AN Abingdon man who lost nearly 11 stones through exercise and diet has hit out suggestions the NHS should offer ‘bribes’ to make people lose weight.

Carl Hobbs said his story shows determination can lead to massive weight loss.

He has even had ‘I did it my way’ tattooed on his back to celebrate his weight loss regime, that saw him plummet from a size 56 to 38 waist.

It comes after a National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) panel yesterday said rewards “could be an effective way of encouraging people to change their un-healthy ways”.

The Nice panel guides what the NHS pays for. It pointed to schemes, including one in Kent, which paid dieters up to £425 for losing weight and another in Scotland offering pregnant women shopping vouchers worth up to £650 to quit smoking.

Mr Hobbs, 46, said: “I don’t think you can bribe someone to lose weight.

“It’s inherently wrong for the briber and the person being bribed – the reason for weight loss has got to come from within.

“When you get women looking at you in a different way and you get compliments that’s better than cash.

“The confidence you get is better than any incentive.”

He said the tattoo was ‘a bit of a fingers up’ to NHS Oxfordshire, who refused him weight loss surgery because of early signs of weight loss. The gastric band procedure would have shrunk the size of his stomach.

Yet Mr Hobbs is still hopefully the NHS will pay for a ‘tummy tuck’ to remove excess skin left over from his larger days.

Mr Hobbs, who joined Weight Watchers, said: “If I can change my lifestyle anyone can do it.”

The former soldier said he began binge eating because he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from his time with the Royal Artillery in Northern Ireland and the Gulf War.

The turning point was the death of son Jonathan, 13, from an epileptic fit in 2007.

His dad Sidney, 67, urged him to lose weight to avoid another family death.

Earlier this month the Oxford Mail revealed the number of patients who approved for gastric surgery had doubled in three years with £761,000 due to be spent by NHS Oxfordshire this financial year.

Two-thirds of a Nice citizens’ panel backed incentives. The body itself has launched a public consultation on the way forward. Local NHS trusts are expected to follow its advice, which will be prepared by leading UK medical professionals.

Cariad Hazard, spokesman for NHS Oxfordshire, said: “We do not believe giving people financial or paid-for incentives is a desirable use of NHS money and such systems should only be used as a last resort and if properly evaluated.

“We do not incentivise with financial or other rewards in order to get people to change behaviour.”