A former regional press man’s attempts to shed his ample girth have led to a surge of hits on his newspaper’s website.

Stan Szecowka, left, former deputy editor at both the Hull Daily Mail and Bristol Evening Post, left Britain for Bahrain two years ago where he now edits the Gulf Weekly.

But the larger-than-life newspaperman found his weight ballooning as a result of the fine food and hospitality of his new Arab friends.

As a result he joined a ‘Dream Body Centre’ and launched a regular feature on how he was putting a 23-minute, three-times-a-week, fitness programme to the test

The feature entitled “I Hate This Fat” received 72,000 page impressions from Bahrain alone as the site’s overall web stats shot up from 269,000 to 580,000 in just one month.

“It’s a huge problem for locals and expats alike and I think my efforts to lose weight struck a chord with everyone,” said Stan.

An even bigger hit with viewers was a news investigation into piracy and the work of the US Fifth Fleet which is based in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The article, entitled ‘It’s not safe at sea’ recorded 144,321 impressions from visitors in the US and Saudi Arabia.

A new slimline Stan, with four inches lost from his tummy in three months, has recently been back in Blighty for a fortnight where among his ports of call was his old stamping ground of Hull.

High-flying Hull City are visiting Bahrain next year and a young Bahraini sports photographer may be involved in a short transfer to East Yorkshire to cover the Tigers as part of her training.