A POOLE teaching assistant will be celebrating Mother’s Day and her daughter’s 19th birthday this Sunday with renewed energy after shedding 7½ stone.

Tina Duchesne, 43, joined Parkstone Weight Watchers in August 2009, when she tipped the scales at 17st 5½lbs.

“I went along with a friend who wanted to lose weight after having a baby,” she recalled.

“I had always struggled with my weight. I loved food, and chocolate was my main downfall.

“When my daughter was two, her dad left us, so I would comfort eat.

“I got to that stage where I thought I had to lose weight. I had done Weight Watchers more than 19 years ago, so I knew it did work.”

Tina, who is 5ft 1ins tall, had remarried in 2006, and with the support of her husband Graeme, daughter Fiona, and Karen Brake’s Weight Watchers group, she shed the excess pounds at a steady rate.

Under the points system, she did not have to deny herself anything she liked, including chocolate. Tina also took up zumba exercise classes and started cycling.

In January, she hit her target weight of 9st 11lbs, but has since lost another 3lbs.

Instead of having to wear size 22-24 clothes, she fits into a size 10 or 12.

“I’ve now got a new wardrobe. It’s such a lovely feeling to be able to go into a shop, see something you like, and know you can take it off the rail and it will fit.

“I’m chuffed to bits. I’m not self-conscious any more,” said Tina, who works at Courthill First School.

Her health has also improved. Before losing the weight, she was showing early signs of osteoporosis, but has managed to hold it at bay with vitamin supplements and exercise. She also uses her asthma inhaler less and catches fewer colds.

Karen said: “From day one Tina has shown such a positive and enthusiastic attitude to losing weight.

“She is such a confident person now and always willing to help any struggling members. We are so proud of her – she’s almost half the person she used to be.”