WEIGHT had never been an issue for Liz Steele until she hit her mid-30s.

Before then she'd never been overweight and her dress size hadn't risen above 14.

But from the age of 35 she began to suffer from poor health and her size ballooned.

"I used to be able to eat what I wanted," recalls the 47-year-old, who lives in St James Green, Cotes Heath, with her husband Lyndon, a 56-year-old computer programmer.

"I was one of those people for whom food never really bothered them.

"My favourite was Indian food, but I liked anything really unhealthy.

"However, I didn't put on weight, and I was fairly fit and active, although I didn't go to the gym or anything like that. I went horse-riding and I used to walk the dogs and ride a bicycle."

Twelve years ago, Liz began to notice something was wrong.

"I developed strange pains all over my body," she says, "but any tests I had came back negative."

One day, Liz woke up and found she'd lost the feeling in her right side. A scan revealed she had multiple sclerosis, an incurable condition that affects the transfer of messages from the central nervous system to the rest of the body.

"When I was diagnosed in 2001, part of me was relieved," she admits, "because it started to make sense to me, but the other part was devastated. I just thought, 'This is for the rest of my life'.

"However, my attitude is I've got MS, MS hasn't got me. I'm not going to let it ruin my life."

The condition often leaves Liz feeling low and anxious, and as her pace has slowed down, the pounds have piled on.

"You find you can't do the things you want to do," she says. "I used to be quite a quick walker, but I suddenly found I was quite slow.

"And I started to watch what I was eating because my metabolism had started to slow down."

The increase in her size left Liz feeling "awful" and "out of control".

"But I wasn't an overeater," she insists. "I was eating next to nothing, but still putting on weight."

The retired senior staff nurse in mental health turned to various diets in an effort to get trim, including one where she was only allowed to eat food grown above the ground.

"This meant no root vegetables," she says, "even though I love potatoes."

In September 2008, Liz joined a WeightWatchers class in Stone and hasn't looked back. At that point she weighed 16 stone 6lbs and was a size 22.

"I always thought WeightWatchers involved a lot of weighing and that you'd be restricted in what you could eat," she says, "but it wasn't like that at all – you can eat anything you want.

"Every food has a points value and you're allowed so many points per day.

"However, I actually find it hard to eat all the points required, because there are more than enough."

As the weight came off, Liz felt motivated to carry on and is "chuffed" to have lost almost five stones, taking her down to 11 stone 8lbs and a size 16.

"For me, the biggest thing was being able to go into Dorothy Perkins, a shop I hadn't been in for 20 years," she says.

"I picked up clothes and thought, 'these won't fit', but when I got home I found the size 18s were too big. That was great and I felt really, really good.

"I used to always wear long cardigans and things that covered my bottom, but I've now got mini-skirts."

The weight loss has also helped Liz with the MS.

"I'll always have the symptoms in varying degrees," she says, "but I can bend over easily now and put my shoes on, because I'm not carrying the weight around that I used to and a lot of the pain in my feet has been relieved."

Liz is continuing to go to WeightWatchers meetings and would like to lose a further half a stone.

"I'd be happy with that," she says. "At 47 you have to be careful, because if you try to lose too much weight, you won't be able to maintain it. You have to be realistic."

Liz's husband Lyndon is proud of his wife's achievement.

"She's done really well," he says. "She's really stuck to her new diet and is still able to give herself the odd treat."

Liz attends WeightWatchers classes at the Frank Jordan Centre, Stone, on Thursdays at 10am. To find out more, contact Lynda Gibson on 01785 859366.