Studying the art of slimming

MANY would know from their own experiences how difficult it is to resist fast food and alcohol when at university. But a Fenland student has done just that – and lost six-and-a-half stones in six months. Twenty-year-old Lucy Heighton puts it all down to w

MANY would know from their own experiences how difficult it is to resist fast food and alcohol when at university.

But a Fenland student has done just that - and lost six-and-a-half stones in six months.

Twenty-year-old Lucy Heighton puts it all down to willpower.

She explained that she was going through a period of depression because of all the weight she had put on since she started at Sheffield University.

"I decided I had to do something about it," she said. "And I started the Lighter Life diet."

It was a programme that saw Miss Heighton, a politics student, scrap the takeaways and alcohol to start eating four food packs a day that contained all the nutrition she needed.

Miss Heighton weighed 16-and-a-half stone, when she started eating the food packs in the summer, but now weighs in at just under 10st.

She said: "I slept a lot every day, and I always skipped breakfast, and if I had lunch it would not be sufficient, so I had a huge amount at dinner time, in the form of a Chinese or something similar. I drank a lot of alcohol as well and consumed a lot of calories that way.

"But these food packs contain just 500 calories for your day and as I have lost weight I have become more active. I have now joined a gym and on

Monday I got up at 6am to get to the gym at 7am."

But Miss Heighton, of Tinkers Drove, Wisbech, thinks her real test will come when she gives up the diet completely.

"And I have been invited to a party this weekend and have not had a drink in seven months," she said.