A Melbourne dad who shed 50 kilograms by eating nothing but potatoes for a year has turned his obsession into a business.

Former athlete Andrew Taylor was 151.7kg at his heaviest, but he committed to a radical spud diet to shed 53kg in a year.

His extraordinary weight loss made news around the world, leading Mr Taylor to launch his own dieting business.

“I’ve helped people cure Type 2 diabetes, people have got off blood pressure medication, people have lost a lot of weight,” Mr Taylor said.

With the diet becoming a runaway success, Mr Taylor started the global Spud Fit business to transform the bodies and lives of food addicts around the world.

“It definitely restored my faith in the potato, that’s for sure,” Spud Fit client Tim Preston said.

But dietician Melanie McGrice has warned the extreme lifestyle is not for everyone.

“I would caution people going on a potato-only diet because there is risk of some nutritional deficiency,” she said.