SUZIE Fletcher has not always been a glamorous 50-year-old. Just eight months ago she was a size 32 and forced to buy tent-like dresses from specialist shops in an attempt to hide her frame. She would literally haul herself up the stairs, and was constant

SUZIE Fletcher has not always been a glamorous 50-year-old. Just eight months ago she was a size 32 and forced to buy tent-like dresses from specialist shops in an attempt to hide her frame. She would literally haul herself up the stairs, and was constantly visiting the doctor, complaining of problems with her knees, caused by the excess weight she was lugging around. She couldn't even walk to the shop without getting breathless.

Following a visit to the doctor, she made a radical decision to change her lifestyle, by joining a slimming club, moving to Ely from Surrey last December and starting a part time job at Waitrose. In the process, she lost over eight stone, and is happier and healthier than ever.

"I was always a chubby baby," she said. "In that era you would take your baby to the doctors and people would be proud that you were big - for them it was proof you were healthy. They would actually applaud the mothers."

Being a bouncy baby left its legacy. "I've always been conscious of my size - as a teenager I used to hang round with a group of girls who were all smaller than me - but I never had the problem some obese children are getting now, where they have to buy adult size school uniforms - it's horrendous."

She puts her rapid weight gain in her 40s down to a large appetite, but insists she would rarely eat chocolate or sweets. "It was savoury things - rich sauces, cheese, bread and butter, but I would be too scared when eating out in restaurants that people were saying look at what that fat person's getting through."

"Something just happened to me this time - I decided to go for it - and if Madonna has still got it at 50-so can I."

And with that she strides out of the Ely Standard office, a confident, food-loving, restaurant-going size 12-18.