Mum shed half her body weight after she was unable to get out of her chair

A mum-of-four who was once so overweight she could not go to the toilet on her own has shed more than half her body weight.

Janet Lewis, from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan , Wales, has gone from 22st to 10st 10lb since joining a Cardiff slimming group in July 2017.

The 53-year-old signed up to the group partly because she was embarrassed about not being able to get out of a chair to go to the bathroom, Wales Online reports.

She added: "I couldn't carry my own body weight, so my partner had to help me to the toilet.

"I was crying that I was going to wet myself. That was the turning point for me."

The mother once cried when she thought she was going to wet herself (media wales)

Janet said she began struggling with her weight when she gave birth to her son, Ray, more than three decades ago.

"I tried all the fad diets but I just couldn't keep the weight off," she said.

When her father Robert Selby died suddenly of suspected pneumonia four years ago, Janet said she struggled to come to terms with it.

She added: "It was horrific. I couldn't deal with anything. My mum came to stay with me but we just ended up eating badly together.

The mother started struggling with her weight after giving birth to her son (media wales)

"We'd go to town and eat cake, then we'd just sit in the house together."

The death of her father, coupled with the embarrassment of being unable to support her own body weight, drove her to join Slimming World.

Janet, who almost died of cervical cancer at the age of just 26, said her consultant Rob Phillips was a real driving force in her quest to get slim - and stay that way.

She added: "Rob never gives up on me. Even when I come back from holiday and put on some weight, I prove to him that I can get it off again.

"My motto is to 'eat myself slim'. I make sure I stick to the Slimming World food optimisation plan by making loads of food myself, including homemade KFC and cheese burgers with bacon.

Janet credited her consultant with helping her to shed the pounds and keep them off (media wales)

"And my children love my Chinese food."

In addition to Janet losing weight, her daughter Carla Ingram, 31, has also shed an impressive 7st.

But Janet, who admits to never exercising, confesses that she still hasn't come to terms with looking thin.

She said: "I still instinctively go for the large size in clothes shops.

She lost the weight despite never exercising (media wales)

"Some days I look in the mirror and I don't realise it's me in the reflection.

"My husband Byron has also been my rock throughout this slimming journey."

Janet has won Slimming World's Greater Loser award three years running.