By . Kerry Mcqueeney . UPDATED: . 06:48 EST, 5 October 2011 . When a heavy gambler decided to lose weight, he knew he would need an extra incentive to stick to a diet. Peter Heeks used his love of gambling to cash in on his own weight loss - by placing a bet on how many pounds he could lose in a year. Now the 26-year-old has collected a win of £10,000 after shedding more than seven stone in a year. Gambling man: Peter Heeks after his £10,000 win (left) and before his dramatic weight loss (right) Peter staked £100 at 100-1 that he could lose 100lbs in a year and, followed it up with 12 months of healthy eating and exercise. Strapping 6ft 2ins tall Peter weighed 21 stone when he placed the bet and now tips the scales at 14 stone. He said: 'I had tried diets and exercise in the past to lose weight, but it had never worked. 'Then I heard a story on the radio about a man who won a bet with William Hill after losing three stone. 'I . thought that would be the incentive to help me lose weight and my . target weight was 14 stone, so I contacted the bookmaker and they took on . the bet. 'It's put years on my life along with money in the bank' 'They hadn't had anyone wanting a bet on themselves to lose so much, so they gave me a big price. 'If . they kept the 100-1 out there - they'd be doing the nation a favour as . it would be a great incentive to beat the obesity time bomb. 'I . was clearly very overweight when I placed the bet. Every other time I . tried I failed to get the results as I gave up with the diets and . exercise. 'But I was never . really sporty and when I placed the bet I started going to the gym and . exercising and also counting my calories. 'The bet made me focus on losing the weight as soon as I placed it. I started changing my diet and going to the gym. My biggest bet before this was about a fiver on their casino games.' Cash incentive: Peter believes the bet would help tackle the obesity crisis if bookies allowed others to follow suit . CALORIES: 4,000 a day . Breakfast: Never really bothered . would instead get to work and snack on a can of Coke at about 130 . calories with a 200-calorie bag of Kettlechips. Lunch: A 500ml Dr Pepper at . 210 calories, a 500-calorie sandwich from Sainsbury's and another 200 . calorie bag of crisps. Mid-afternoon snack: Crisps 200 calories and another coke 130 calories. Evening . meal: More soft drinks with a large pizza and chips or . other takeaway with an average intake of 2,500. Alcohol would boost his intake to four or five . thousand calories. CALORIES: 1,500 a day . Breakfast: Three bananas - 100 calories each - glass of water. Lunch: A salad from Subway at 350 calories with water - cutting out the soft drinks saved him thousands of calories each week. Evening . meal: Healthy piece of chicken or fish with vegetables and perhaps a . piece of fruit for dessert. Cooking the food himself ensured Peter . knew exactly what went into it and his evening meal was rarely more than . 750 calories - less than a third of his previous intake after work. He . also virtually cut out alcohol for the year to lose more calories. Call centre worker Peter, from Darwen, Lancashire, even inspired friends and family to lose weight as the stones slipped away. He said: 'I started enjoying the gym and was going up to five times a week. 'And my calorific intake went from a daily average of more than 4,000 to less than half that. 'It's . had a great knock on effect on my health with my weight dropping to 85 . kg from 134kg at the start, my waist shrinking from 129cm to 91.5cms and . my BMI dropping from a morbidly obese 37-1 to a much healthier 23-5. 'Even . my blood pressure has changed from 156 over 104 to a much more normal . 110 over 70 - it's probably put years on my life along with the money in . my bank. 'When William Hill accepted my bet they changed my life.' William Hill's spokesman Rupert Adams said: 'Peter is our biggest ever winner at £10,000 after betting £100 at 100/1. 'When he called to say he had succeeded we were flabbergasted, this is an amazing achievement and he deserves his winnings.'
Peter Heeks dropped from 21 stone to 14 stone .
He used his love of gambling as an incentive .
By . Kerry Mcqueeney . UPDATED: . 06:48 EST, 5 October 2011 . When a heavy gambler decided to lose weight, he knew he would need an extra incentive to stick to a diet. Peter Heeks used his love of gambling to cash in on his own weight loss - by placing a bet on how many pounds he could lose in a year. Now the 26-year-old has collected a win of £10,000 after shedding more than seven stone in a year. Gambling man: Peter Heeks after his £10,000 win (left) and before his dramatic weight loss (right) Peter staked £100 at 100-1 that he could lose 100lbs in a year and, followed it up with 12 months of healthy eating and exercise. Strapping 6ft 2ins tall Peter weighed 21 stone when he placed the bet and now tips the scales at 14 stone. He said: 'I had tried diets and exercise in the past to lose weight, but it had never worked. 'Then I heard a story on the radio about a man who won a bet with William Hill after losing three stone. 'I . thought that would be the incentive to help me lose weight and my . target weight was 14 stone, so I contacted the bookmaker and they took on . the bet. 'It's put years on my life along with money in the bank' 'They hadn't had anyone wanting a bet on themselves to lose so much, so they gave me a big price. 'If . they kept the 100-1 out there - they'd be doing the nation a favour as . it would be a great incentive to beat the obesity time bomb. 'I . was clearly very overweight when I placed the bet. Every other time I . tried I failed to get the results as I gave up with the diets and . exercise. 'But I was never . really sporty and when I placed the bet I started going to the gym and . exercising and also counting my calories. 'The bet made me focus on losing the weight as soon as I placed it. I started changing my diet and going to the gym. My biggest bet before this was about a fiver on their casino games.' Cash incentive: Peter believes the bet would help tackle the obesity crisis if bookies allowed others to follow suit . CALORIES: 4,000 a day . Breakfast: Never really bothered . would instead get to work and snack on a can of Coke at about 130 . calories with a 200-calorie bag of Kettlechips. Lunch: A 500ml Dr Pepper at . 210 calories, a 500-calorie sandwich from Sainsbury's and another 200 . calorie bag of crisps. Mid-afternoon snack: Crisps 200 calories and another coke 130 calories. Evening . meal: More soft drinks with a large pizza and chips or . other takeaway with an average intake of 2,500. Alcohol would boost his intake to four or five . thousand calories. CALORIES: 1,500 a day . Breakfast: Three bananas - 100 calories each - glass of water. Lunch: A salad from Subway at 350 calories with water - cutting out the soft drinks saved him thousands of calories each week. Evening . meal: Healthy piece of chicken or fish with vegetables and perhaps a . piece of fruit for dessert. Cooking the food himself ensured Peter . knew exactly what went into it and his evening meal was rarely more than . 750 calories - less than a third of his previous intake after work. He . also virtually cut out alcohol for the year to lose more calories. Call centre worker Peter, from Darwen, Lancashire, even inspired friends and family to lose weight as the stones slipped away. He said: 'I started enjoying the gym and was going up to five times a week. 'And my calorific intake went from a daily average of more than 4,000 to less than half that. 'It's . had a great knock on effect on my health with my weight dropping to 85 . kg from 134kg at the start, my waist shrinking from 129cm to 91.5cms and . my BMI dropping from a morbidly obese 37-1 to a much healthier 23-5. 'Even . my blood pressure has changed from 156 over 104 to a much more normal . 110 over 70 - it's probably put years on my life along with the money in . my bank. 'When William Hill accepted my bet they changed my life.' William Hill's spokesman Rupert Adams said: 'Peter is our biggest ever winner at £10,000 after betting £100 at 100/1. 'When he called to say he had succeeded we were flabbergasted, this is an amazing achievement and he deserves his winnings.'
incentive to stick to a diet. Peter Heeks used his love of gambling to cash in on his own weight