FAMILY that weighed a gigantic 100 stone has been dubbed "Britain's Fattest Family" after taking part in a TV show.

Mark and Jayne Phillips and their three sons David, Mitchel and Louis, weighed an average 20 stone each, after a life of guzzling fast food, crisps and cakes.

"It was like a 24-hour snack," said mum Jayne.

Now, their astonishing diet has attracted the attention of the national media, who immediately branded them "Britain's Fattest Family". Yesterday the Phillips' even appeared on ITV's This Morning programme.

But a strict diet of fruit, vegetables and meat with low-fat yoghurts and a new exercise regime has helped them lose 23 stone in five months.

"This was the reality check we needed," said Jayne, of Wichenford, near Worcester. "Otherwise we wouldn't have realised how unhealthy we were until we lost one of our children.

"It has been a huge shock."

A FAMILY-of-five that weighed 100 stone after living on a junk food diet has been transformed into health fanatics.

Mark and Jayne Phillips, and their three sons David, aged 16, Mitchel, 13, and Louis, 12, used to start their day with a full English breakfast, topped up with a McDonald's burger mid-morning.

Lunch was from Pizza Hut's all-you-can-eat buffet, and supper was a family roast - but all through the day they would be snacking on junk.

It wasn't until Jayne answered an advert for families to take part in ITV's Fat Chance programme "as a joke" that they realised their diet was unusual.

In fact, nutritionist Jane Deville-Almond told them they were eating 50 times more sugar than the average family, and they must diet or die.

Now the family live on salad, grilled vegetables and snack on fruit - and they all take regular exercise. They have lost 23 stone since May.

Mum Jayne, a 46-year-old nurse, spoke of her guilt when she discovered she had been making her family ill by piling the shopping trolley high with cakes, doughnuts, crisps and coke.

"It was a reality shock," she said. "Before the diet, it was like a 24-hour snack and the kids wouldn't have anything which wasn't full of fat and sugar.

"We couldn't go past a McDonald's without stopping for a milkshake - we thought it was natural, and every family did it. We were addicted."

Fattest in the family was 13-year-old Mitchel who weighed 27 stone.

At four he weighed a massive 10 stone - he has got through five bicycles and was so large he couldn't get into his parents' car.

"He would come home from school and go to bed," said Jayne. "It got to the stage when he didn't want to get up and his leg was bending.

"He was too big to be bullied - the other kids came to his waist.

"When he played rugby, he'd hold the ball above his head and walk down the field. Other parents would shout, 'Get out of his way, he'll squash you'."

But the Phillips family have been made to face facts.

"I'll never get over the guilt," said Jayne. "By feeding them so much I thought I was showing how much I loved them."

She now takes part in aqua aerobics, Louis plays rugby and the other boys go to the gym. All three are pupils at Chantry High School, Martley.

"Mitchel never stops now," she said proudly. "But it would be easy to go back. It's like smoking. The temptation makes me shake, it's absolutely terrible.