A WOMAN who is fighting the flab and aiming to lose 100 pounds of weight by the time she turns 50 in November is closing in on her target.

Paula English, of Cold Norton, has so far lost an amazing five stone and six pounds since she began to try and achieve some weight loss in 2017.

But the mother-of-two needs to shift a further 24 pounds by the time her birthday arrives later this year to reach her goal.

Paula, who is a member of a weight losing group in Maldon, weighed 18 stone at one point and decided to try and lose some of it after photos from a happy event left her feeling upset.

She explained: "I have tried numerous diets in the past but without any real success.

"But the turning point for me was receiving my daughter's official graduation photos at the end of 2016 and being so disappointed by how I appeared.

"I hated the thought that this would be repeated in my son's graduation photos so I decided something needed to change."

At the start of last year she decided to join the Weight Watchers meeting which is held at Maldon and Tiptree Football Club on Wednesday mornings.

Paula said: "A lady called Sandra Mastin leads the meetings and all the helpers and members were all so welcoming and inspiring that I thought this may be possible.

"I bought all the cookery books and decided that everyone at home would eat the same evening meal.

"In the past I had cooked separately for me or smaller portions of what they had and always slid back into bad habits."

"I started to lose weight and, apart from holidays where I put on a couple of pounds, have continued to lose.

"It's got harder and less of a loss as time has gone on but I am sticking with it."

Visit www.nhs.uk/pages/home.aspx for more information about weight loss.