Nadine cuts her weight by half to help her son

The 44-year-old, from Hull, decided she really needed to do something about her weight in order to help her son, Daniel.

"I had always had a problem with my weight, even as a baby. Then, gradually, it kept creeping up, although I didn't really think of myself as fat. It happens so gradually. I put on more weight with each of my four children and never lost it.

"Daniel had always been a chunky boy but when he was about 12, I realised I needed to do something and I couldn't very well get him to lose weight if I didn't do something myself," says Nadine, a care worker.

By this stage, Nadine was wearing size 28 clothes and struggled to run anywhere. She admits that one of the main problems was the family's reliance on processed convenience food, especially shop-bought meat pies and burgers.

It wasn't until she joined her local Weight Watchers' club that Nadine realised just how much fat there was in the food she was eating herself and feeding her children.

"I started to look at the

list of ingredients on the packets and was shocked by just how much fat there was in the things we were eating," she says.

"I had managed to lose three stone myself without any help, but then put it all back on again, so when a friend said she was joining Weight Watchers, I decided to go with her."

Nadine says the scheme works for her as she needs the discipline of attending regular meetings and following their eating patterns.

"It is a change of lifestyle," she says. "I now make a lot more of my own food, such as home-made burgers which have a lot less fat and really cost no more than shop-bought ones. I do

still snack but rather than crisps and biscuits, it is

fruit. My fridge is full of fruit now.

"I still go to Weight Watchers despite hitting my target weight of 10 stone, because I know I will always have a problem with my weight. It is far harder to lose the weight than keep it off."

Nadine also does far more exercise than she ever did going to the gym and swimming three times a week. She also takes the family dogs on three-mile walks when she isn't working.

"My friend used to joke that when we went shopping I would go round and round the town trying to find the nearest parking place to the shops. Now I park as far away as possible so that I can get some exercise."

As for Daniel, Nadine says he is still chunky but now, at 17, weighs no more than he did when he was 12.

"Now, even when we are out, he will often choose the healthier option," she says.

Nadine's main problem now is choosing clothes to fit her new size 10/12 figure.

"I always used to wear baggy T-shirts and trousers as a way of covering up. Now I am having to learn to go shopping for different clothes.

"I have four boys, so they aren't that much help. But I have even bought a couple of dresses, something I would never have done a couple of years ago.

"Sometime when I am ironing my clothes, I can't believe the difference in the sizes or that they even belong to me.

"I do feel more confident now and feel that when I walk into a room people aren't staring at me," she said.