AMAZING pictures show how a South Shropshire woman shed seven stone without the help of a slimming club.

Emily Baker, 49, has lost seven stone since the end of May 2021 while also raising over £800 for her friend.

She said she was motivated to lose weight not only for her health but to fundraise for Ann Wenn who needed to build a wheelchair-accessible extension for her son who has cerebral palsy.

Ms Baker, from Ludlow, added: “To be given the opportunity to support my friend's son in their time of need has been a great privilege, I know that the money that I have raised has helped Sebby to a better quality of life.”

She originally set herself the fundraising challenge before the pandemic with a goal to lose 24 pounds in three months but as she nearly completed it, the country was put into the first lockdown when she put on all of the weight she had lost and more.

Restarting her challenge last Summer at 131kg, she has credited the support she’s received at Teme Leisure to her success.

“Without them there I wouldn't have been able to have that determination,” she said.

Ms Baker is a complimentary therapist and spiritual medium and has said she’s been overweight all her life, until a doctor referred her to the gym in 2019.

“It's always daunting going to going to a gym because you always think, ‘Oh my God, I'm going to be the fattest person in the world there’, so you bring that kind of anxiety.

“The next anxiety is that you're going to break the machines because you're too heavy, but it wasn't like that at all, it was really welcoming.”

She said that she realised she was a comfort eater in her 20s and thinks there should be more NHS support in place for people to understand their eating patterns.

“If you talk to anyone about depression, they understand that you might eat and that's where the conversation ends.

“It needs to be a team effort and unfortunately with the days that we are that funding is just not there at all.”