A STAR of a Saturday night dating show has revealed how she transformed her lifestyle to lose eight-and-a-half stone in four years.

Laura Tyssen has been looking for love on ITV’s Take Me Out programme for the last seven weeks after applying last year in a bid to find her Mr Right.

The 32-year-old, from Huntington, used to weigh 18-and-a-half stone and was a size 20, however, a trip to the doctors for a health check made her realise something had to be done.

Laura, who is now studying to be a personal trainer, said: “When they weighed me it was a shock.

“I knew I was big, but it was still a shock and I knew I had to do something.”

The account manager for a York electronics company set about eating healthier food and counting her calories, and she initially lost five stone in two years.

“When you see something is working, you carry on,” she added.

“I weighed myself every three weeks instead of every week and I decided that I didn’t want to do a crash diet because it was more likely I would put the weight back on.

“I could see the weight coming off and I was going in the right direction.

“I started really seeing the difference when I went to the shops and bought knew clothes.

“It was great.”

Laura’s dramatic transformation gave her some new-found confidence and she began applying for the dating show.

She took an interest in going to the gym to help her lose more weight and she shows off her impressive strength on the television show by putting another contestant on her shoulders and doing a squat.

The show involves a man aiming to impress 30 single women who stand behind a white light.

The man introduces himself and a series of clips telling the women more about the contestant are played.

The women can turn out their lights at any point during the clips and if two people are left with their lights on at the end of the final round, the male contestant has to pick one to go on a date with.

Laura added: “Having been bigger I was a single most of my adult dating life, but when I lost weight I gained some body confidence.

“I would never have applied for something like Take Me Out when I was bigger, but I did it to build my confidence and find a date.

“I said in my audition that I was looking for a ‘manly’ guy and somebody that’s going to make me feel like a woman rather than intimidated.”

The final show in the current series of Take Me Out is on ITV tonight at 8.05pm.

Tune in to find out if Laura goes on a date.