SLIM LINE

She had piled on the pounds and at 40 was pregnant with son James and weighed 20 stone.

"I couldn't walk and talk at the same time," she said.

She had started to gain weight at the age of 35 after four miscarriages and was a size 30.

"After it happened I was just always hungry," she said.

"Eating took my mind off what had happened. It was comforting.

"People assumed I was just big and happy, but I wasn't."

Hypnosis and weight reducing injections had failed, but at 45 she decided enough was enough.

Her son was being bullied at school because of his her size and she knew something had to be done.

"I went to the classes out of guilt," she said.

"It was terrible for him but I didn't know what to do.

"I just knew I had to lose it."

Helen joined a slimming class and lost five stone in 18 months.

And it was then that she gave up her job as a secretary and started working for Slimming World.

"I felt slim after losing the five stone," she said. "It was just amazing how different I felt."

Her weight did not change for four years, but last year she decided to reach her desired weight of nine stone - and she did it.

"I wanted to take the bull by the horns and just do it," she said. "I managed to lose 6 stone in nine months."

"You can't imagine how it changed my life."

She believes that people now see her for the person she is.

The perception that she was lazy has gone and new doors have been opened to her.

"Before they just saw me as greedy, slovenly and lazy," she said.

"Now they treat me so differently that men actually bother to hold a door open for me.

"I just feel so much healthier and happier."

Achieving the goal of losing the pounds can lead to spending the pounds according to Norma Ward, manager of women's clothes shop Debut in Minshull Street.

Many women pass through the shop door looking for new clothes after successfully slimming.

"I've seen some women come into the shop who have lost a lot of weight," she said.

"They usually come in looking for a whole new wardrobe because they have lost so much weight that they can't fit into any of their old clothes.

"But they won't come in and buy any new clothes until they have reached their target otherwise I think they might feel the temptation to stop at the weight they are at."

But not all the women who pop in have lost weight.

For some picking the ideal dress is the ideal incentive for sticking to their diet.

"Most of the women try something on and then say they want to lose weight so they can actually fit into it," she said. Barbara Horry has always been conscious of her weight and over the past 40 years has gradually lost five stone.

Now she goes to slimming classes to maintain her size which she says is the art to slimming.

The 71-year-old likes to keep fit, but understands that being overweight can affect women in many ways.

"It can become an obsession for some people and sometimes they try to be what they are not," she said.

"As long as you are realistic about what you are doing then it's okay but you won't be able to unless you are truly motivated."

Helen, who runs a Thursday Slimming World class at Knutsford Civic Centre, believes it is important women want to lose weight for the right reasons.

"They have to really want to lose the weight and psychologically if that is how they are feeling then they can succeed."

Health does play a part in making a woman want to slim, but she finds the biggest reason is vanity.

"There's no point in a woman trying to lose weight because her husband told her to do it," said the 50-year-old.

"Or because they are not the right look for a company.

"The youngsters will want to lose weight because they want their belly button pierced and others will want to fit into that little black dress for Christmas.

"Some just want what they had before and have lost."

ssmith@guardiangrp.co.uk