusting.

“I’ve done this partly my wife and my children. Because my wife is considerably younger than me and the children are so young, I thought if I don’t lose weight I am unlikely to be there to see my children grow.

“Simple things like getting up off the floor and going upstairs was an ordeal at 30 stone. Now I can do what normal people can do.

“It's also for myself. I’ve always been a happy go lucky guy. I have a binge eating disorder, I realised it’s not a happy way to live. That journey of reflection of self-love and self-respect has led me on the journey.

“The knock-on effect you kind of get more respect. I see it in subliminal ways. People treat me differently. That's wrong, but I understand.

“One example is job interviews. As soon as I walk through the door, my experience, my professional qualifications become secondary to my size. It’s something quite common for people who are bigger.”

To help progress his weight loss, determined Adrian started uploading videos on TikTok to make sure he didn’t start slacking.