Slim pickings as Margaret sheds 11 stones

Margaret Balneaves is feeling half the woman she once was after shedding more than half her body weight.

• Award-winner Margaret Balneaves with a cardboard cutout of her former self. She paid tribute to her husband, Charlie, who died of a heart attack while trying to lose weight himself. Picture: PA

The 51-year-old from Edinburgh won the title of 50 plus Slimmer of the Year after dropping from 21 stone to 9st 12lb.

Mrs Balneaves decided to shed the stones after her late husband Charlie, who was diabetic and had thyroid problems, was admitted to hospital to lose weight. He lost five stones over eight weeks, but suffered a fatal heart attack after returning home in November 2007.

Margaret, who dropped from a dress size 32 to a size 10, said her weight loss was a tribute to her husband. Before he died, she had managed to lose six stones. She said that he "would have been so proud of me. I was determined to lose more weight for my own health and to honour my husband's memory."

She lost the weight by eating smaller portions, banning junk food and by joining a diet and fitness club. The ten winners of the Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Magazine Slimmer of the Year 2011 awards lost 100 stones between them.