OVERWEIGHT dad Carl Hobbs shed 100lb on a diet after his father begged him to slim down to prevent another family death.

Just two years ago, Mr Hobbs, 46, of Abingdon, would eat a pound of sausages, a pound of bacon and six eggs for breakfast.

But when the former soldier’s son Jonathan died aged 13 from a sudden epileptic fit on Father’s Day 2007, Mr Hobbs’s dad Sidney, 67, pleaded with him to shed some of his 26 stones to save the family more pain.

Mr Hobbs said: “My dad came up to me and said: ‘I know what I am going through as a grandfather. God knows what you are going through as a father: Please do not let me go through the same’.

“I just knew I could not put my family through any more grief after what we had suffered.”

Two years on, he has lost more than seven stone to weigh in at under 19 stone – and has urged others to follow his example by eating healthily and exercising.

The dad-of-five, of Willow Brook, starting putting on weight after leaving the Royal Artillery in 1994.

Suffering post-traumatic stress disorder from fighting in Northern Ireland and the Gulf War, he began to binge eat and pile on weight.

He said: “I’d had 15 years of being told what to do, and wanted to do my own thing.

“The fitness regime fell to one side and one thing led to another.

“A typical binge would be a 12in pizza, a large doner kebab, chips, beans, a huge cheeseburger, and a big bottle of coke.

“The amount I used to put away was unbelievable.

“I used to joke, but inside I was hurting.”

WeightWatchers and the White Horse Leisure Centre gym have helped him shed the flab.

He now visits the gym every day, and eats vegetables, salad and fruit instead of burgers and chips.

He said wife Joanne, 46, and children Edward, 26, Victoria, 25, Heidi, 21, and James, 20, were all proud of him.

He said: “I feel amazing. My self-esteem has gone up, and everyone says I look so much healthier.

“I want other people out there to know they can do something about their weight, and that gyms are for people of all shapes and sizes.”