"I'm hotter in my 40s than I ever was in my 20s after losing seven-and-a-half stone - I'm in the best shape ever"

A woman who lost seven-and-a-half stone says she's hotter now she's in her 40s than she ever was in her 20s - and is in the "best shape ever".

Jeanette Painting, 44, felt "stuck in a rut" after struggling to lose her baby weight after the birth of her two children, Taion, 12, and Tarlia, nine.

Weighing 19st 13lbs and squeezing into a size 24, Jeanette "gave up on herself" - donning tracksuits to try and conceal her figure, SWNS reports.

READ MORE: 'I shed five stone and dumped my husband of 10 years after this huge realisation on a girls' holiday'

The last straw came when Jeanette was on holiday with her two children and didn't want to go out - feeling self-conscious about her size.

In June 2021, she decided "enough was enough" and signed up for the 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan - which entails smoothies and shakes.

After ditching oven-ready meals, takeaways and biscuits and sweets for healthy salads and high-protein meals, the mum-of-two lost seven-and-a-half stone in just eight months.

Now a size 12, she weighs a healthier 12st 6lbs and loves showing off her new slender frame in figure-hugging dresses.

Jeanette says she even feels better than she did in her 20s and is in the "best shape ever".

Jeanette, a full-time mum, from Gloucester, Gloucestershire, said: "I can now enjoy time with my children and be a mum with them.

"I definitely go on more days out with my children, I will take them on days away whereas before I wouldn't.

"I have learned to live with myself. I am in the best shape now than I can remember, even in my 20s - I am in the best shape I have ever been.

"I look better now than when I did in my 20s, I used to hate getting my photos taken but now I am always getting in them.

"I can now buy clothes