TELEVISION doctor Hilary Jones hopes a Wisbech woman who halved her weight will inspire others to transform their lives.

Carol Hawkins narrowly missed out of making the top 10 Woman of the Year Slimming World final and the chance to go on holiday to Mexico after she lost more than 10st in 18 months.

The 49-year-old, who now weighs 11st 3lbs, said: “I’d tried so many times and so many ways to lose weight before, usually depriving myself of the foods I enjoy, counting calories and going hungry, so inevitably my attempts failed miserably.

“I decided to have one last try and luckily I found Slimming World. I made changes to the way that I cooked and ate, of course, but they were small changes made easy at Slimming World.

“Now I’m slimmer and more confident – so much more confident that I run regularly too, when before I lost the weight I did no exercise at all.”

Daybreak regular Dr Jones met Mrs Hawkins, who weighed 21st 5lb at the beginning of last year, at the finals of the competition. “It’s wonderful to see Carol looking so lovely and healthy and hear all about her weight loss. I hope her story inspires lots of other people in her town to follow her lead and transform their health too,” he said.

“By losing weight, Carol has dramatically reduced her risk of a range of health problems including, at the very worst, premature death.”

Carol’s consultant Valerie said: “Carol is not only looking great, she’s added years to her life and become a role model in our local community.”

Wisbech Slimming World meets at the church hall every Thursday at 10am.