People often ask me how I managed to lose so much weight.

The truth is, it wasn't one big decision.

It was thousands of small ones.

Growing up, I was like most teenagers. I enjoyed life, spent time with friends, went out at weekends, visited the occasional nightclub and enjoyed a few drinks. I was never a heavy drinker—just the odd few pints with friends or a bottle or two of Kopparberg on a Friday evening.

Food was simply food.

I never looked at ingredients.

I never questioned what was in the things I was eating.

If I fancied a pizza, I'd have a pizza. Crisps, sandwiches, ready meals, takeaways, chocolate, full-fat Coke... it was all just part of everyday life. At around 17 years old I weighed about 15 stone and, to be honest, I never gave my weight much thought.

A lot changed when I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in my early thirties.

With the help of my specialist, I gradually began working out which foods triggered flare-ups. It took years of trial and error before my condition became more manageable, but even then I still wasn't eating well. I'd removed some trigger foods, yet my diet was still full of highly processed foods, sugary drinks and convenience meals.

The weight slowly crept on.

It wasn't dramatic—it just happened so gradually that I almost didn't notice.

As the years passed, my weight eventually reached 25 stone. My waist had grown to 46 inches, my chest measured 54 inches, and I was wearing 5XL T-shirts. 

Buying clothes became frustrating because I often had to look for specialist larger sizes online.

Oddly enough, I wasn't unhappy with life.

I didn't wake up every morning thinking I needed to lose weight.

I simply accepted that this was who I was.

Looking back now, my daily diet was packed with processed food.

Breakfast was usually four Weetabix.

Through the day I'd eat four to six packets of crisps, a sandwich or wrap, one or two chocolate bars and drink around two bottles of Coke.

Dinner was often a microwave meal followed by a supermarket dessert.

If I ate out, I'd usually choose fried food, chips and dessert.

Then something changed.

I became genuinely interested in what was actually inside the food I was eating.

For the first time in my life, I started reading ingredient labels instead of eating whatever was quickest and easiest.

The more I learned, the more my attitude towards food began to change.

I didn't start a diet.

I didn't join a slimming club.

I simply started making better choices.

One meal.

One shopping trip.

One day at a time.

There was never a target weight.

There was never a deadline.

In fact, I never weighed myself at all because the number on the scales wasn't what motivated me.

What kept me going was something much simpler.

My clothes.

Every few months I found myself buying smaller sizes.

The jeans became loose with one more notch up on my belt.

Eventually I started throwing away my old clothes because they were simply far too big.

I knew the weight was coming off without needing to step on the scales.

Now I'm 14 stone with a waist size of 32 inches and tee shirts are an average mens XL to 2XL.

Looking back, I don't see this as a weight-loss story.

I see it as a story about changing my relationship with food.

I needed to understand what I was eating.

I also did something that, looking back, was incredibly difficult.

Everything I learned came from my own research, my own experiences and my determination to improve my health.

That experience is the reason Just Better Food exists.

I know how hard it can be to make changes without support because I've lived it.

My goal isn't to tell people what they can and can't eat.

It's to help them understand food, make better choices and build healthier habits that last.

Because if I could completely change my life one decision at a time, I genuinely believe other people can too.