WHEN Sharon Smith got stuck in an aeroplane seat she decided it was time to shed some weight.

Now, three years later, the mother-of-one has lost more than seven stone and is through to the regional finals of a slimming club woman of the year award.

And to celebrate Sharon, 42, has swapped her

sensible saloon for a sports car with a personalised number plate.

She said: "I was on a flight to the Caribbean in 1996 and tried to put my seatbelt on but it wouldn't fit round me.

"Then the stewardess came round and offered me a drink but I couldn't fit the tray down in front of me to put the drink down on.

"The whole flight was terrible. I didn't dare move from my seat for fear that if someone else was moving about the plane I wouldn't be able to pass them in the aisle.

"And when we landed I realised I was stuck in my seat. I couldn't move and really had to heave myself out of it. I was so embarrassed."

As soon as hairdresser Sharon, of Mile Oak Road, Portslade, got home she joined a slimming club and has now shrunk from a size 26 to a size 12.

She swapped her old diet of chips, takeaways, crisps and biscuits for a sensible diet including lots of vegetables, protein and carbohydrate.

Sharon, who is 5ft 1in, did not even do any exercise to lose the pounds.

She said: "It's fantastic. I feel wonderful. My dream has become my reality. It really is just a question of eating sensibly and healthily.

"I eat more now than I ever did before but it's knowing how and what to eat to speed up the metabolism."

Husband Andy, 39, and daughter Cher-ise, 15, have backed her all the way.

Sharon said: "Cherise is dressing me now. I've thrown out all my elasticated waistbands and I wear knee-length skirts and trousers.

"I used to be really embarrassed when I took Cherise to school and all the other mums used to turn and stare at me.

"I was 30 but I felt 60."

Sharon's old diet is a long way from what she eats now.

She said: "I used to eat takeaways all the time. I loved curry and chocolate was a real down-fall. I would rather eat biscuits and chocolate than a proper meal and used to binge throughout the day."

Now a normal day's diet consists of two Weetabix for breakfast with a Kit-Kat and an apple sneaked in for a morning break.

She has a sandwich and bag of crisps for lunch, with three pieces of fruit dotted through the afternoon.

For an evening meal Sharon sits down to steak or prawns and vegetables and is still able to treat herself to a Bacardi and cola.

Sharon said: "I no longer feel uncomfortable when I walk. I feel a new woman. I am able to stand at ease and feel extremely fit and healthy.

"The girls at the hairdressers shop have been great and really backed me through it all. They have said I used to be a shrinking violet but have now become a new rose. Clients come in and don't recognise me and ask who I am. It gives me a real buzz."

Sharon has been named the Portslade Old Village branch winner of the Slimming World Woman of the Year award and will go on to the Sussex heat on Saturday which she is determined to win.

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