The credit crunch may be making many people anxious but a former movie actor claims it has saved his life after forcing him to crash diet.

Terry Smith, of Hanworth, who featured in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves alongside Kevin Costner, weighed in at a hefty 29 stone (pictured, left) and at just 41 had been forced to apply for a disabled permit because he struggled to walk to his car after becoming hooked on junk food.

Now the married father-of-one has lost four stone in three months after rising prices forced him to cut down on food and alcohol and save s100 a week from his food bill.

"I had to do something because I had three heart attacks as my weight piled on," he said. "The credit crunch is no laughing matter, but it has given me the added impetus to save my life."

Mr Smith, who works for a security company, has now crunched his mammoth diet into bite-sized portions in a regime that will save around s6,000 a year.

He did it by swapping jumbo sausage and bacon sandwiches for cereal and ditching booze sessions that included eight cans of lager and two bottles of wine have dried up. He also quit his 20-a-day cigarette habit and now hopes to run the Flora London Marathon.

Mr Smith, who also appeared in the films Shining Through, starring Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith, and Demon in my View, with Anthony Perkins, has shared details of his new lifestyle in a blog on realbuzz.com , where he gained inspiration and advice.