DISTRICT nurse Jo-Anne Jones used to be too big for funfair rides and could not sit on benches in beer gardens.

But after losing more than eight stones, the Croespenmaen mum saw her weight plummet from 19 stone 3lb to 11 stone 1lb after deciding enough was enough after more than ten years of unsuccessfully trying to shift the weight.

Mrs Jones, 34, from Cenaes Road, is now enjoying a new lease of life and is vowing to continue the weight loss regime.

She said: "I just felt it was time to do something about my weight and take a bit more control. People who haven't seen me for a while just don't recognise me - it is only when I talk and they hear my voice do they realise it is me.

"Now I can do the sort of things that many people take for granted, like sitting down on chairs that are fixed to tables. I wasn't able to do that at my heaviest.

"Also, I wouldn't have even attempted to go onto fairground rides where the bar would come down over you because it would have been too restrictive.

"Clothes shopping has changed a great deal as well, because before I might have gone to just one shop and bought dark clothes to make me look slimmer.

"Suddenly everything is open to me and I have got freedom when I go out shopping."

Tracey Thomas, the Weightwatchers leader at the Oakdale branch, said: "It is amazing just how much weight she has lost - she is the shining star of the class but she is quite modest about it.

"Even now, after two years of dieting, she is still dropping sizes."