Gregg Wallace lost an impressive five stone after his doctor warned he was at risk of diabetes and suffering a heart attack, weighing nearly 17 stone.

The TV star explained he lost weight “without dieting,” instead he just swapped unhealthy and precooked meals for a balanced and varied diet.

He also ditched some foods completely: snacks, ultra-processed foods and takeaways. Gregg previously admitted his lifestyle used to be “full of takeaways, fry-ups, snacks and boozing,” but now he has as many homemade meals as possible.

Gregg explained: “I led a lifestyle full of takeaways, snacks and boozing and got more and more unhappy with how I looked. I’d be tasting food on MasterChef, going to the pub and drinking and then out for a meal at a restaurant. There’d be fry-ups with friends, fish and chips for lunch and a curry or Chinese takeaway at night on days I wasn’t filming.

“One day my doctor did a blood test and found my cholesterol was through the roof. He said I had to start making changes to the way I lived or I was heading for a major heart attack. That was scary – a proper wake-up call,” he told the Daily Mail.

Gregg recently explained on social media: ” It took me I reckon, a couple of years to go from 17 stone to just 12 stone, but I’m pleased it took me a while. What this meant was I did it so gradually, my lifestyle changed at such a slow pace, I hardly noticed it. I never did do anything radical that made me feel uncomfortable.

“I just, bit by bit, made better and better choices. I exercised more, until in the end I wasn’t living the life of a fat, drunk person, I was living the life of a fit, slim, healthy person. The change was so gradual, I never noticed it. The speed you lose weight is entirely down to you, if it takes you a year to reach your goal, that’s good, you are changing every day, every week, every month.

“What you’re doing is making more and more healthier choices, as I did. Your bad days, you will notice, are not as bad or as frequent as they used to be, and your good days gradually become your normal days.

“This is the healthy, correct, and long-lasting way to a slimmer, fitter, and healthier you. I know this because I lost the weight gradually and didn’t put the weight back on. I stayed fit, I stayed healthy as you will to. Be kind to yourself, Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

He added: “Strict diets are hard to maintain. This is about swapping bad habits for good ones at your own pace.”

According to Scientific American, ultra-processed foods can lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes. The NHS explained that ultra-processed foods are “high in calories, saturated fat, salt or sugar, and eating too many calories, too much saturated fat, salt and sugar, and not enough fruit and vegetables and fibre is not good for you”.

Healthy food swaps

• Swap sausages for low-fat mince
• Swap ketchup and brown sauce for different herbs, spices and seasoning, like paprika, oregano or lemon juice
• Swap gravy for reduced-salt and reduced-sugar versions of sauces
• Swap biscuits for a slice of malt loaf or fruited teacake
• Swap crisps for a bagel topped with sliced banana