Man, 24, reveals astonishing 14 stone weight reduction he achieved by altering one easy behavior
A former McDonald’s junkie who weighed 30 stone has revealed he shed almost half his body weight in two years by quitting his snacking habit.
Harry Spacagna, 24, from Southampton, Hampshire lost a mammoth 13st 13lb (90kg) after realising he had a problem with ’emotional eating’ between meals.
Many of these snacks were high-calorie takeaway treats, like a McDonald’s cheeseburger or pack of fries.
‘My meals were pretty healthy, but I was eating lots in between out of boredom,’ said the support worker.
‘It’s so easy to go down to the kitchen, grab something or nip up the shop. Also quite a bit of emotional eating as well.
‘Probably, if I went to the doctor’s about it, they would diagnose me with a bit of a binge eating condition.
‘I had struggles with my mental health, so I’d eat to try and make myself feel better.’
Mr Spacagna struggled with his size for as long as he can remember, and suffered a particularly extreme bout of weight gain when he reached adulthood.
Harry Spacagna, from Southampton, Hampshire, said he had struggled with his weight for as long as he could remember and had used takeaways and fast food like McDonald’s as an ’emotional crutch’
Shocking before and after images show how the senior support worker has lost a total 13st 13lb (90kg), now weighing in 16st 1lb (102kg)
But by swapping the takeaways for ‘whole foods’, including chicken, lean mince and vegetables and playing football once a week he achieved an extraordinary transformation
‘I’ve always been active in sports but the bigger I got, the more limited I was,’ he said.
‘I’d get out of breath and couldn’t keep up with my mates.’
But in April 2023, the comments from a friend, while on holiday in Germany, triggered a drastic change in his behaviour.
‘A big group of us went on a night out, and we were steaming,’ he said.
‘My friend, who isn’t usually sentimental, turned to me and said, “Mate, you really need to sort yourself out, we’re all really worried about you”.
‘That really hit home, it was a wake-up call.
‘I realised I wanted kids in the next five years and to be able to play football with them.’
He recalled how it a ‘wake-up call’ from a friend that gave him needed the final bit of motivation he needed to slim down
At 6ft 1in Mr Spacagna’s weight had him with a BMI of 55, firmly placing him in the severely obese category according to NHS guidelines.
The following month Mr Spacagna started playing football with other men who wanted to lose weight and radically changed his diet.
He said the support from this peer group has proved invaluable.
‘I don’t think I would have had the confidence or empowerment to keep going without that support,’ he said.
‘We’d message on WhatsApp and encourage each other.’
Mr Spacagna eventually started hitting the gym with a fitness coach to start burning off even more weight.
‘At first, I did weight resistance training to build muscle because my coach said if I have more muscle, I’ll burn more calories.
‘I’ve also been tracking calories and, because of my exercise, I eat 2,500 calories a day and still lose weight.
‘I still have the odd treat but [I eat] a lot less processed food.’
He added that his relationship with food is now ‘completely different’.
‘It’s astonishing … I don’t see food as an emotional crutch any more,’ he said.
‘I’m a lot better at processing my emotions without food, and that comes from the confidence and empowerment I’ve gained from this shift.
‘Even my work performance has improved because my confidence has gone up.’
Mr Spacagna’s eventual goal is to lose a further two stone and achieve a six-pack.
However he said he’s already enjoyed a major milestone.
‘Buying a whole new wardrobe last year was so emotional – I’d never been able to walk into a shop and buy my own clothes,’ he said.
