Karen Peck is thrilled to be called a big loser. The Black Country mother-of-three, who admitted being ‘mortified’ when she tipped the scales at a hefty 20-and-a-half stone, has shed more than seven stone.

And now super slimmer Karen, aged 44, has been rewarded for her efforts by being named her slimming group’s Biggest Loser. At her heaviest, the hairdresser weighed in at 20 stone 7Ib but since joining her class two years ago she has slimmed down to 13stone 4lb.

Karen, of Fordhouses, Wolverhampton, is delighted after plunging five dress sizes from a 26 to 16.

She was named biggest loser at her group’s weekly meeting last night at Goodyear Pavilion on the Stafford Road.

“I was always a bit of a yo-yo dieter. I tried to lose weight, but it would easily pile back on,” she said.

“I remember I used to pile the food on my plate without thinking of the fat content.”

Karen’s husband Gary and children are all thrilled by her weight loss.

“They don’t recognise me. I actually don’t recognise myself when I look back at the old photos.

“I can’t believe I let myself get that big. But I really don’t think you realise at the time just how big you are. It was only when I looked at some pictures and got on the scales that I thought – on my God, I’ve got to do something about this,” she said.

“I really was mortified at my first weigh in at Slimming World. But I was determined to keep focused and worked hard to stay on track to lose the weight.”

In her first week Karen shed 6Ib and the weight kept coming off week after week.

Karen explained: “I started thinking about what I was eating and I was taking more care about how much I was putting on my plate.”

She said that she was delighted to have dropped so many dress sizes.

“One thing I’m delighted about is the fact that I’m now a size 16. It means I can actually wear clothes that are available on the high street. I used to have to get bigger clothes from specialist shops,” she pointed out.

Karen says she is staying focused and her target is to lose another stone.

Tracy Pannell, who runs the slimming class at Goodyear Pavilion, said that she was delighted by Karen’s success.

“It’s a fantastic achievement,” she added.