MUM Maureen Hunter was determined she would not approach her half century this summer as "fair, fat and fifty."

Instead, Mrs Hunter from Nursteed Road signed up with a local slimming club and in the last 18 months she has lost four and a half stone, reducing from a size 22 to a size 14.

Now Mrs Hunter says she feels a lot better as well as looking slimmer, but the weight loss came at the end of a process that had gone on for years.

She said: "I yo-yo dieted throughout my 30s and 40s and was never able to maintain any weight loss.

"I used to dread shopping for clothes or going to parties or other social events because I was so aware of my size.

"Now I love going out. I love trying on my old clothes because they just fall off me"

Mrs Hunter had signed on with the Devizes branch of Slimming World, run by Carrie Thomas and Philippa Davy, both of whom had lost significant amounts of weight through the club's food optimising system.

The system offers free foods of which you can eat as much as you like on certain days.

Mrs Thomas explained: "On green days you can eat as much carbohydrate pasta, potatoes, noodles and so on as you like, along with unlimited vegetables.

"On red days, you can have unlimited meat. You feel good because you are not left feeling hungry but on the other hand you don't go to bed feeling uncomfortably stuffed."

There is even room for "sins," like chocolates or sticky confectionery.

Mrs Thomas, who lost nearly six stones using the system, said: "You can have up to 15 sins a day.

"A Crunchie bar or a doughnut each count as ten sins, while a rich tea biscuit is a mere two sins."

Mrs Hunter was so enthusiastic about the plan, she became a consultant for Slimming World last November, taking over the class held on Tuesday mornings in the Riverside Centre, Melksham.

In six months the total weight loss among her clients is well over 100 stones. She is now hoping to achieve similar results in Devizes.