It resulted in the 41-year-old topping the scales at 21 stones and putting his life at risk.
He had bad asthma, high blood pressure and constant chest pains and his doctor continually warned him of the consequences of being obese.
Mick's livelihood was also in the balance. He has to have regular medical check-ups to keep his HGV licence, and he knew he was treading a thin line.
But it wasn't until his father-in-law, Robert Pearson, who was also a lorry driver, died suddenly at 61, that Mick woke up and recognised his own predicament.
He realised if he didn't do something fast he wouldn't be around to achieve his big wish – to walk his two teenage daughters down the isle when they got wed.
So he headed for Helen Illingworth's Slimming World class in Northowram, Halifax, and has never looked back.
Two years down the line he has just hit his target and lost a staggering eight stone. It's not only saved his life but won him numerous accolades and compliments.
Mick has just won Helen's Man Of The Year award and also holds the title of the group's Greatest Weight Loser too.
Helen who lives in Shelf and has just celebrated her 10th anniversary with Slimming World, says Mick's success story is an inspiration to others. Everyone who meets him is amazed by the transformation.
"My father-in-law dying was the wake-up call I needed. My goal has always been to see my girls, Rebecca, 18, and Rachael, 17, get married," says Mick who lives in Clayton, Bradford.
He admits that eating the wrong foods at the wrong time was his big downfall. "I would never eat breakfast and used to have my tea and then a couple of hours later I would order a takeaway. I love curries and used to have them on a regular basis."
Curries and greasy spoon cafes are now a thing of the past. He takes healthy food with him when he is on the road or stops at a supermarket to buy his lunch. And these days he always has the most important meal of the day – breakfast. "My eating habits have changed dramatically and it's made a huge difference to my life. "
As well as being fitter and healthier, Mick says little things make all the difference. "I can now tie my shoe laces. I can get into my loft and jump into my cab." He is now down to 12-and-a-half stone and looks like a different man.
So much so that French border control officers recently weren't going to allow him back into Britain. "They looked at my passport photograph and wouldn't believe I was the same man. It wasn't until another British lorry driver who knew me, intervened, that they backed down and let me through."
Mick's next job is to get a new wardrobe (he used to be a size 42 waist) – and to change that passport photograph.