The incredible shrinking twosome have lost more than twelve stones between them in just 15 weeks after embarking on a joint diet.

Now they look so good that Russell, 36, has been nicknamed "the Diet Coke man" and is even considering swapping his job as a lorry driver for work as a male model, and wife Linda, 44, is buying the kind of clothes she has not been able to wear for years.

Linda said: "Even six months ago we could not have imagined looking the way we do now. Our lives have changed so much."

Russell and office worker Linda, who live in Leeds, decided to slim after Russell began to suffer health problems.

They visited the Alizonne Clinic in Rothwell, Leeds, and embarked on a special diet which, jointly, has cost them around £5,000.

Russell said: "It is the best money we have ever spent. We feel like we have been given a second chance at life."

The Alizonne diet was invented by a Dutch doctor and helps overweight clients lose a lot of weight quickly.

In Leeds it is offered by Dr Mark Palmer, a GP who also specialises in the diet. He said: "Unlike a crash diet, it is nutritionally balanced and also incorporates special skin treatments, so that slimmers remain healthy and are not left with sagging skin."

Russell, who is six feet two inches tall, weighed more than 22 stones and had a 44 inch waist when he began the diet. Now his waist measures 32 inches and he weighs 13 stone 9lbs, a loss of more than eight stones – and friends have walked past him without recognising him.

He said: "I haven't been this slim since I was about 16 and played hockey five times a week. Now I feel like I am 16 again."

Russell began to pile on weight when he became an HGV driver five years ago. Long hours sitting in his cab combined with a trucker's diet of unhealthy food took its toll.

He said: "A lot of it was boredom eating and just eating the unhealthy food that was available.