FORMER pub landlady Lesley Clarke was constantly surrounded by food, but it wasn't until she retired she started piling on the pounds.

The 62-year-old from Chorlton Road, Birches Head, ran the Birches Head Hotel for six years with husband Harold, aged 63, until retiring five years ago.

"I was always on the go when we kept the pub and my weight was about eight stones three pounds," admits Lesley.

"I never had any problem with my weight until we retired. People would invite us out to lunch, so every opportunity we got we went out because we weren't able to before."

Serving approximately 200 lunches every Sunday, temptation for indulgent pub food was ever present. Having worked in the food industry since the age of 14, however, Lesley was always able to resist.

She says: "We were always well known for our food and won Sentinel Pub Of The Year twice, but I've worked with food since I was 14 and found I could easily resist it if I wanted to. This doesn't mean I wasn't tempted by chips and things like that because I was, but I could also run up and down the stairs all day, which was something that kept me thin."

Describing herself as a far from average 62-year-old, Lesley's life away from the kitchen was just as active. Thinking nothing of quad-biking and paragliding, the adventurous granny has always lived life to the full, but it was after a carefree holiday in Cuba last year she realised something was different.

"I felt frumpy," she says. "When you go away and feel like that it's not nice, and that's just how I felt when we came back from Cuba last year. It was a horrible feeling. I know I wasn't extremely overweight, but I'd slowly been putting pounds on and my dress size was creeping up to a 16," she adds.

"That was when I decided to join Slimming World in March last year."

Attending classes at Newcastle Library every Thursday, Lesley soon noticed a difference in her weight. Losing anything between half-a-pound to two pounds each week, she reached her target in a matter of months, and has maintained her current weight since December.

"My husband says he can't believe how much I manage to eat without putting any weight on," says Lesley, who turned vegetarian 30 years ago. "I certainly don't deprive myself of anything, including my favourite rosé wine, which is great considering it's a diet.

Because I'm a vegetarian I don't have to worry about the red and original days as every day is a green day for me, but there is so much more food available to vegetarians now than there was 30 years ago."

Her vegetarian diet followed a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome, though she believes her weight increase was also due to her age.

She says: "I know I started to put weight on because I wasn't as active as when I was at work, but I also think being older has an impact. I was partial to pizza and things like that, but I was also conscious of eating a good diet. The only thing I've never been able to take to is fish. I thought I'd try it again when I turned 60 because I know how good it is for you, but I just didn't like it."

Even though she has surpassed her target, Lesley still attends her Slimming World classes.

"It's a social thing for me," she says. "I look forward to it each week, the ladies are great and we have a good laugh. My old wardrobe is now my new wardrobe and I feel great. It's the best thing I've done."

Claire says: "Lesley is an inspiration because she shows that even though you're retired and want to lose weight you can still look fantastic and enjoy life. She lost weight quickly through carefully choosing her diet and it has made such a good impact on her figure."

For details on Claire Brough's Slimming World classes at Newcastle Library, call 01782 787705 or 07986 569076.