They lost 102 stone between them: salute the slimmers of the year

 
Undated handout photo issued by Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness Clubs Limited of a 'before' photo of Liz Knight ,26, from Lancaster, who was morbidly obese and struggled to stand up and who has won the Biggest Loser Slimmer of the Year award, in the Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness Magazine slimmers of the year competition. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday January 3, 2013. See PA story HEALTH Slimmers. Photo credit should read: Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness Clubs Limited/PA Wire
PA
3 January 2013

Yummy mummy slimmer of the year, over 50s slimmer of the year, Mr and Mrs slimmers of the year: in the wake of the Royal College of Physicians report into the inadequacy of the NHS response to the obesity epidemic in the UK comes the cheering news that some are taking drastic action to sort out the problem by themselves.

There are 12 winners of different categories in this year's Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Magazine annual awards. The winners include a 22-stone woman who struggled to get pregnant because of her size, who has been named as a slimmer of the year after losing half her body weight. Laura Mack, 28, of Staffordshire, lost more than 11st and will pick up her award later today.

Ms Mack, from Tamworth, who used to weigh 22st 3lb and wear a dress size 26/28, decided to lose weight after she visited a fertility clinic and was told her weight was stopping her becoming pregnant. The Yummy Mummy Slimmer of the Year winner managed to drop down to a size 12 and has since given birth to two boys aged two and three.

Nurse Charmaine White, 52, from Exeter, lost 8st 7lb after three decades of failed dieting and picked up the Over 50s Slimmer of the Year award. Ms White, who used to weigh 19st and wear a size 24/26, said: "Before I lost weight, I was self-conscious about giving advice to my patients and wasn't a very good role model." She now wears a size 12/14 and weighs 10st 7lb which has improved her health.

The Biggest Loser Slimmer of the Year award went to 26-year-old Liz Knight, from Lancaster, who was morbidly obese and struggled to stand up. Ms Knight, who used to weigh 25st 10lb and wear a size 32/34, lost more than half her body weight to bring her down to a size 14 and a healthy 11st 4lb. She is now training as an exercise-to-music instructor to help others lose weight.

Emma Anthony, 22, of Orpington, Kent, shed 6st 2lb to beat school bullies and become the Student Slimmer of the Year. Anthony, who used to weigh 16st and wear a dress size 18/20, was bullied for her weight at school and felt her size was holding her back from her dream of becoming a hairdresser.

Now as a confident size 10/12 weighing 9st 12lb, she is finally studying hairdressing at college.

Diane and David Wanklyn, a Tamworth couple, were crowned the Mr and Mrs Slimmers of the Year after shedding 14st 12lb between them.

Mrs Wanklyn, 46, used to weigh 21st 2lb and wear a size 24/26, while Mr Wanklyn, 54, weighed 16st 4lb until the couple joined forces to tackle their weight problem.

Nurse Julie Oliver from Hertfordshire shed 7st 10lb whilst battling breast cancer and was named Health Professional Slimmer of the Year.

Ms Oliver, 48, dropped eight dress sizes to become a slim size 8/10 and now weighs 10st 4{lb.

Mother and Daughter Slimmers of the Year Lynn and Hollie Bennington, from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, both swapped a size 22/24 for a size 12, losing almost 14st between them.

Mrs Bennington, 53, dropped from 16st 8lb to 10st 8lb while her daughter, 23, saw her weight fall from 19st 10lb to 11st 13lb.

Debbie Plumpton, 43, from Liversedge, West Yorkshire, won the title of Super Fit Slimmer of the Year after shedding 7st in just over a year.

Ms Plumpton, who used to weigh 16st 5lb and wear a size 24, embraced exercise to become a size 8/10.

The mother, who weighs 9st 5lb, now makes time to do 35-40 minutes of exercise each morning.

Sharon Farrell, 45, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, lost 10st 11lb - half of her body weight - to weigh 10st 2lb, becoming the Over 40s Slimmer of the Year.

Ms Farrell, who went from a size 30 to a size 10, was overweight as a child and decided to lose weight after being humiliated for taking up two seats on a bus.

Katie Parkin, 25, from Weston, Cheshire, lost 9st with the help of Conley's online slimming club, earning her the title of Online Slimmer of the Year.

She started to lose weight because of her father's last wishes, and now wears a size 10 instead of a size 20, weighing 9st.

Conley who will present the winners with their awards and £1,000 each, said: "This year we have received an enormous number of applications for our annual Slimmers of the Year event. I am delighted to reward these amazing 12 slimmers, who between them have lost an astounding 102st."

The national Slimmers of the Year 2013 Awards will be held at the London Marriott County Hall Hotel at noon today.

end

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in