A PORTLAND mum has lost more than eight stone for her family.

Paula Hebblethwaite 45, of Portland, lost 8st 3lbs in total with Slimming World.

She found herself in a cycle of joining a group, losing a bit of weight, and then leaving when her motivation waned.

Then she joined the morning group at Easton Methodist Church Hall, in June 2011, following a medical where she found she had a number of health problem including high cholesterol and bad knee joints.

Mrs Hebblethwaite lost three stone in three months and said this was normally when her motivation would wane, then unexpectedly her father, John Trevett, passed away.

She said: “It was found that he had a bad heart and that the arteries were thickened.

“This scared me because I thought if a slim person who was never been overweight had this, what would my heart be like?

“This then led me to think about my family – my daughter Holly was young and my husband worked at sea. I was worried about who would be there for my daughter if anything happened to me.

“That was the motivation I needed.”

She joined Young’s Fitness in Easton and got a personal trainer and volunteered to be part of the social team at the group.

She said: “I tried to talk myself out of joining the social team because I knew it meant a commitment to going and staying to group every week.

“However, this turned out to be one of the best things I could have done. I couldn't make feeble excuses anymore about not staying to the group as I felt I would be letting the team down.”

Mrs Hebblethwaite won the Greatest Loser award and Woman of the Year 2012 from her group, along her way to target.

She said: “I’m definitely more confident.”

Mrs Hebblethwaite joked she now had the problem of trying to find small enough sizes in the shops, having gone from a size 26 to a 6.

She said: “I just think you need some sort of motivation.”

Super slimmer’s diet THEN Breakfast: Toast and jam or a big bowl of cereal Lunch: Sandwiches with high calorie filling Dinner: Big meal like pie and chips Snacks: Cakes, sweets during the evening NOW Breakfast: Porridge Lunch: Prawn or Chicken salad Dinner: Meat and vegetables Snacks: Yogurt and after dinner yogurt with fruit or a small chocolate bar.