This Christmas was a very different occasion for one Trowbridge resident who, after a scare at Christmas 2016, is finally feels comfortable in her own skin 110lbs lighter.

Two years ago Chelle Gilbert took her son to enjoy some Boxing Day sales but a humiliating event prompted a change in lifestyle.

Ms Gilbert said: “I saw this beautiful red top but there was only one left in a size 8.

“It wouldn’t have even covered an arm, so I asked the shop assistant if they had in a larger size. She called around, eyed me up and down and then said into the phone, size 24 or 26?

“I was devastated. My little boy asked me if that’s how old I was because he wore clothes in his age bracket so assumed we all did.

“I literally bit my lip, went home, sat on my bed and burst into tears. The girl had been right, I was a size 24/26. I’d had four children and in a bid to get healthy, given up smoking then piled on the pounds.

“I hung the top up and looked at it for quite some time before I had a lightbulb moment. I hadn’t bought a top at all, I’d bought my motivation.”

In the new year of 2017 Ms Gilbert decided to join Weight Watchers after never wanting to feel like that in a shop again.

Weighing 20st 2lbs this time two years ago, she now weights 12st 4lbs.

Ms Gilbert added: “Losing the weight was the best decision of my life.

“Instead of huge bowls of pasta and bottles of wine, I ate roast chicken breasts with loads of colourful veg with a gin instead.

“I believed in myself and just over a year later and I’d lost close to 100lbs and was at my goal weight. Now I’ve lost 110lbs and couldn’t be happier.”