When Russel Valentin, 32, lost over nine stone after moving to the UK from America, he was baffled. The US content creator didn't massively overhaul his diet or change his exercise regime. Yet the figure on the scale – which read 21st 6lb at his heaviest – dropped steadily over the course of six months, settling at a trim 12st 5lb. 'I was dying when I was living in the US,' the influencer who boasts an impressive 151k followers on TikTok said. 'I used to be constantly out of breath, or winded when climbing flights of stairs.' He also suffered with low energy and sleep apnoea – an obesity-related condition affecting 83 million US and four million UK adults. It wasn't until he moved from Chicago to the UK in January last year that the real culprit became clear – American portion sizes of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). 'Despite earing a lot when moving here, and food that isn't necessarily considered healthy, I was shedding the pounds,' he recalls. When Russel Valentin, 32, lost over nine stone after moving to the UK from America, he was baffled'It's something I had really struggled to do before - so I was very surprised.' Back in the US, Mr Valentin would start his day with a large plate of waffles, eggs and bacon, washed down with an additive-laden coffee. Lunch, whilst not overly calorific, was always followed by a packet of crisps or a bag of sweets – fuelling the derogatory comments left under the food reviews he posted to social media. 'People would tell me to go to the gym instead of recording myself eating,' he says. He also received numerous comments telling him he was 'spilling out' of his clothes. 'I felt trapped in my own body and just really embarrassed.'In a last-ditch attempt to drop the weight, the content creator began 'attacking' his calorie intake, forcing himself to workout harder and eat less. 'But all that did was make the process miserable and unmanageable for me.' The content creator dropped a whopping nine stone when he moved from Chicago to the UK Before his transformation, he was bombarded with hate comments telling him to go to the gym and lose weight That is, until he moved to the UK. 'As soon as I moved here, I noticed my weight starting to drop. 'Where I used to put in a conscious effort to lose weight, it was suddenly just falling off me.' Now, his breakfast consists of toast or a crumpet, though lunch and dinner – meat paired with vegetables – haven't changed. Crisps and sweets have been replaced with lighter picky bits, containing less saturated fat and more essential protein and calcium. It's not his small diet tweaks that he puts his weight loss down to, though. It's the ingredients – with foods in the UK typically being less processed than their US variants. 'Everyday British food contains far fewer chemical preservatives and substances engineered to keep you eating more,' he said. 'Less high-fructose corn syrup and added sugar also plays a big role. There’s also more straightforward labelling here and smaller portions – making it easier to know what you're actually eating.' Ultra-processed foods, also known as UPFs, including mass-produced items like snacks, packaged bread and ready meals, typically contain high levels of fat, sugar and salt and have been linked to harm in every major organ system of the body.