LESS than a year ago super slimmer Jo Cattermole was warned that if she did not lose weight she may never be able to have children.

The 27-year-old nursery school assistant has polysistic ovary syndrome, a condition which can cause obesity and lead to infertility.

In April last year Miss Cattermole – of Beresford Drive, Woodbridge – weighed 18st 7lb and doctors told her she had to get in shape.

With the help of her local Slimming World group, which meets every Tuesday at the town’s football club, she is now healthier and fitter than ever before – having shed an impressive 5st 1lb, the equivalent of five dress sizes.

Miss Cattermole – who is still hoping to lose a further two stones – said: “I still have a way to go before I reach my target, but I am loving the new me, when I look at my old photos I can’t believe it.

“My job with the children has become so much easier and more enjoyable, my day-to-day life is great. I have a renewed self-confidence and I am loving it more and more.”

Miss Cattermole, who is now a size 16 and works at CupCakes Nursery in Havergate Road, Ipswich, is full of praise for the Slimming World group that has helped change her life.

“The group has been my absolute rock of support and I am sure that I could not have achieved this without it,” she said. “Polysistic ovary syndrome can harbour the fat, so it can make it quite difficult to slim down. However, when I was told that if I didn’t lose weight there was a chance that I might never be able to have children I knew I had to do something.

“Things I had tried in the past never seemed to work, but this time it was different. The group puts you on a well balanced healthy eating plan – it doesn’t seem like a diet at all. I was never hungry and you are even allowed to eat all the naughty things in moderation so you never feel like you are missing out. It is incredibly flexible.”

n Anyone interested in losing weight can telephone the Woodbridge group on 01473 333767 or visit www.slimming-world.com

craig.robinson@eadt.co.uk