A super slimmer who ballooned to 266 pounds after becoming addicted to doughnuts has shed a third of his body weight – to transform himself into a competition bodybuilder.

Kiran Bassan, 28, consumed up to 3,000 calories a day gorging on sugary snacks and junk food.

Bassan was so large that he found it unbearable to look at himself in the mirror. He decided to take drastic action because he feared that women would be turned off by his severe obesity.

He made contact with a bodybuilding coach on Instagram, who set him up with a grueling diet and exercise plan.

In two years he lost over 84 pounds to reach competition weight, and now weighs a trim 198 pounds. This represents a staggering 40 percent reduction of his body fat.

In April, Bassan, now a physiotherapist at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS (National Health Service) Trust, competed in his first bodybuilding competition, and placed third.

Bassan said, “It started three years ago, when I left uni – it was more eating anything and everything, what I wanted. Crisps, cakes, chocolate, that kind of thing.

“I wouldn’t just eat one doughnut, I’d wolf down a six-pack. I was hooked on them.

“When I was at uni, I was eating at any hour of the day, a packet of biscuits, whatever else.

“I came home, had mum’s food, which is good food, but I was eating on top of that.”

It was when Bassan qualified as a physiotherapist and started working in 2014 that he decided he wanted to change his eating habits and ultimately his body shape.

“I didn’t like what was staring back at me when I looked in the mirror. I’d avoid looking at myself.

“I had a lack of self-confidence and would avoid talking to the opposite sex. I also felt tired all the time.”

At his heaviest, Bassan weighed 266 pounds. While he was not experiencing any significant health issues related to his obesity, he wanted to restore his self-confidence by improving his appearance.

Bassan said that he wanted to be healthy and to be able to go for a run without becoming short of breath.

Bassan added that he felt it was important for him to live by the healthy-living principles of his profession, and by the lifestyle advice that he was giving to others.

Bassan found a bodybuilding coach, called Scott Walay on Instagram in September 2016, and messaged him for help.

Bassan said, that at that point, he just wanted to lose weight, but Walay said that he could assist with both diet and exercise regimes.

Bassan was astonished by the improvements that he saw in his physical condition over the first 12 months. However, it was over the subsequent 12 months that he really started to focus his efforts. “That’s when I honed in,” Bassan said.

He added, “In the first year, I’d have gone from 120 kg (265 pounds) to 100 kg (220 pounds) – in the second year it was around 90 kg (198 pounds).

“When I got to stage weight I was 82 kg (181 pounds), since then I’ve been relaxing and gone up to 90 kg (198) pounds, but a healthy 90 kg, not what I was then, it’s muscle mass now.”

In April, Bassan came in third at the Saxon Classic Bodybuilding Competition at the Garrick Theatre in the county of Staffordshire, also in the West Midlands region of the UK.

Bassan said, “It was all worth it, especially when I came third in the contest.

“It was the most incredible feeling when I was on stage.

“I could hear everyone just screaming my name – it was mad.”