IT’S FAIR to say that chef Stephen Jackson has been a heavyweight foodie for many years.

He was raised with an appreciation of fine cuisine and after leaving university 20 years ago decided he wanted to become a restaurateur.

Although he enjoyed the challenges of cooking and running The Weaver’s Shed in Golcar – which he sold last year – the lifestyle proved to be far from healthy.

By the time 42-year-old Stephen moved out of the restaurant and opened a new cafe, T & Cake in Almondbury, which he runs with his wife, Tracy, his weight had ballooned to 24 stones.

He revealed: “The problem was that in the last four or five years I wasn’t quite so satisfied with my life at The Weavers Shed.

“I had reached my culinary apogee and I was feeling a bit stifled and wanted a change.

“There was a lot of comfort eating at 11pm at night after the evening service which isn’t ideal. A lot of chefs have terrible diets and drink too much – and I was no exception.

“But I could never face eating before service because I’ve always been one of those people who likes to eat when I can relax afterwards.”

And, of course, as a chef he had to do a lot of tasting.

“And snacking,” he adds, candidly. “You’ll be nibbling the garnishes and if there’s a slightly over-cooked piece of toast it doesn’t go into a bin, it goes into the chef.”

Although the weight had become a problem and Stephen knew he was risking his health, it wasn’t until he had an ‘epiphany moment’ that he took action. And even then it was delayed.

“I couldn’t look at myself for years without thinking ‘you have got to do something about this’ but I didn’t,’’ he said.

“And then one day I got out of the shower and saw myself in the mirror. I thought ‘you are a colossal weight’. I dried myself off and decided that I would do something about it after I’d been on holiday.”

In fact, Stephen was flying back from the golfing holiday in Portugal at the beginning of this year when the solution to his weight problem presented itself to him.

It wasn’t, perhaps, the solution that one might expect a chef to choose.

He explained: “I was reading the Jet 2 magazine and saw an advert for a medical weight loss programme and it appealed to me because there was a guy on the advert who had lost five stones in 20 weeks.

“I had huffed and puffed a bit too much for my liking on the golf course and I wanted something quick.”

What he’d found was the Alizonne Therapy, a low-carbohydrate diet developed by a medical team in Holland. In essence it combines a severely restricted diet with treatments to help the body shift resistant fat cells and firm up loose skin caused by dramatic weight loss. There’s a lot of hard science behind it which appealed to Stephen.

Slimmers have a consultation and a full health check before beginning the regime.

Stephen discovered that he had raised cholesterol levels and high blood pressure.

“I thought I might be borderline diabetic as well, but I wasn’t,” he said.

He gave himself a target weight of between 15½ stones and 16 stones, which was felt to be right for his height as he’s 6ft 2ins. And so the diet began.

“I’d always been one of those people who thought it’s best to have a healthy, balanced diet and that the weight would fall off if I cut back and ate more healthily,” he said. “But I would never have lost the sheer bulk by doing it on my own. I have treated this therapy as a medical procedure and astonished myself with the way I’ve stuck to it.”

In fact, the Alizonne Therapy is sold as an alternative to a gastric band and corrective cosmetic surgery although clients are counselled and warned that it requires high levels of motivation and commitment.

It is also costly. Stephen has spent up to £1,000 a month since starting his diet.

Clients are medically supervised on a weekly basis while dieting and have to purchase sachets of a special powder that contains proteins, amino acids, vitamins and minerals. It can be made into a variety of different foods and drinks.

Stephen, who visited a clinic in Leeds for health checks, explained: “In Phase One I ate pretty much the same things every day and there was a big restriction on what I could have. There were only about 20 things that were unlimited, like broccoli, lettuce, fennel, celery, green pepper and aubergines.”

Former favourites such as cheeses, wine, chocolate, bread and cakes were definitely not on the list.

“Aubergines have been my saviour,” said Stephen, who insists he never felt hungry on the programme. “I make an aubergine and green pepper curry using the chicken soup sachet as a base.”

Like other low-carbohydrate diets, the Alizonne regime controls levels of the hormone insulin, which puts the body into a state where it burns fat. By eating little and often it’s possible to prevent insulin spikes that will trigger cravings and lead to weight gain.

Where Alizonne differs is that clients visit the clinic weekly to be, as Stephen puts it, “hoovered”.

“It really looks very funny,’’ he said. “You put a sort of body stocking on and they give you an ultrasound session to improve the blood supply to the skin and get the fat moving. Then you are ‘hoovered’ with a machine that helps the lymphatic system and gets your skin looking firmer.”

After his seven stone weight loss Stephen says he has no loose or unsightly skin. That’s despite losing 12 inches from his waistline alone.

He still has the final phases of the programme to complete and is slowly reintroducing more foods so that eventually he will be eating three well-balanced meals a day with a calorie count to match his metabolism.

Once his calorie intake increases he plans to start exercising and is even looking forward to taking up cycling and horse riding – a sport that wife Tracy is keen to resume.

Stephen has surprised himself with his commitment to the therapy. He has found motivation by pinning photographs that he describes as “looking my fattest on golf courses” on the walls of his office.

He’s also had a lot of encouragement from Tracy, who he says is “one of the most tolerant women I know.”

He added: “She’s been extra good. If she’s wanted to have chocolate she’s hidden it from me and has stuck to pretty much the same diet as me.”

Today Stephen cuts a much leaner figure in the kitchen and says he feels healthier and happier than he’s done for years.

“It’s the little things you don’t think about. Even walking up and down the drive to empty the bin is not as much effort as it used to be or being able to bend down to tie your shoe laces.

“I feel more confident and I have found a discipline that I didn’t know I had.”