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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Nicola Roy & David Kent

Virgin Media The Chase's Mark Labbett shed 10 stone by ditching two foods in weight loss journey

Mark Labbett is best known to us as 'The Beast' from hit Virgin Media show The Chase, but he's continued to shed weight, showing off his new slim figure on social media.

He posed for a selfie on Instagram wearing a navy-blue suit and light pink shirt as fans praised him on how slim he was looking.

The quizmaster has been public about his dramatic lifestyle change that lead him to shedding an impressive amount of weight - and people were quick to congratulate him again this time.

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One commenter said: "You look amazing, what's your secret?". While another congratulated him, saying: "Wow!!! You've lost some weight! Well done Mark", along with a clapping emoji.

Over the years, we've seen the former maths teacher be honest and raw about his weight - leading to a journey which led to him shedding an incredible 64kg over the last few years.

How much weight did Mark Labbett lose?

Back in 2003 when he was a full-time teacher, Mark was at his heaviest weight of 29 stone.

After being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2016, he was forced to undergo some drastic lifestyle changes to stop his health from deteriorating further.

So, thanks to a healthier diet and improved exercise regime, he's since dropped a whopping 10 stone.

He's now the "smallest" he's been in 30 years after shedding around 64kg, still standing tall at 6 ft 6.

How did Mark Labbett lose weight?

The Chase star really started shedding the pounds during the first Covid lockdown in 2020.

He'd managed to drop around three stone in the years running up to it, but when the nurseries shut and he had to chase around his "hyperactive" toddler for weeks on end, even more weight started to come off.

Speaking to the Loose Women panel last year, he explained: "I found at the end of the evening instead of going to the fridge for late night snacking, all I could do was collapse on the bed."

He also has his pet Labrador Retriever Baloo to thank for his transformation, as he revealed on ITV's The Pet Show with Dermot O'Leary and Joanna Page.

He said: "I was walking him around the fields, taking me places... I think he's helped a lot, simply because I'm doing more activity."

Did Mark cut out any thing from his diet?

In terms of diet, cutting down on sugar and carbs was the key to his "complete nutrition overhaul".

Mark didn't undergo any surgery to help with his weight loss. He was warned by doctors that having a gastric band fitted would be dangerous, because of the way his body digests sugar.

He also found that the weight continued to drop off after displaying Covid-like symptoms such as a loss of taste and smell, saying he "didn't want to eat" in the two weeks that he had them.

Mark still appears on ITV's The Chase here in the UK, but was axed from the US version earlier in the year and this cause a "huge drop" in viewing figures.

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