A POWERLIFTING vicar has been practising what he preaches at the gym after shedding the pounds.

Sweet-toothed Reverend David Brae ballooned to 19 stone after kind-hearted parishioners in Rossendale showered him with cakes.

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But realising his body was a gift from God, he vowed to get in shape and transformed his physique after hitting his nearby gym and switching to a high protein diet.

Now Rev Brae, who leads Christ Church in Bacup, has begun competing in powerlifting competitions and hopes his transformation will encourage others to look after their bodies – and their souls.

The vicar shaped up in just a year-and-a-half after the former rugby player suffered an ankle injury in 2013 and piled on the pounds.

But he was reluctant to join the gym because many of the members were also part of his congregation.

After plucking up the courage to sign up he found that his fellow gym members were very supportive of his training and even jokingly asked him to pray for their muscles to grow.

He said: “A lot of the clergy have weight issues because it’s so easy to put it on.

“When I do house visits, host church fetes or even after a sermon, I’ll be inundated with cakes, treats and sweets.

“Everyone always wants to make that Father Ted joke, ‘Would you like another cup of tea, Father?’.

“It was funny the first few times, but I soon started to see the effect it was having on my body.”

Rev Brae is now on a mission to get other members of the clergy onto his fitness regime.

He is working on starting some exercise classes for the clergy and gives them nutritional advice to avoid those cakes and biscuits.

Despite starting to drop trouser sizes, it wasn’t until he started getting into powerlifting that he found his true calling.

He said: “I did feel a bit odd when I first stepped into the heavy weights area at the gym. No-one really expects the local vicar to even be in the gym, let alone taking on powerlifting.

“But I decided to not be intimidated and get stuck in. It was a completely different style of exercise for me.

“I’m used to being a team player and sharing my experiences with others, but with powerlifting it’s a competition with myself.

“Within a couple of months I started to feel a dramatic difference in myself.

“I felt fitter, healthier, stronger and much less stressed.”