Mum sheds more than daughter's body weight

A determined Thurlstone woman has shed more than her daughter's total body weight and will use her experience to help others beat the bulge.

Janine Lishman-Peat dropped from 18st 13lbs to 10st 12lbs after joining weight loss classes in May 2009.

The 57-year-old, of High Bank, has now qualified as a Weightwatchers leader and hopes to help others reach their target weights.

"I can't think of a single way it hasn't changed my life," Janine said. " It's changed everything.

"I've always been a fairly confident person anyway but there's no stopping me now."

Janine's motivation to lose weight came from a health check-up where she was told she had high blood pressure and cholesterol, sugar in her blood and was a certainty to become diabetic.

"It was how the nurse told me that I needed to lose weight," Janine added. "Her tone of voice made it sound like pigs might fly - and I thought 'these pigs are going to fly and I'm going to lose this weight'."

Janine's blood pressure and cholesterol are now both low, she has no sugar in her blood and is able to enjoy buying clothes in high street shops for the first time since she was a teenager. She also no longer requires a seatbelt extension on aeroplanes.

Janine, who has two adult children, attended classes at St John's Community Centre, Penistone and was helped on her journey by Weightwatchers leader Sonia Atkins-Currie.

Sonia became a leader five years ago, after losing five-and-a-half stone herself, and said Janine was her 'biggest loser' so far.

"I can tell by the clothes she now wears, the confidence she oozes, that her journey has been worthwhile and rewarding."