BEING told she faced insulin injections to control her diabetes frightened Helen Lovatt to death.

But the 53-year-old has never had to experience the treatment because she tackled her health head-on by losing three and a half stone.

"I was diagnosed as a diabetic 16 years ago," says Helen, of Primrose Grove, Newcastle.

"I managed to control it for about eight years, just with my diet, but then I had to have medication. However, that wasn't controlling it either."

Helen, who is married to Kevin, also aged 53, and has a daughter, Stephanie, aged 29, was told she needed insulin in January this year.

"I was frightened to death," she admits, "because I didn't want to have to start sticking needles in myself."

Determined to lose weight, Helen joined a Slimming World group in Newcastle.

"I'd been aware for a while I needed to do something," she says, "and the insulin made me do it straight away."

When she started attending the group's meetings 11 months ago, Helen weighed 17 stone 3lb and was a dress size 22.

"I'd always struggled with my weight since I was a teenager," she said. "I just liked food too much.

"I ate all the things I shouldn't, like sweets and chocolate."

When she married Kevin in 1977, she weighed 12-and-a-half stone and wore size 16 clothes.

"I was happy with my size then," she says, "but I think the weight had slowly crept on."

And it was while she was pregnant with her daughter that the pounds really began to pile on.

"I went up to about 14 and a half to 15 stone," she says.

"I had pre-eclampsia and Stephanie was born eight weeks premature.

"She was only 2lb 11oz and was in special care for abut six weeks. Whether that made me eat more, I don't know."

Helen, an administrator at Keele University, also ate big helpings at mealtimes – and lots of puddings.

"If it was sweet, I wanted it," she says. "If we ever went out to eat, I always had a sweet. I liked treacle sponge and custard – the sicklier the better.

"And I used to have a couple of bags of crisps every night."

Helen's husband has since admitted he was worried about her weight.

"He was concerned I was getting too big," she says, "but he never said anything."

Helen is now 13 stone 10lb and a dress size 16. She said: "I've found the eating plan really easy," she says, "because I can eat almost anything I want, provided I stay within the 'syns'.

"I stopped eating chocolates and sweets because I knew I had to, and I don't have any fat on any meat.

"Plus, I don't have butter on my sandwiches."

Since losing weight, Helen says she feels "fantastic".

"It was because of my health that I did it," she says.

"I've got a lot more energy and I go to the gym three times a week.

"I've also got an exercise bike and I walk as much as I can."

Most importantly, the weight loss means she hasn't had to have insulin injections.

"I've also had some of the tablets taken off me as well," she says.

"Losing weight is helping my diabetes. My blood sugar has been steady for a good six months and is down to normal now."

But Helen is continuing with the Slimming World meetings because she wants to lose another stone-and-a-half to two stone.

"I'll keep going until I feel comfortable," she says, "but I can't believe how well I've done, and I've not even felt hungry.

"The people in the group are really supportive, and my family have been brilliant too."

Kevin admits he was worried about his wife after she was diagnosed with diabetes.

"There have been a few occasions when she's not been very well and it's been difficult to know what to do," he says.

"Sometimes, when her sugar has been low, she's had tingling sensations around her face. She hasn't passed out, but it's been close a couple of times."

And he adds that he is "really, really proud" of what she has achieved.

"Since she started losing weight, her sugar has been controlled much better," he says, "and it's great the doctor has decided to reduce her medication.

"Her weight loss isn't something I've enforced on her. It's been totally of her own free will.

"She's done really well."

Helen Lovatt attends Slimming World classes at Newcastle Library on Thursdays. To find out more, contact group leader Claire Brough on 01782 787705.