WHEN Kate Colvin saw a photograph of herself and her sister at her 29th birthday party she knew she had to do something about her weight.

At 18 stone 11lb and a size 26 she said she could not face being "30 and fat".

Two years later, she is a shadow of her former self and twice as confident.

It took the 31-year-old 18 months to get down to 11 stone 6lb after joining a Weightwatchers class - a loss of more than seven stone.

She said: "My husband Derek says my waist has shrunk but my mouth has got bigger. My son said to me 'it's great that you've lost all this weight mam because now you do stuff with us'.

"It's true, I now go out on my bike and rollerblades and I feel so much better."

Before losing the weight Mrs Colvin had little confidence. Now she leads the Shildon-classes for Weightwatchers, which are held at St John's Church, every Tuesday evening.