A Surrey woman has lost a whopping six and a half stone in six months.

Janet Stanley, 53, decided to join Slimming World in Weybridge at the same time as her boss back in June.

The mum-of-two from Weybridge, who works in Leatherhead, was reluctant at first but went along after a little nudging.

Janet said her life “has been completely transformed”.

She said: “Before I was struggling to walk any distance or stand for long periods of time.

“I had recently changed jobs and there was no parking where I worked so I had to walk from the public car park.

“It takes me now about seven minutes now whereas before it was more like 20 because I had to keep stopping.

“I walk through a town centre so I was constantly stopping and pretending to look in shop windows but actually I was trying to catch my breath.

“My life’s just been completely transformed and now I love to walk.”

After the first week of the weight loss programme, Janet got quite a shock.

“I put on a stone. I couldn’t believe it, when I weighed in I didn’t want to know my weight and the battery on my scales didn’t work at home so it came as quite a shock.

“I had several conversations with Jenny- I wanted to cancel my membership, I thought there’s something wrong, the scales are wrong.”

Jenny, the Weybridge Slimming World consultant, told Janet since it was summer the weight gain could have been down to drinking lots of water in the heat.

Janet said: “I wasn’t so sure. But I stuck with it and the following week and had lost six or seven pounds.

“I’ve been losing weight since and haven’t plateaued.”

On top of her own weight loss, Janet’s husband has lost two and half stone, despite not being on the diet but eating some of the same food.

Janet is also cooking a lot more.

“I don’t like cooking and I’m not very good. My husband was surprised at how often I was in the kitchen cooking up recipes- although the novelty has slightly worn off,” she laughed.

Although an admitted “yo-yo dieter”, Janet has a different mind-set this time around.

She said: “I have always struggled, this time there is something different about my mind set and I think being a little bit older now I realise that time is running out.

“I don’t want to be dieting when I’m 60 or 70.”

Things are different for Janet since losing the weight, from being able to wear what she wants to wear to her general wellbeing.

She said: “I feel more confident, I was never a shrinking violet, but it’s just one less thing to worry about.

“Things like flying, I flew last weekend for business and didn’t have to worry about a seatbelt extension.

“Also, I’m not thinking that people are looking at me and thinking oh my goodness, look at that big lady.

“With the weight sometimes people can be a bit dismissive of you.

“Or perhaps it’s the way I was because I didn’t want to be noticed and I wanted to just shrink into the background.

“Now I have more confidence and am more inclined to speak to people because I’m not worried about what they’re going to think.”

Before joining the programme, Janet thought it was going to be a lot harder than it was.

For people who want to lose weight, she advised: “Take the initial step, to join whatever club you think is right for you.

“I used to think, oh I have so much weight to lose, it’s going to take me forever, but I didn’t realise how soon I would feel the benefits.

“Don’t think ‘it’s going to take a year or two to see the difference’.

“The last six months, and it’s six months on Wednesday, have just flown by so I would advise anyone to stick with it.”