Nurse named Slimmer of the Year

Karina Buiskool with a cardboard cut-out of herself

A staff nurse from the West Midlands who lost half her body weight has been named Woman of the Year 2002 by Slimming World.

Karina Buiskool, from Stoke-on-Trent, weighed just over 25 stone at her heaviest.

But after joining Slimming World in 2000, the 36-year-old, who is 5ft 9ins, managed to shed 13 stone in two years to get down to a target weight of 12 stone.

Mrs Buiskool won a holiday for two in Singapore and Dubai for her efforts and will be presented with her new title at The Ritz Hotel in London on Tuesday.

'No confidence'

She said: "I feel brilliant, fitter, healthier and I couldn't be enjoying life more as the new me."

Mrs Buiskool says her new look has also gone down a treat with her fireman husband, Matthew.

"He doesn't know what has hit him," she said.

"He loves my new look and is always telling me how gorgeous I look.

"When I was overweight I always came across as a real 'home bird' when really I just wanted to hide away from the world.

"I had no confidence in myself and worried constantly about how much I weighed."

Slimming World was founded in 1969 and since then, it says, more than three million people have attended classes losing a total of 60 million pounds.