York slimmers Jane and Jim Bovingdon shed 15 stone

At her heaviest, Jane Bovingdon weighed 27 stone four pounds in February last year, wore size 38 clothes, and struggled to bend down to paint her toenails.

Jane said it was a habit of eating fatty foods and a love of takeaways that led her to pile on the pounds alongside husband Jim, who last year tipped the scales at 21 stone.

Today Jane, 41, has dropped nine-and-a-half stone and five dress sizes while Jim, 44, has shed more than five stone and 14 inches from his waistline after the couple, of Clifton, embraced a healthier and more active lifestyle.

Jane says, despite wanting to lose another six stone, she feels like she has a “new lease of life” and feels healthier than ever before.

The turning point came in February last year when, as a store worker at Morrison’s, in Foss Islands Road, Jane began to stop taking her shift and lunch breaks to avoid the staff room because she could not squeeze her larger frame into the small canteen chairs.

“They had to have a special chair made for me,” she said. “I began not taking a break because I was too embarrassed for other people to see me eat.”

Jane, bolstered by support from Jim, began weekly classes at the Tang Hall Slimming World Group, which she says have turned her life around.

“I had done diets before, but it was always the way that I lost one stone then gained two – nothing worked for me,” she said.

“But this time I was really spurred on – especially when I lost the first, then second, then third stone. It was really encouraging.”

Jane said she had obstacles to overcome along the way, including a hysterectomy after she had suspected cancer of the womb, and the death of her mother, aged only 59, last year.

“She was a big lady,” Jane said. “I could see the way my life was going to turn out if I did not do something to change it. It just spurred me on even more.”

Jane embraced a new fit way of life – starting Zumba classes and playing on her Wii Fit.

She credits her weight loss to meticulously planning every meal in advance and not eating anything “spontaneously”.

Jane said a typical breakfast for her and Jim before would include buttered toast and biscuits, lunch time would be crisps and sandwiches and an evening meal would typically be a takeaway.

The weight loss has also seen Jim turn his life around. He said he could not find trousers to fit him when he was at his biggest.

Jane said: “I feel like a new woman. I feel fantastic. I can shop in high street stores for the first time.”

How the couple lost all that weight

Before

•Jane weighed 27 stone and four pounds and wore a 38 dress size.

•Jim weighed 21 stone and three and a half pounds and had a 50-inch waistline.

•The couple would eat sandwiches, crisps, biscuits and shared a love of takeaways.

After

•Jane now weighs 17 stone eight pounds and wears a size 18/20 dress size.

•Jim weighs 15 stone eight pounds and has a 36 inch waistline.

•They both eat pre-planned healthier food such as scrambled eggs, salads and snack on yoghurts and fruit.