A slimmer from Harpenden who "lived on chocolate" has undergone a complete transformation after losing 8st 41b in just over 18 months.

Heather Wright, 36, used to weigh 19st 2½lb and wear a dress size 26-28, but has now trimmed down to 10st 12½ lb and is a size 10-12.

Her voracious appetite for junk food sent her weight spiralling, and she suffered constant joint pain and irritable bowel symptom as a result. She was unable to walk without her thighs chafing and could not bend her knees when she tried to get out of bed in the morning.

One particularly embarrassing incident she recalls was when a chair she sat on at a dinner party collapsed.

She said: “Being fat was my own fault. My diet consisted of rubbish. I lived on chocolate and could eat eight or nine bars a day. My work was very sedentary and I never stopped eating.”

When Heather joined her local Rosemary Conley Club in January 2009 she was the biggest person there.

By the end of the year she had shed 7st. “After about six months, all my health problems were improving,” said Heather.

“I’m happier and healthier than I have ever been.”

Heather appears on the cover of the December/January issue of Rosemary Conley Diet & Fitness magazine.