Meet the personal trainer who put on four stone to help his client lose weight

How far would you go to inspire someone to lose weight?

Whatever your answer, Adonis Hill – a personal trainer from New York State – has you beat. For the 35-year old decided that the best way to help his latest client was to pile on the pounds, so they could lose their considerable combined weight together.

Adonis, who had previously resembled his Greek namesake, gained almost 70 pounds (just over four stone) in a matter of months in his bid to kick 22 stone schoolteacher Alissa Kane into weight loss action.

Captured on film for the new series Fit to Fat to Fit, which airs on US cable TV, Hill gorged on 8,000 calories a day to raise his weight closer to that of Ms Kane. In addition to eating McDonald's every day, the fitness instructor also stopped exercising and enjoyed an unbalanced diet of doughnuts, pizza, hot dogs, cookies and fizzy drinks.

His doctors eventually told him he had to stop binging as he was putting his heart in danger. But the emotional response Hill got from Kane when he revealed his increased weight gave the schoolteacher the push she needed to join the trainer as he embarked on an intensive fitness regime.

"Alissa felt so bad for me," wrote Hill on his Instagram page. "She cried!"

The guilt trip worked. Hill and Kane began weight training, dieting and cardio – jogging five or six times a week. And, just over four months later, both Adonis and Alissa have achieved their weight loss goals – with the personal trainer shedding 57 pounds and the schoolteacher 58.

 "Guess what?" wrote Hill beneath a picture of the pair training. "You probably won't believe this, but Alissa was my motivation too."

Hill, who suffered with depression during his twenties and gained weight rapidly during this time due to comfort eating, knew the struggles he would face when losing weight – but he says he hoped that by joining Alissa, he would make these same challenges more bearable for her.

 "An important part of living a happy and fulfilling life includes being part of a close-knit community where you can share, help and support people you care about," wrote Hill. "It also includes being kind to strangers, and learning to replace envy and anger with understanding and empathy. It's all about helping those in need by any means necessary.

 "As a trainer it's easy to get all wrapped up in fixing your own body that you forget about helping others reach their goals. For me, when I say goals, goals are way past just the physical. And while it's important to put yourself first, it's even more important to help others whenever you can."