VETERAN radio DJ Steve Wright proudly told listeners of his weight loss after he cut out crisps and chocolate.
The BBC broadcaster, who passed away this week aged 69, shed the pounds after seeing an unflattering photo of himself.
The star died after fighting an unknown health battle.
However, Wright was always concious of keeping fit and healthy – and previously revealed to listeners how he worked tirelessly to lose weight after hitting 18st.
During an episode of BBC Breakfast in 2009, Steve explained: “I’ve been trying to lose weight for the last 10 years.
“As you get older, it’s important to be healthy and it is a little dangerous to be overweight.
“I am a couple of stones over, so I’m about to go on a regime.”
A year later, he revealed he had already lost more than one-and-a-half stone – and was determined to reach his goal weight of 12st.
Speaking with the Mail Online, Steve said: “I’ve been eating healthily and I’ve lost about one-and-a-half stone.
“But I want to lose another stone-and-a-half at least. I’m not there yet but I’m getting there.
“I’ve cut out chips, crisps and I no longer eat chocolate.”
It comes after insiders told how BBC stars knew Wright was “struggling with his health” but his death was still a “huge, huge shock”.
“Steve had been talking to Radio 2 bosses just two or three days ago,” one BBC star told the Daily Mail.
“We were aware he was struggling with his health a bit but nothing that seemed this serious.
“It has come as a huge shock. Nobody can believe it. He was engaging with his colleagues so recently. It doesn’t seem at all real.”
It is not currently clear what the radio legend’s health battle was.
He was also due to be part of BBC Radio’s plans to launch four new stations over the airwaves.
Jo Whiley said it felt “very strange” to be doing a tribute show to Steve given she had seen him “only days ago”.
“(This is) a very strange show to be doing,” she said.
“It’s extremely hard to know what to say and to be talking about someone that you saw only days ago in this very studio where I am right now – doing a tribute show to that person just does not feel right.”
By Grant Rollings
He grew up in poverty — but went on to become the nation’s most loved radio presenter.
Steve was born in Greenwich, in South East London.
His dad Dick managed a Burton’s men’s clothing store in central London and the family did not have a proper bathroom in their New Cross home.
He and his brother washed in a tin bath — but Steve did not consider himself to be poor.
The greatest struggle in his early days was with asthma, which meant he was in and out of hospital until the age of 11.
Steve said: “At one stage they put me in an oxygen tent.
“I would sometimes be in Greenwich Hospital for three to four days.
“We used to live in New Cross and I think it was the heavy pollution of London that brought it on.”
The self-deprecating broadcaster has always been able to laugh off any barbs, though, saying he had a face for radio.
He left school with three O-Levels and went to work in marine insurance before joining the BBC to work as a clerk in the gramophone library.
That inspired him to chance his arm in broadcasting and he joined an independent radio station in Reading in 1976.
In 1994 Steve, who had drawn huge audiences with his afternoon show, took over Radio 1’s coveted breakfast show.
His friend and long-time BBC radio colleague Ken Bruce said he was “totally shocked” by the news as he revealed they were planning to celebrate Steve’s “richly deserved” MBE with a lunch in the near futur
“An outstanding and innovative broadcaster whose listeners loved him. What a loss to the world of radio,” he added.
Steve Wright’s family said: “It is with deep sorrow and profound regret that we announce the passing of our beloved Steve Wright.
“In addition to his son, Tom, and daughter, Lucy, Steve leaves behind his brother, Laurence and his father Richard.
“Also, much-loved close friends and colleagues, and millions of devoted radio listeners who had the good fortune and great pleasure of allowing Steve into their daily lives as one of the UK’s most enduring and popular radio personalities.”
While announcing his death aged 69, co-star Sara Cox broke down in tears, saying: “It’s really hard to know what to say about the news of Steve Wright’s passing, except we are all absolutely devastated and shocked and blindsided by this news.
“Steve was an extraordinary broadcaster, a really, really. kind person.”
