Dean Wharmby dead: former bodybuilder loses battle with liver cancer which he blamed on diet of junk food and energy drinks

HE put in hours at the gym and ate a high-calorie diet in his bid to achieve a bulked-up body. But this personal trainer’s lifestyle may have proved fatal.

Tragic bodybuilder’s deadly diet

A FORMER bodybuilder who consumed 10,000 calories a day washed down with seven to eight energy drinks has tragically died from liver cancer at the age of 39.

Fitness fanatic Dean Wharmby — who was told he had weeks to live last November — blamed his illness on his quest to attain the perfect bodybuilder’s physique.

Fitness quest ... Dean Wharmby worked hard to achieve a bodybuilder’s physique.

The personal trainer, from Rochdale, northern England, documented his experience on the Facebook page Dean’s Journey — which attracted almost 10,000 followers — after a large tumour was found on his liver.

The father-of-one also admitted to taking steroids at the beginning of his career as “everyone did it”.

Brave battle ... Dean Wharmby with his devoted partner Charlotte.

He passed away at a hospice with his partner Charlotte Rigby at his side, The Manchester Evening News reports.

In his bodybuilding days, Mr Wharmby ate high-calorie junk food, such as burgers and pizzas, to help him build his weight.

But after his diagnosis he completely changed his diet, cutting out sugar and meat in favour of natural remedies and vitamins.

Always smiling ... Dean with his daughter Scarlett and partner Charlotte.

Mr Wharmby’s cancer was first diagnosed in 2010, and as he battled the disease, he admitted his high-protein, fatty diet may have led to his illness.

“It was because I was trying to be as big as possible,” Mr Wharmby told MailOnline in March.

“I can’t say it was the diet for sure, but things like the energy drinks could be contributing factors. Red meats — all things we have found out have so many impurities in them now.”

So much love ... Dean Wharmby with his daughter before his diagnosis.

Tributes flowed for the popular personal trainer after his death last Sunday.

“Dean showed us all no doom or gloom, even in his darkest times,” Mr Wharmby’s partner, Charlotte Rigby, wrote on Facebook.

“He fought through times where some people would crumble with a smile on his face and a big heart and he never gave up. He had such strong beliefs and I know that where he is now, he is free.”

An appeal has been launched to pay for a fitting funeral for Dean and anyone who wishes to contribute can do so via Paypal address [e-mail].

Originally published as Dean Wharmby dead: former bodybuilder loses battle with liver cancer which he blamed on diet of junk food and energy drinks