After being made redundant and receiving a diagnosis which forced her to stop satisfying her passion for running, Kedren Elliott embarked on a weight-loss journey to help turn her life around.

The 46-year-old admitted she 'wasn't in a good place' at the time in 2015, when she also weighed in at her heaviest of 13st 10lbs.

She was also diagnosed with Fibroids – tumours on a woman's uterus – which can cause severe abdominal pain and can become worse if overweight.

But after seeing a leaflet for Slimming World, Kedren, from Congleton, decided to make a change and embarked on a weight-loss journey which has now seen her lose over 3½ stone.

She said: "I was feeling pretty rubbish, none of my clothes were fitting me. I am a runner but at that time I wasn't doing much activity, I had been made redundant from Barclays as well, so I wasn't in a good place.

"I'd been watching a lady on YouTube who had lost over 5 stone through Slimming World and I couldn't believe the amazing food she was eating and still losing weight, then I got a leaflet through my door. I called my friend and told her I was thinking of joining and she said, I am going this week, let's go together.

"Slimming World made me feel for the first time that I was in control of my food rather than the other way around.

"It's about making permanent changes to the way that you cook and shop, it's not a fad diet it's a healthy eating plan where nothing is off limits."

Prior to her weight-loss Kedren, who works for mental health charity MIND, was eating high fat foods and full fat latte's with syrup throughout the day, toast for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch, and in the evenings she was drinking quite often.

She added: "My diet is a lot more varied now because not only have I changed a lot with Slimming World, I have gone back to being vegetarian and I am a vegan now.

"Now for breakfast I quite often have high fibre cereals and things like overnight oats and a full cooked vegan breakfast, I love eating a lot of fruit and vegetables anyway so that's great for following the Slimming World plan.

"I love to cook for my lunch which is a good thing, today I've got a carrot and ginger soup so it's making sure you plan and prepare your meals rather than going out and getting fast food.

"In the evening we often have fajitas, and my favourite which we have every week is a Slimming World Curry, it is a very varied diet and you can adapt to pretty much everything. Whatever your dietary requirements are, or food likes and dislikes you can follow Slimming World and achieve your weight loss goal!

"Unfortunately in this day and age everybody is so busy all of the time it is easy to go out and grab something that is going to be quick but it's not going to be the best for your diet.

"A varied diet is very important because if you go back to old habits and start eating fast food and not eating a lot of fruit and veg, I think it really affects not only your physical health but your mental health too."

On top of losing the weight, Kedren has now become a Slimming World consultant in Congleton and is helping other slimmer's to reach their goals.

Kedren added: "I've been a consultant now for over 4 years and although we're not running groups face to face at the moment, we're running them virtually via Zoom.

"It's a whole new way of working but members are really enjoying the sessions and it gives them something to focus on during this challenging time. Our groups lost over 10st in May and my members are doing a great job starting on track and making new changes whilst we wait for life to return to normal."

Kedren runs her virtual groups every Thursday at 10am, 12pm & 6:30pm, give her a call if you'd like to know more, and all our Congleton and Biddulph Groups are running virtually too, see full details below.

Congleton:

Claire Woodward - Monday evening & Tuesday morning 07723 326845

Kedren Elliott - Thursdays 07702 174155

Laura Bounford - Wednesday evening 07595535816

Sophie Venn - Friday morning & Saturday morning 07866 743220

Or follow the Congleton & Biddulph Slimming World Team on Facebook for up-to-date information.