'Too fat' woman wins slim prize

Miss Horner lost more than five stone (31kg) in three years

A woman from south London who was once described as "too fat to take out" has won a slimming award.

Vikki Horner, 29, from Brixton, lost more than five stone (31kg) to become Slimming World's Miss Slinky 2006.

She has dropped from a size 20 to a size 10 after her weight peaked at 16 stone (100kg) four years ago.

She suffered abuse in the street for being overweight and a former boyfriend refused to be seen in public with her saying she was "too fat to take out".

Eating plan

Miss Horner decided she needed to change her diet when she could no longer fit into a size 20 pair of jeans.

In four years, she lost 5st 9.5lb (35kg), reaching her target weight of 10 stone in November 2004.

Vikki Horner said she suffered abuse for being overweight

She even continued to follow her dietary eating plan during her pregnancy with her second daughter.

The 5ft 6in single mother, who attended the Lewisham Slimming World group, received her award at the Ritz Hotel in central London.

"Winning means a lot to me because I'm a very competitive person," she said.

"I would have been happy to go down to 14 stone but I found the eating plan so easy that I decided to go further. My confidence grew as I lost weight."

For a typical day's menu, Miss Horner would have porridge, oats and soya milk for breakfast, baked sweet potato with sweet corn for lunch and for dinner, brown rice with vegetables and beans.