Family loses the flab

Jan 9 2008 By Steve Johnson

MEET the Finnegans - the family who said farewell to the flab by turning slimming into a family affair.

Mum Sally and dad Derek shed more than five stone between them after being stung into action by a doctor's damning assess-ment of Sally's health.

The mum-of-three transformed her diet and put Derek and their three children on her healthy eating regime for good measure.

The changes helped Sally shed four stone to hit her target weight of 10st 7lb, while Derek, aged 38, lost a stone and a half to cut his weight to 14 stone.

Sally's weight loss was so successful she now runs her own Weight Watchers classes.

"I was 14 and a half stone a year ago and was in a dress size 22," said the 36-year-old, from Hadley Street, Oldbury.

"But I had no idea of my weight until I went to the doctor for a check-up and he told me I was obese.

"I couldn't believe it when I stood on the scales and the doctor told me how much I weighed. I decided there and then I had to do something about my weight and lifestyle.

"I had to cook different food for myself and I did the same for the rest of the family.

I lost four stone and Derek ended up shedding a stone and a half."

She is mum to Danielle, 16, Molly, nine, a nd five-year-old Dillon.

She now runs Weight Watchers classes at Birchley Sports and Social Club, Oldbury; Tipton Sports Academ y; Brierley Hill Methodist Church; Uplands Manor Primary School at Smethwick and the Village Hotel in Dudley.