A super slimmer from Wrexham has lost almost half her body weight after turning her life around.

Helen Jones, from Little Acton Drive, Acton has lost nearly nine stone after a tough regime of gym sessions and taking part in a slimming club's activities.

When she topped the scales at 19 stone 12 just 18 months ago there were concerns about her health and wellbeing, particularly as the 57-year-old suffers from arthritis.

She feared she may have to undergo a hip replacement, but a health referral has helped her make a radical change in her lifestyle, leaving her fighting fit and down to her "ideal weight" of 11 stone.

The Leader:

Helen Jones before she lost weight and, right, afterwards

Medics at Wrexham Maelor Hospital sent the mother-of-one to an exercise class at Waterworld where she joined in with pensioners more than 20 years older than her.

Helen said: "I needed it as I could barely walk to the bus station from Waterworld when I started. I was on my own with 70 and 80-year-olds in the studio and it really shocked me the condition I was in.

"I realised I had to do something about my weight and overall fitness."

Helen's attempts at pursuing a healthier lifestyle had floundered over the years, but she says the combination of exercise on prescription and joining a Slimming World group at Wrexham War Memorial Club paid off.

"My weight had always yo-yoed over the years and while I could lose one or two stone here and there I'd never been able to lose as much as this before," she recalled.

"But I'd never been in the pain I was this time with my arthritis. I had hip and back pain and it had developed into sciatica."

A light regime of exercises helped Helen to get on track and she graduated to floor weights. She also picked up healthy eating tips and enjoyed the peer support at the slimming group.

"I was going to the gym a couple of times a week and I slowly upped the intensity of the exercise. I built up my stamina and I could see I was steadily losing weight. I started running as well on the treadmill, although it aggravated my arthritis. But the exercise I was doing combined with the change in diet made the difference. I'd never had any success really dieting in the past but this time it worked."

Helen leaned on some moral support from her husband, Lee, 60, who has also reported success himself losing a stone and a half.

"We have learned to cook in a different way and we both have a different mindset to it now," added Helen, who recently went below her target weight of 11 stone 3 and now plans to maintain her weight around 11 stone helped by a permanent gym membership at Waterworld.