A ONCE over-weight mother-of-three has counted so many calories she can now fit into her daughter's jeans.

June Hunter, 36, of Brighton Terrace, Darwen, has lost more than five stone and gone down four dress sizes after 12 months of strict dieting and exercising with slimming group Weight Watchers.

Now a slim size 10 and weighing in at nine stone four pounds the housewife and mother of three young girls said she has not even had chance to buy herself a new wardrobe and is having to make do with borrowing clothes from her 12-year-old daughter Kathryn.

June, who has two other daughters Nicola, 15, and Danielle, four, said she started piling on the pounds after the birth of her youngest girl, but was now raring to get out into the big wide world she has hidden away from for so long.

She said: "I just knew I was over-weight and it was making me unhappy because I just didn't go out. I became a hermit in my own home and I didn't want to be like that, so I decided to do something about it.

"It was hard work at first, but I knew what I had to do: the crisps and chocolate had to go with all the nice things. I used to eat quite a lot of them but now I eat them in moderation.

"It's just nice being able to put on something nice, even if I'm just going for a walk to the shops. I am looking forward to doing things with my children that I found difficult to do before.

"I used to get very out of breath walking and swimming, but now I have been doing a lot of exercise to help me lose weight."

Despite the hard work involved, she still vowed to make regular trips back to Weight Watchers and said: "I will definitely be going back because I need to be in a group and get weighed every single week. I still need to watch what I eat or I will gain it on my hips again. Only by doing this can I make sure it doesn't creep back on."

Leader of the Darwen branch of Weight Watchers Lorraine Jones, said: "It's an amazing achievement. I was really touched that she bought me a bunch of flowers to say thank-you when it was her who had done all the hard work and stuck to it."

In a bid to help other slimmers, June gave one piece of advice: "Just go to a meeting and stick with it and even if you don't lose anything one week keep going, because it shows the week after. Never give up."