BRIDPORT: A 50-year-old woman who lost more than eight stone and went from a size 26 to a 12 has been competing for Woman of the Year in the Dorset and Somerset district finals of a slimming competition.

Grocery market stallholder Sarah Boyd from Bridport joined her local Slimming World group to support her daughter Emma.

At the first weigh-in in January Mrs Boyd was shocked to find her weight had ballooned higher than she imagined and she was tipping the scales at 18 stone 6lbs.

Sarah is now at her target weight, having lost 8 stone 4lbs.

She has been such an inspiration to her group that members voted for her to represent them in Yeovil.

Mrs Boyd said: “Never having scales at home I didn’t realise how much I’d gained.

“Things were getting slightly more difficult at work and bending over was a problem.

“I was just getting generally lazier as it was getting harder to do things.”

Now she can climb West Bay cliff without stopping for breath and buy new clothes.

Mrs Boyd said: “I can now go and buy clothes off the peg without having to look at the tent section which is quite nice and just being able to get into a size 12 which I haven’t done since I was about aged 12. I was at my biggest a 24/26.

“It is such a good plan to go on if you like food, like me, you can still eat tonnes of the stuff, it is just knowing what is the right stuff.”

Although the regime means Mrs Boyd can still eat – in moderation – her old favourites, chocolates, cheese and crisps, she’s found she now finds she really prefers fruit.

“I was eating completely the wrong foods, at completely the wrong times – not eating anything until I got back from work then just being so hungry I just ate everything that was wrong to fill me up.”

Mrs Boyd went through the first round of the final but didn’t get picked for the final five.

She added: “It was an experience and I am glad I went. The lady who won was very deserving – she’d lost 11 stone.”

Her consultant Becs King said: “Sarah’s weight loss is just fantastic and she was invited to the Dorset/Somerset district Woman of the Year finals to represent Bridport. It was an honour to take Sarah along to the competition.”