A DORCHESTER slimmer who suffered from depression and whose self-esteem was in “tatters” before losing five stone has raised more than £1,000 after taking on a marathon cycle ride.

Carol Murgatroyd, 48, joined Weight Watchers in October 2011 and weighed 16 stone and seven pounds and by November 2012 had hit her target weight and now weighs 12 stone and five pounds.

She has maintained her target weight and this year took on a charity bike ride that would have felt impossible a few years ago.

In June, she spent 24 hours cycling the 300 kilometres from London to Paris.

She said: “I went from being someone who would’ve rolled out of bed and into the car and driven and parked right by my desk if possible. I had a very unhealthy lifestyle and suffered from depression.

“My self-esteem was in tatters at the beginning and slowly but surely I took up a little activity, then a little more and then I bought a cross trainer and I did the Couch to 5K, as my GP wasn’t keen on me running due to the impact that would have on my back and neck which I’d previously had an operation on.”

From there, Carol joined her local gym and took part in a few five KM runs and said that exercise is now something she misses desperately if she doesn’t do it.

However, two days before Christmas last year, Carol’s husband was diagnosed with cancer and was operated on in September this year.

She said the team there were “second to none” and when the team there mentioned cycling from London to Paris in 24 hours she signed up.

The cycle was raising money for PLANETS, a charity at Southampton General Hospital dedicated to defeating cancer of the liver and neuroendocrine tumours.

Carol said: “As you can imagine, having a husband convalescing, and working full-time and training for the bike ride life wasn’t particularly easy but, my reason was that if my husband could go through what he’d gone through and also chemotherapy, then to was the very least I could do to ride 300km and raise some pennies for an incredible cause.”