A BUSY mum who almost cried after stepping on the scales and seeing her weight gain has shed more than five stones.

Christine Martin took the first steps to a healthier version of herself by joining a slimming class in January, last year.

Christine, 37, then stuck religiously to her healthy eating plan for around 10 months and she went from 15 stone 9 lbs at her heaviest to a target weight of 10 stone 6lbs.

Now Christine is running her own class and she hopes she can spur others on to achieving the same weight loss that she did.

She said: “I could have cried when I stood on the scales. When I saw I was that number, I honestly just wanted the ground to open up, I really did.”

She added: “I just got to the point where I could not keep buying bigger clothes. You just get so comfortable and you don’t even think about it.

“You don’t even think you look bad at that point. I don’t think it is until you have lost the weight that you start looking back.”

The Toryglen mum was deflated at a size 18 and she had no energy to keep up with her daughters - Megan, 19, Kayleigh, 10, and Isla, 6.

She took action and joined Linda Parrott’s Slimming World class at the Beechwood pub in King’s Park.

The plan encourages followers to fill up on free healthy foods which include fruit and vegetables, meats, pasta and rice. Followers also measure their dairy choices, and breads and cereals. Treats can be included through a system known as syns which followers to count each day.

Christine said: “I honestly found the Slimming World plan easy and I just got my head right into it.

“The first couple of weeks takes getting used to but it was just so easy for me being a mum who works full time.

“The homemade stuff tastes so much better, it really does, and it has just fitted in with family life.”

Now Christine, who is married to husband Neil, has transformed herself and her lifestyle completely.

Gone are the take-aways and unhealthy choices, and now she is cooking healthy homemade meals for the whole family.

She said: “I am in size 10 and it just so easy to go into a shop and pick something up now.

“I love that I can get clothes which flatter me rather than trying to hide everything. I have more energy for running about with the kids. I am also not as breathless when I am going up the stairs and I’m taking the stairs in work rather than getting the lift all the time.”

Christine was so impressed by how the plan changed her life that she was encouraged to help others.

At the start of this year, she underwent the process to become a consultant, and on May 3, she launched her class in Toryglen.

Christine, who works for Community Safety Glasgow, said: “I have a couple of members who have been referred by their NHS doctor and they were terrified.

“It was amazing to see the delight on one of those members faces after she shifted 5lbs.”

She added: “When you are overweight and you have that issue, you feel depressed, fat and ugly until you take that first step.

“It is just an amazing feeling when helping people get those weight losses.Yeah, there are tough times when people are up and down a wee bit. But I try to steer them back on the right track.

“Slimming World is great because it is not about depriving yourself. You are still allowed nights out, you are still allowed to have chocolate but it is about making sure that you are not overindulging.”

Christine’s class takes place in Toryglen Community Hall on Wednesdays at 7.30pm.