Delighted mum loses more than 6 stone (From Daily Echo)

Delighted mum loses more than 6 stone

3:11pm Monday 19th December 2011 in Living By Sally Churchward, Senior Feature Writer

CLAIRE Allen is so determined that she is never going to be a size 20 again that she is selling all her old clothes.

The 34-year-old mother of two from Totton has dropped to a size 12, having gone from 16st 6 to 10st 2.

And when she sheds the last three pounds to reach her target weight, her husband has promised to buy her a whole new wardrobe of clothes giving her even more motivation to stay slim.

Claire joined her local branch of Slimming World, at West Totton Community Centre, in January 2009 and it gave her the push she needed to finally lose weight.

She’d been trying on and off for ten years, but her weight had crept up and up.

“I was fed up with not being able to buy nice clothes. This is the first time I’ve been really focused on losing weight,”

she says.

She stuck to a sensible eating plan with “everything in moderation” and took up regular gentle exercise – walking her daughter to and from school every day.

The eating plan allows her to have treats – which is good news as she recently started her own cupcake business, Cupcakes by Claire, and has to try out new flavours!

“I can have one cupcake and still lose weight – it’s not having five,” she laughs.

Claire was delighted to be named as Miss Slinky by her Slimming World group, having lost more than six stone.

As well as looking better, Claire feels much better – and can now run around after her children including her energetic football-loving little girl.

“When I see old photos of me I just don’t like how I looked,”

she says.

“Now I love it.”