James Arthur wants to shed two stone after "stuffing his face" with fake sausage sandwiches and cake during lockdown

He said: "I have put on a fair bit of weight since the beginning of the lockdown because there's nothing else to do but stuff my face.

"I've got a sweet tooth so it's just cake really. I love cake.

"I'm pretty much a vegan so I've been having the fake meat - sausage sandwiches and stuff like that I've been digging into.

"I've set myself a goal to lose a bit of weight. It might sound extreme but I'm 6ft 3in and I weigh 17st so I'd like to drop a couple of stone if possible."

But James now wants to go the other way and come out of lockdown in the "best shape" he's ever been in, and he has set up an indoor gym in his house to try to achieve his goal.

He added to The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: "I want to come out of this thing in the best shape that I've ever been in, that's something I'm genuinely striving for."

The 'Impossible' hitmaker's comments come after he recently opened up about suffering from "various different types of anxiety and depression".

The 'Say You Won't Let Go' singer said: "I have had social anxiety and health anxiety and various different types of anxiety and depression, but I never felt it when I was on stage. That was the one place where I had a lot of confidence and self-esteem."

James' confidence on stage was knocked when he was rushed into emergency surgery for a gallbladder infection during his European tour in January, and he wasn't sure if he would "be able to perform again".

He added: "You always have a bit of performance anxiety but it was really, really bad. It was pretty crippling and I didn't think I'd be able to perform again. I had a month of intensive therapy to get myself up for the UK arena tour."