INSTEAD of a new hat for a family wedding, super slimmer Marie Sweeney decided to get a new body.

The 49-year-old grandmother shrank from a size 26 to a svelte size 14 to squeeze into a new dress for two family weddings.

Marie, of Layburn Place, Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, shed nearly seven stones from 16st 11lb to 10st, while on a points system Weightwatchers diet. The Gateshead Borough Council employee said the weight loss had changed her life.

She said: "I feel great now. I can do things I haven't done for 20 years. I'm doing loads of exercise. I have taken up yoga, and I'm going to learn to swim.

"Before I went on this diet I felt frumpy. I'm a grandmother, but I didn't want to be a grandmother who couldn't play with her grandchildren.

"I decided it was time to do something about my weight when I had two family weddings last year. I wanted to fit into a nice dress."

Marie, who is 5ft 4in, lost the weight over the course of 12 months using the points system, in which food is given points according to its calorie and saturated fat content.

Her local weightwatchers branch, in Birtley, meets at Birtely Leisure Centre, on Monday nights.