Gary Barlow is launching a health and fitness boot camp.

Gary Barlow

Gary Barlow

The Take That singer - who famously ballooned to over 230lbs during his time in the pop wilderness - is planning to "catalogue" his journey to get back to peak fitness in the new year, and he and his "expert friends" will be sharing videos and tips online.

He told The Sun newspaper: "New Year is going to arrive and I'm going to start Barlow's Boot Camp. I have from the New Year until April to get myself ship shape to come on the stage and I'm going to catalogue it.

"I've signed up some of my expert friends, who have cook books and they do yoga and fitness on Instagram, and I've basically rallied everyone up so I've recorded a series of videos.

"It's all really fun doing it and it's possibly something I'll keep up over time.

"I'm certainly not an expert in health and fitness but it is my hobby, I'm fascinated by it."

The 'Patience' hitmaker admitted he was "horrifically unhappy" during the years he struggled with his weight and even suggested he could have succumbed to an eating disorder if he hadn't found a successful meal plan for himself.

He said: "I was horrifically unhappy, I didn't have any career at the time really.

"I was eating too much, I was drinking too much, I was at a bit of a lost end really. I was getting really good at ­making myself sick.

"I was getting to the point where this could have been a really big issue for me.

"You're miserable, you're basically going insane really -- you're going mad and crazy.

"Dieting in that way is very, very tough. But I eventually found my groove, which was about six years ago, and found a way of eating for me."