A super-slimmer who has used her own weight-loss success to help others in Brentwood to shed the pounds has reached the finals of a national competition.

Karen Barker, who runs a Slimming World group, was invited to the organisation’s head office as part of its national Consultant Slimmer of the Year competition.

Karen, who runs a group in Doddinghurst, is 5st 7.5lb lighter, and her achievements saw her become one of just 32 consultants from across the UK and Ireland to win a place at the finals of Consultant Slimmer of the Year 2017.

At her heaviest Karen weighed 16st 7.5lb and found both her health and confidence were beginning to suffer.

So, in June 2015, the 34-year-old joined her local Slimming World group. She started following Slimming World’s Food Optimising healthy eating plan and says: "Being able to lose weight without feeling hungry seemed too good to be true, but I’m living proof that filling up on healthy foods like fruit and veg, pasta, potatoes and lean meats really does work.

"Losing weight was obviously an enormous achievement and I’ve also gained so much more besides – a new zest for life, great new friends and even a fab new business."

Karen decided to train to become a Slimming World Consultant in December 2015 and she now supports more than 80 slimmers at her group.

She says: "Slimming World only recruits people to become consultants who have lost weight with Slimming World themselves, because it’s so important that we have a real understanding of how it feels to struggle with your weight.

"Everyone has those initial jitters when they decide to join a Slimming World group for the first time, but people soon realise that we are all there for the same reason – because we want to do something about our weight."

Karen’s weight loss put her in the running for Slimming World’s Consultant Slimmer of the Year 2017 competition, which was open to all of the club’s 4,500 Consultants who have lost weight in the last 12 months. She attended the finals at the club’s head office in Derbyshire earlier this month and was presented with a certificate and gift by Slimming World’s chief executive Caryl Richards.

The Doddinghurst Slimming World group is held every Tuesday at 5.30pm and 7.30pm at St Margarets Catholic Church Hall, Doddinghurst Road, Doddinghurst. To find out more, visit www.slimmingworld.com or call Karen on 07825446912.