A GLASGOW student who weighed 25st at the start of the year says keeping fit has completely turned his life around.

When the gym that 20-year-old Dean Robinson attended shut at the start of lockdown, he decided to climb hills instead, and has now completed some of the country’s tallest mountains.

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The Glasgow Caledonian student, from Motherwell, is now in preparation for topping Scotland’s highest peak, Ben Nevis, on September 26.

So far, he has raised more than £2,000 for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society Scotland following his dad’s diagnosis with the condition.

Dean said: “Over two years ago my dad lost his vision in one eye and then the other. After a variety of tests and trips to the hospital he was diagnosed with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis.

“He was off work for nearly a year and it was a really tough time for our family.

“I feel now is a good time to take on a challenge because charities like MS Society Scotland need support more than ever.

“My dad likes to keep up with the latest research and passes it on to me. It’s great to see the progress and work going in to stopping MS.”

The idea for Dean to take on the upcoming challenge came after the amount of progress he’s already made in improving his fitness.

He added: “At the start of the year I was over 25st and couldn’t ever have imagined doing something like this. Now, with the help of my PT, family and friends, I have completely changed my life around.

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“I feel like I’m making real progress and loving what I’m doing. A couple of weekends ago I climbed two Munros as preparation for Ben Nevis and have been climbing a hill each week.

“At the start of April, I tried to do a smaller climb of about 340m and couldn’t manage it so to think I’ll be doing Ben Nevis, which is a thousand metres higher than that, is really ­exciting.

“The whole idea was started by my personal trainer who, after I climbed Ben Lomond, suggested I put some pictures on social ­media.

“The amount of interest and support I received was amazing and inspired me to push myself even further and tackle the biggest mountain we have.

“I felt that this would have been a great opportunity to fundraise for such an amazing charity.

“The response so far has been brilliant. I didn’t know what ­target to set and went for £300 but I’d passed that on the first day and now we’re well over £2000 which I can hardly believe.”

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