A FORMERLY obese mother-of-one shed seven stone and now runs half marathons after fearing she would not see her daughter grow up.

Eighteen months ago Barbra Barker was 19 stone 3lbs and was too ashamed to take her two-year-old daughter swimming, and couldn’t climb around soft play with her.

She joined a slimming club, lost a stone in a month and started running, with the aim to complete a 5k Parkrun.

“I was so worried everyone would laugh at me – I couldn’t have been further from the truth,” she said. “The support from the running community has been outstanding.

“I had gone from struggling to climb the stairs in January to running a half marathon in the September,” she said.

“I’ve gone from constantly feeling unhappy, uncomfortable and awkward to a confident, happy and outgoing person.”

Ms Barker, who has lost seven stone and gone from a size 22 to a size 12, wants to make a difference to others’ lives.

She is taking over the Willow Road community centre Slimming World Group on a Tuesday morning at 9.30am and 11.30am, from August 8, in a bid to help others lead more healthy lifestyles.