HE weighed nearly 30 stone and found even short walks painful.

Now super-slimmer Cliff Davenport, 56, is fighting fit – and ready to climb to the highest point in Wales.

Mr Davenport, from Chirk, has shed an astonishing 15 stone in the past two years.

He previously weighed almost 30 stone and suffered health problems including diabetes and blood pressure difficulties.

But surgery and a strict regime mean he now regularly enjoys healthy activities and will make a sponsored ascent of Snowdon on October 9.

Mr Davenport, who is almost unrecognisable from his previous self, said: “I’m confident about this challenge and looking forward to it.

“I couldn’t have even walked 100 yards in the past, it was too painful.

“Climbing Snowdon is important in terms of personal achievement but I also want to raise funds for good causes and say thank you to the people who helped me lose this weight.

“It wouldn’t have been possible without them.”

Mr Davenport underwent a private gastric bypass in Belgium two years ago.

The size of his stomach was reduced and limits placed on what he can eat.

But he also developed a desire to turn things round and shed the stones, becoming much healthier in the process.

“The main thing has been controlling my diet,” he said.

“Everything’s cleared and that’s all because of the way I eat and exercise.

“Now I enjoy each day and I feel confident in myself.”

Mr Davenport, who runs a shop selling pigeon food, says he piled on the pounds boozing in front of the TV and through unhealthy eating habits.

Eventually the grandfather-of-four realised he needed to end his ultra-heavyweight days.

He explained: “I just got fed up looking at myself. I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t walk, I waddled.

“Things were getting out of hand. I am definitely never going down that road again.
You only have to look at the pictures of me then and now to see the difference.”

Mr Davenport says in the past two years he has not had a single drink and eats a range of healthy food.

He attends the gym at Chirk Leisure Centre five nights a week and regularly takes long-distance walks.

“The support I have had from the gym has been unbelievable,” he said.

“I also want to thank Chirk Surgery who have done so much for me. I couldn’t have achieved this without both of them being so helpful.”

And Mr Davenport has even become a role model for others looking to lose weight.

He said: “I have had people coming up to me in the gym and elsewhere and telling me they are going to the gym because of the amount I have lost.

“You have got to have confidence in yourself to go through with it.”

With his Snowdon walk, Mr Davenport will be raising funds for the new My Space autistic group in Black Park and the Chirk Hospital Scanner Appeal.