STEVE Exley realised he needed to lose weight after looking in the mirror and imagining the image of former Coronation Street character Fred Elliott staring back at him.
"Big Steve", as he was nick-named on a TV show, has since become "Slim Steve" after losing six and a half stone in the past year.
The 51-year-old, who weighs just over 13 stone and plans to lose another stone, has fond memories of appearing on Al Murray's Happy Hour in 2006 when he was 18 stone.
Steve, of Stenson Fields, said: "I loved the show so, to feature on TV as well, was real fun. The production team came up to me before and said would it be OK if Al points you out after Big Bob has done his dance.
"It was a great experience and I didn't mind at all."
Fast forward to last year and Steve weighed 20 stone – the heaviest he's ever been.
He said: "At that point, I thought I've got to do something to change.
"I was struggling to do simple things like walk up the stairs without panting.
"I love to go to gigs but, in those days, after half an hour, my back was starting to hurt and I couldn't enjoy them."
Steve, who is teetotal, said: "I used to come back from Rotherham football games at about 11pm and I'd nip to the chippy. I was eating the wrong foods at the wrong time."
Originally Steve, who lives on Outram Way with his wife, Nila, and son Kiran, planned to lose a small amount of weight but, when he started, he couldn't stop.
He said: "I wanted to do this on my own, so I started to eat better and do some power walking. I've since mixed that up with running and the weight has flown off."
Steve, who works at Rolls-Royce as a MRP controller, managed to run and walk the Derby 10k in one hour and 19 minutes, something he was thrilled with. He said "It was great. I might not have been one of the quickest but it was still an achievement for me.
"I've since started to have a much greater choice in clothes now I'm not picking extra large sizes.
"My weight loss has rubbed off on Nila and Kiran because they're both fitter than they have ever been by doing more exercise."
Robert Carlisle, aka Big Bob, kept in contact with Steve after the show and is pleased with how he's got on.
He said: "It's fantastic to see him lose so much weight and he should be proud."
