He used to wake up very early in the morning and jump out of bed anxious to have that first cigarette of the day.His routine is still the same in some ways.But now David Skinner rolls out of bed before the sun has risen to get to the gym for his workout.Quitting smoking can be, as many believe, harder than quitting heroin. At least half of those smokers who try and quit, fail no matter what technique they use. And it seems there are more and more techniques or solutions to quitting smoking coming out every day.According to the American Council on Science and Health, 95 percent of all smokers say they would like to quit. But 60 percent actually try quitting and of those only 50 percent succeed if that.Anyone trying to quit the deadly tobacco will have a tough job ahead of them.So it is even more impressive when a life-long smoker who also happened to be overweight quits smoking and then manages to shed those pounds especially when you consider that many smokers gain weight after they give up cigarettes.But Mr Skinner, chief photographer at The Royal Gazette, has done both.Mr Skinner wrote about his exploits of getting in shape and losing the unwanted pounds last year in the pages of The Royal Gazette when he took part in the 100-Day Challenge. And while he praised the programme he did concede that it was all the work he has had to do since then which has kept him in his new clothes literally.“I threw out all my old clothes because once I lost weight they were far too big for me. I had to go out and get a new wardrobe and there is no way I want to go through that expense again. All my clothes were ditched pants, suits, shirts the lot. I took everything down to the Salvation Army five big trash bags full of clothes. And once I ditched them I couldn’t afford to put the weight back on!”Then there was the encouragement from friends and family.“People who saw me said I was looking so much better and that feels good. I look at pictures of me before and I had this huge gut. My face was also fat in fact that is where I believe you start to lose weight initially I think you lose the pounds in the face first.”But he warned that anyone wanting to slim down should prepare themselves first. “Bermudians have the worst diet in the world. They have mayonnaise on everything. I used to put mayo on fries and now I can’t tell you the last time I had mayo. I haven’t had it in over a year.”Mr Skinner said he initially quit smoking when he saw the writing on the wall.“I have a history of heart disease in my family,” he said. “My doctor told me ‘you smoke, you are obese, you don’t exercise and you have heart disease in your family. You are a prime candidate for a heart attack’. My dad (Graeme) died from a heart attack. It really hit me. I don’t want to go (die) at 65 so I decided to stop smoking.”And while he was successful in quitting cigarettes he then started to notice that he was gaining even more weight. “I was never slim to begin with,” he explained.Mr Skinner said: “It was on May 18, 2010. I was 51 years old and was finding that I was out of breath and it was obvious that I had to make a change. I had tried several times to quit smoking but always failed. I had done cold turkey, used the patch all of that stuff. I also have a wife (Karen) and two kids. Karen was on me about quitting she quit herself about five years ago. So I was in Canada to see some friends and decided to go to Laser therapy while in Toronto.”While Mr Skinner said that the Laser therapy worked, he added, “I am sure (quitting) is mostly in the mind. You really have to want to quit. I came out of the therapy and had half a cigarette and then about two hours later had another half a cigarette and then that was it. You have to make up your mind that you want to quit. If you really don’t want to quit then nothing can help you.”Before he quit Mr Skinner was smoking about a pack a day. “And then if I was out socialising after work it would be another pack in the evening. I remember that my major concern before leaving for work in the morning was checking to see if I had enough money for a pack of cigarettes. And then I would make sure I had four packs before going home on Friday for the weekend.”Compared to many smokers, Mr Skinner started later in life. He said: “I started when I was about 30 years old and it was while I was living in Spain. Everybody smokes there!”Most smokers get strong pangs to have a puff after they quit and go right back to full time smoking. Mr Skinner also had some of those pangs but they were very mild.He said: “Even today I will fancy a cigarette when I get into certain situations like while having a beer after working in the garden. I always used to sit down and have a few cigarettes and a beer after doing some gardening. But I would say the thought of having a cigarette only lasts for three or four seconds if that. I don’t suffer those real pangs.”He never has had a relapse something many who have given up smoking have had.And he never gets on the case of friends who still smoke.“I wouldn’t do that although if they decided to quit I would encourage them. I can stand right next to a smoker and it doesn’t bother me at all and I don’t believe in preaching to smokers.”Admitting that he was overweight to begin with, Mr Skinner said that before deciding he needed to lose weight he regarded food as a pleasure.“If you really want to lose weight you have to say to yourself that eating is not just a pleasure anymore. It is a necessity although I will treat myself to a burger once in a while on the weekend.”When he was smoking he didn’t eat healthy meals. In fact he really only had one meal a day.“That was at dinner and I ate everything huge meals. During the day I would have biscuits or chocolate 100 percent junk food. And I would have a lot of coffee. Then when I stopped smoking I started eating more and more but I was not doing any exercise and I was eating all the wrong stuff. On the weekends I would have bacon, sausages, eggs at breakfast the lot. Dinner was still a huge meal. I was getting so heavy. My body was just storing all the food.”And he still didn’t eat much during the day when he was working.“At my heaviest I was about 235 pounds,” said Mr Skinner who is 5 foot 10 inches tall. “I am now 202 pounds and my best weight after the 100-Day Challenge was 198 pounds. I can even tell the difference between those four pounds.”Now he weighs himself daily. “That is something I never did before I never had a clue how much I weighed.”It was six months after quitting smoking when he decided to something about his weight. “It was about three months before I took the 100-Day Challenge. I got a private trainer at Positive Results Graham Frith. That private training started getting me into shape I had done no physical activity since I was in school. And I started to enjoy it. Graham was very good and he started me off properly. Before I went to him I couldn’t even do a push up. Then I was doing crunches and stuff like that and bench pressing weights (on a machine). I started at 70 pounds and now I am doing 230 pounds.”Then came the 100-Day Challenge. “It was great fun. I learned how to eat properly from the trainers assigned to us. Instead up getting up and having five cigarettes and coffee I have 60 grams of protein shake, a half a cup of oats, small amounts of fresh fruit soy milk, flax seed.”At around 10 am he has six egg whites, mushrooms, turkey bacon. Lunch is a turkey wrap. A snack may be some almonds while dinner could be six ounces of fish or chicken and, of course, vegetables.“I am allowed an eight ounce steak once a week but sometimes I don’t even have that.”And he supplements his diet with multi vitamins and multi minerals along with fish oil.Mr Skinner does two sessions a week with Mr Frith and then he goes to the Courthouse (gym). “I get there eat about 5 am and do an hour and a half workout.“I am usually asleep during a work day at 9 pm although I do enjoy a sleep-in on Sunday.”He still likes his coffee, but says, “Now I only drink it black no sugar or milk. In fact I don’t have dairy products anymore.”Mr Skinner added: “It has been a complete change of life for me but I feel so much better.”And no doubt so does his wife Karen and two daughters, Kelly and Ashley.