Back in February of this year, Kevin Smith - director of the comedy classic "Clerks" and one half of the Jay and Silent Bob duo - came close to death after suffering what he described as a "massive heart attack".

The 47-year-old had just finished performing a stand-up comedy show in Glendale, California, and was due to perform another when he suddenly felt ill. He was rushed to the hospital, where he eventually found out that he'd had a potentially fatal heart attack.

In a tweet to his fans, Smith shared an image of himself in a hospital bed, but reassured them that he was still "above ground" following the scare.

Now, four months on, Smith has shared another photo of himself - but, this time, he looks markedly different.

"Today, I am down a total of 43 pounds," the comedian wrote on Instagram. "Only 7 more pounds until I’ve shed the 50 my Doctor told me to lose following the heart attack!"

He continued:

"I wanna thank #pennjillette (the taller half of @pennandtellerlive) for his book #presto, @raycronise for the all-potato kick-start to my journey, and @weightwatchers for making it easy to lose some more while maintaining the weight loss!

"This #wwambassador is now at the absolute adult thinnest I’ve been since I finished high school! And while I may look a little better, I FEEL f**king fantastic! It’ll take a few weeks, but I’m ready to lose that final 7 pounds! And when I hit my goal, I’ll let you know where I started..."

And this is what he looks like after making such a major life change:

Though the star didn't have any known health problems that could have caused the heart attack, he was obviously quite overweight.

Smith himself has spoken openly about his size before, especially as he has rapidly lost - and regained - weight on past occasions (though not because of something as serious as a heart attack). His yo-yo dieting has reached extremes in the past, too. When he met his wife, for example, he lost a huge 50 pounds in order to look more trim for her, and in 2008, he lost almost half his body weight - going from 400 lbs to 210 lbs - by cutting out sugar from his diet and going on "juice fasts".

More recently, in 2010, he was famously kicked off a flight after being too large to fit into the seat, which motivated him to lose 65 lbs. After that point, however, he admitted to returning to his old habits and piling on the pounds again.

According to Smith's daughter, the comedian has adopted a vegan diet since his brush with mortality earlier this year, and she says "He's the healthiest he's ever been" because of it.

Hopefully, the 47-year-old will continue to keep the weight off this time - not just for the sake of his health, but also for his family, who have been incredibly supportive of him throughout his journey to leading a better lifestyle. What's more, it's likely that his astounding turnaround will encourage others to switch to a more sustainable diet - so there was certainly a silver lining to his health scare.

Back in February of this year, Kevin Smith - director of the comedy classic "Clerks" and one half of the Jay and Silent Bob duo - came close to death after suffering what he described as a "massive heart attack".

The 47-year-old had just finished performing a stand-up comedy show in Glendale, California, and was due to perform another when he suddenly felt ill. He was rushed to the hospital, where he eventually found out that he'd had a potentially fatal heart attack.

In a tweet to his fans, Smith shared an image of himself in a hospital bed, but reassured them that he was still "above ground" following the scare.

Now, four months on, Smith has shared another photo of himself - but, this time, he looks markedly different.

"Today, I am down a total of 43 pounds," the comedian wrote on Instagram. "Only 7 more pounds until I’ve shed the 50 my Doctor told me to lose following the heart attack!"

He continued:

"I wanna thank #pennjillette (the taller half of @pennandtellerlive) for his book #presto, @raycronise for the all-potato kick-start to my journey, and @weightwatchers for making it easy to lose some more while maintaining the weight loss!

"This #wwambassador is now at the absolute adult thinnest I’ve been since I finished high school! And while I may look a little better, I FEEL f**king fantastic! It’ll take a few weeks, but I’m ready to lose that final 7 pounds! And when I hit my goal, I’ll let you know where I started..."

And this is what he looks like after making such a major life change:

Though the star didn't have any known health problems that could have caused the heart attack, he was obviously quite overweight.

Smith himself has spoken openly about his size before, especially as he has rapidly lost - and regained - weight on past occasions (though not because of something as serious as a heart attack). His yo-yo dieting has reached extremes in the past, too. When he met his wife, for example, he lost a huge 50 pounds in order to look more trim for her, and in 2008, he lost almost half his body weight - going from 400 lbs to 210 lbs - by cutting out sugar from his diet and going on "juice fasts".

More recently, in 2010, he was famously kicked off a flight after being too large to fit into the seat, which motivated him to lose 65 lbs. After that point, however, he admitted to returning to his old habits and piling on the pounds again.

According to Smith's daughter, the comedian has adopted a vegan diet since his brush with mortality earlier this year, and she says "He's the healthiest he's ever been" because of it.

Hopefully, the 47-year-old will continue to keep the weight off this time - not just for the sake of his health, but also for his family, who have been incredibly supportive of him throughout his journey to leading a better lifestyle. What's more, it's likely that his astounding turnaround will encourage others to switch to a more sustainable diet - so there was certainly a silver lining to his health scare.