A MONMOUTHSHIRE woman shed six stones after her son told her she was a fat mum.

Jo-Anne Holod, 32, from Rogiet, joined a diet club after her seven-year-old son Jaden said to her, “You might be a fat mum, but you’re our fat mum.”

Mrs Holod, who used to weigh 15st 13lb and wear a dress size 20, knew then it was time to take action about the weight that had crept on after having her first son, Liam, ten years ago.

Three days after her wedding, Jo-Anne’s army husband Shane left home for rehabilitation due to leg injuries followed by six weeks’ service in Northern Ireland.

To cope, Mrs Holod turned to food.

“Shane was away a lot and I was pretty much on my own for the first year of our marriage,” explained Mrs Holod, a midday supervisor at Rogiet Primary School.

“I would curl up and easily polish off a family size bar of Cadbury’s Whole Nut most nights and I turned to crisps and chocolate whenever I felt down or lonely.”

Mrs Holod gave up smoking and returned to snacking when pregnant with Jaden and thought there was no way she could focus on changing her ways.

“I hated shopping with a passion and I made every excuse possible to avoid going out,” she said.

In January last year, she bit the bullet and signed up for the Rosemary Conley diet which she had tried successfully before.

Despite finding the exercise hard at first, she soon found she loved it, and also took up running.

By ditching snacks and taking up exercise, Mrs Holod went from15st 13lb, to 9st 13lb in a year and a half, and had to have her photograph redone in the foyer of Rogiet Primary School because no one recognised her. She said: “I’m proud I’m showing my children a better example.”

Nowa size 10, Mrs Holod is features in the December/January issue of Rosemary Conley’s Diet and Fitness magazine. Visit www.rosemaryconley.tv for information about the diet.