A super-slimmer from St Neots has proved that it’s never too late to try again after she lost more than five stone not once, but twice.

The Hunts Post: Pauline Buck before losing weight.Pauline Buck before losing weight. (Image: Archant)

Pauline Buck, 66, first joined Slimming World in October 1997 but, after reaching her target, she left the group and soon regained the weight she’d worked hard to lose.

Six years later, despite feeling daunted at the prospect of slimming down again, Pauline walked back through the doors of her Slimming World group and hasn’t looked back since.

In fact, she’s now maintained her trim size-10 figure for nine years.

And now the retired grandmother has another reason to celebrate, after being named Slimming World’s Diamond Member 2016, a title which celebrates members who have successfully maintained their target weight.

Pauline first decided to tackle her weight problem after seeing a photograph of herself at her daughter’s wedding.

She said: “I’d been overweight since I was a teenager and spent 20 years feeling as though I was constantly on a diet – especially after having my two daughters. I never seemed to lose much weight though; I was just hungry and miserable. When I saw that photograph of me at the wedding I knew things had to change, and that I needed help to make that change.”

Pauline joined her local Slimming World group in St Neots and went on to successfully reach her target weight after losing 5st 4lb. She even appeared as a success story in Slimming World magazine in 1999. However, that wasn’t the end of her journey.

Pauline added: “My big mistake was that I stopped going to the group once I’d reached my target weight. I thought I’d done all of the hard work and didn’t need the help anymore. Sadly, I steadily regained all of the weight I’d lost and it wasn’t until my daughter told me that she needed a kidney transplant that I had a wake-up call. I knew I needed to be fit and healthy again so that I could be there for her.”

Two years on from re-joining her group in 2005, Pauline had slimmed down to 8st 8lbs – meaning she had lost 5st 4lbs once again. Although this time, she knew just what she needed to do to make sure she kept the weight off for good.