EVERY time Janet Forster tried to lose a few pounds, she gained a child.

The dramatic side effect came after the housewife decided she wanted to slim down to the eight stone person she was before the birth of her first child.

But every time she succeeded in losing seven pounds, she fell pregnant.

Now she is carrying an extra 62 stones - in the form of her ten children.

She said: "Nobody goes on a diet and ends up 62 stone heavier - apart from me.

"It's a standing joke in my family. Every time I went on a diet, everyone was waiting for me to make the big birth announcement.

"It got to the stage where, when I went on a diet, my husband was frightened to climb into bed."

Janet, 41, was 17 when she had her first baby with husband, Paul, 43.

Anne-Marie was born in July 1977 and Janet saw her weight go up to 11 stone.

She started to fight back against the flab, but within weeks found out she was expecting baby number two.

Over the years, each time she reached that magic seven pound target she found she was pregnant.

Janet, from Philadelphia, near Washington, Wearside, remains baffled by the coincidence.

"I don't know if the dieting was altering my hormones or something, but every time I went on a diet, as soon I lost that half stone - baby boom."

Now it looks as if the cycle has been broken after she successfully broke through the seven pound barrier as she slimmed down from 16 to 14 stone.

"There is not going to be any more kids - ten is certainly enough," she said.

Her husband added: "I think we've got over the hurdle now. When Janet said she was going on a diet again I was terrified."