STEVE and Sue Eastoe are seeing less of each other these days after losing more than 12 stone between them.

The pair, from Hayton, near Pocklington, vowed to slim after Steve, who weighed nearly 27 stone, began to suffer from depression, high blood pressure and back pain.

Less than a year after signing up to a slimming group 49-year-old Steve has lost a remarkable ten stone and 53-year-old Sue around two stone.

Steve, an agricultural worker, has become so enamoured with his healthy lifestyle, he has even joined Pocklington Runners and plans to run the London marathon.

He said: “I was overweight and depressed. Doctors said they could offer anti-depressant tablets. I knew the reason I was down was because I was overweight. I got paranoid that everyone was looking at me. I even worried about walking through the doors of the slimming club.

“I started to lose weight and began new activities – I can run ten miles now. This is for the rest of my life now. I want to tell everybody what I feel like because it is unbelievable. I wanted to tell people that it can be done.”

The weight loss has seen Steve shrink from a 56 inch waist to around 36 inches and has seen Sue, who was keen to support her husband, drop from a size 14 to eight.

Steve, who has two grown-up children a step-daughter and a granddaughter, said all of his family are delighted with the change in him.

Jayne Pitcher, a consultant at Slimming World in Pocklington, said Steve and Sue are still able to eat foods they enjoy, but make sure that it is moderation. She said: “Steve has gone from somebody at the end of his tether with his weight to a fantastically confident person.”