TRIM mum Amanda Brierley achieved her dream - to run around at her son's eighth birthday - after shedding a mammoth five stone in just nine months.

Amanda, 31, of Burnley Road East, Waterfoot, has battled with her weight for her whole life.

But she has managed to slim down from a size 24 top and 20 bottom to a size 16 top and size 10-12 bottom.

And today Amanda said she was delighted with her new slim look - and felt she had made her family proud of her.

Amanda was a bumper baby and weighed a whopping 26 pounds at eight months old and tipped the scales at six stone at the age of five.

She reached her top weight of 16 stone when she joined Weightwatchers in January.

Since losing the weight - the equivalent of 34 bags of sugar - Amanda says she is able to go on walks and do her housework without getting short of breath. And she was able to help son Sam, celebrate his special day, last weekend.

Today she said: "I feel like a new women. I can't believe I've done it. I have got so much energy, it's great.

"My housework used to take me days and walks used to be a hassle, but now I love them."

Amanda, a part time delivery driver, said her dad had tried dieticians when she was a child but she had piled the weight back on when she went to high school.

She said she had a sweet tooth and it had been hard to lose weight and keep it of.

She said: "I have done it for myself but I have done it for my dad as well to make him proud.

"It's fantastic because I've always wanted to wear a halter neck top and never been able to but now I can."

Amanda said her husband, Darren, 37 and Sam were pleased with her new image.

She said: "Sam even ran into school to tell his teachers that I had reached my target weight."

Amanda now wants to become an inspiration for other over-weight women.

She said: "When you are so overweight you leave yourself open to health problems and you don't have much confidence, but I now speak my mind and feel so much happier with myself."