‘When my parents divorced I turned to food – it was my only friend’: 22-STONE man sheds 6st and joins the Army

Christoffer Hecksen, 33, weighed 22 stone at his heaviest

Weight spiraled when he turned to comfort eating to cope with divorce

In 2006 the now 33-year-old took charge signing up to boot camp

As the weight dropped off him he realised he had to tackle root of problem

Addressing his emotional link with food, he saw a psychologist

He defuses mines for the Swedish Army and now weighs 15 stone

By LIZZIE PARRY

PUBLISHED: 10:56, 9 May 2014 | UPDATED: 15:54, 9 May 2014

When his parents divorced, they turned to him for emotional support.

But struggling to find his own coping mechanism, Christoffer Hecksen turned to comfort eating.

His weight spiralled quickly, reaching 22 stone 13lbs. But it wasn’t until a decade later in 2006, that reality hit the now 33-year-old.

When he broke his arm, Mr Hecksen was told by his doctor that he might struggle to fix his injured shoulder because of his size.

When Christoffer Hecksen’s parents divorced they turned to the then 16-year-old for support. But struggling to cope with the ordeal, the teenager turned to comfort eating

When Christoffer Hecksen’s parents divorced they turned to the then 16-year-old for support. But struggling to cope with the ordeal, the teenager turned to comfort eating

His weight spiraled and by 2006, 10 years after his parents’ divorce, he weighed 22 stone 13lbs. Shortly after his father’s death he fell and broke his shoulder, prompting a doctor to express concern over his size

His weight spiraled and by 2006, 10 years after his parents’ divorce, he weighed 22 stone 13lbs. Shortly after his father’s death he fell and broke his shoulder, prompting a doctor to express concern over his size

For two years, Mr Hecksen visited a psychologist once a week, to tackle the emotional side of his eating

The medic asked Mr Hecksen what he would do if he recovered from the procedure, to which he replied: ‘I’ll join the army’, revealing his desire to help others.

It was in 1996 that the then teenager’s parents broke the news of their separation, he told new weight loss magazine ManVFat.

‘They said to me “You’re almost an adult so we can treat you as an adult.”,’ Mr Hecksen told MailOnline.

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‘So they used me to offload to and share their experiences with the divorce. It left me with no one to talk to.

‘At that time I was using training as my escape and I was spending four to six hours every day in the gym seven days a week.

‘That had a devastating result on my school work and so my parents took away the gym pass to punish me – I was left with food as a comfort.

‘Between 1996 to 2002 I gained about seven stone 12lbs.’

Mr Hecksen, who defuses mines in the Swedish Army, now weighs a healthy 15 stone

The doctor asked Mr Hecksen what he would do with his body if he carried out the operation and fixed his shoulder. Mr Hecksen’s reply was that he would join the army and try to help others

Following the operation to fix his shoulder, Mr Hecksen underwent a programme of exercise rehabilitation. It was the springboard he needed to kick start his fitness regime

For Mr Hecksen, portion size was his Achilles heal. It didn’t matter what the food was, he ate it in abundance, having been brought up with the old adage ‘you can’t leave the table until your plate is empty’, ringing in his ears.

‘That left me with a big appetite,’ he said. ‘I could be eating every hour to every second hour. It was very stressful.

‘I felt like everyone else around me was getting love from their family and I was too damaged in my mind to have any kind of productive relationship.

‘The food was the only thing I could count on to be there’

– Christoffer Hecksen

‘The food was the only thing I could count on to be there.’

In 2006, Mr Hecksen’s father died and he returned home to complete university as fast as possible.

But on his first day, as he walked to school, he fell and broke his arm.

‘I broke my shoulder and needed an operation, the doctor asked what I would do with my body if he helped to fix me.

‘I told the doctor I would join the army,’ Mr Hecksen said. ‘I thought if I’m going to apply to the army I’d better choose something really ridiculous and crawling up to a live mine is about as ridiculous as it gets.

Mr Hecksen, pictured here in 2006 when he was at his heaviest, said he signed up to take part in a series of boot camp sessions to tackle his fitness and weight. He said: ‘It made me realise that I may not be the fastest or the strongest but I don’t quit’

He said: ‘The biggest thing for me was learning that I could survive on less food. ‘The boot camps taught me what a proper portion looks like’

‘I sent an application and it took them two days to get back to me and say, fantastic. I rolled the dice and went to become a solider.’

But in order to succeed in the army, Mr Hecksen first had to shed the pounds.

‘After surgery you’re required to do physical training to regain your mobility,’ he said.

‘I took that as my springboard to start exercising regularly. And since I was training a lot as a teenager, I remembered that slow and steady wins the race. So I just tried to do something every day.’

‘The biggest thing for me was learning that I could survive on less food’

– Christoffer Hecksen

In 2009, when he was at his heaviest, Mr Hecksen found the all-male New You Boot Camp online, and signed up.

He said: ‘It made me realise that I may not be the fastest or the strongest but I don’t quit.

‘The trainers told me that they had set up guesses on roughly how quick people would break.

‘And they said I’d be done in four hours and it actually took me a day and a half.

‘By then I was so tired I tried to pick up a single green bean at lunch but I couldn’t move my arm.

‘So I started crying and one of the coaches Jacqui sat with me for an hour to motivate me to lift my arm and put the food in my mouth. That was my turning point.’

‘The biggest thing for me was learning that I could survive on less food,’ he added.

Mr Hecksen said while the boot camps began to reap rewards as he watched his weight drop, he soon realised that he had to tackle the root cause of his unhealthy relationship with food

‘The boot camps taught me what a proper portion looks like. I got home and I taught myself to cook properly.

‘After that I stuck to avoiding half-made foods. I had things that I could identify from animals and farms. I stayed away from anything that had the word ‘light’ in it.’

Gradually Mr Hecksen moved from last place in the boot camp fitness tests to first, boosting his confidence and giving him the incentive to carry on.

‘Two years is a very short period of time but you can change so much in that time,’ he added.

To truly tackle his unhealthy relationship with food, Mr Hecksen recognised he needed to address the root cause of his problem.

In 2009 he also started to visit a group for people who had lost close relatives, encouraging him to open up and talk about his emotions.

For two years he attended weekly sessions with a psychologist.

‘It started out as a trial for me to see if I could make myself talk about emotions and after a few sessions I realised it was something I needed to do to save myself,’ he revealed.

‘We talked about emotions and how in my mind there was a lot of guilt and blame attached to food.

‘I would hugely recommend going to a psychologist and getting professional help if you’ve got a similar issue.

He said: ‘A fresh pair of eyes on the situation is what you need and you need it from a person who doesn’t know you. Quite simply it helps you to understand why you are eating the way you do’

‘A fresh pair of eyes on the situation is what you need and you need it from a person who doesn’t know you. Quite simply it helps you to understand why you are eating the way you do.’

Mr Hecksen said it is important that others facing a battle with their weight must realise they are not alone.

He said the first step is to start talking and see if you can work out what the core issue is.

From there while weight-loss can only be achieved with physical workouts, Mr Hecksen said: ‘You need to go through the process of making your mind tougher as well.

‘Explore your dark things – if you don’t deal with those then you will fail.’

Mr Hecksen, now in the Swedish Army, is close to his target weight having shed six stone.

Weighing in at 15 stone, he said now he is focusing on ‘fine tuning’ his body.

‘To get the results it’s always going to be small variables to change,’ he said.

‘It’s important that people know that weight loss is not a short term goal, it’s a way of life, it shouldn’t be about reaching a body fat percentage or a weight.

‘It should be about living healthily. For me it’s about being able to work out, to work, to have fun and appreciate that the emotion of life is joy and not fear.’

– Man V Fat is a free digital magazine for men who want to lose weight. It’s available for online at www.magazine.manvfat.com. It’s also available on iOS via the Apple store and on Android via the google app store.*