MOST women dream of dropping a dress size or two, but for pensioner Joan Hamer shifting two and a half stone has also brought her a new lease of life.

Dieting on and off from her twenties, Joan, 75, of Devon Street, Darwen, thought that she would never be able to squeeze into size 14 clothes again.

Unable to walk further than a few yards with a walking stick and suffering from diabetes, both made worse by her weight, she felt older than her years.

But just 31 weeks after starting a healthy-eating plan she has passed her target weight of 10st 11lb, and can fit comfortably into clothes that she hadn’t been able to wear since 1963.

And Joan has also defied doctors by banishing her walking stick and asking to come off her diabetes medication.

She said: “I feel great and I think I will have added a few more years onto my life.

“I’m like a new woman.

“I barely use my stick and the weight loss has relieved a lot of the pressure on my joints.

“I’m a lot fitter than I used to be – it’s like I’m 60 again.

“I’m not saying that I will be entering a marathon but I can certainly walk a lot further than I could.

"And I’m also a lot healthier than I was.”

Joan started losing weight at the end of January and had lost around 2lb each week though changes to her diet.

Now a slim size 14 she has bought herself a whole new wardrobe to celebrate – and thrown out all the photographs of herself before the weight loss!

The great grandma of 10 said: “At the start of the year I saw a woman who looked a similar age to me being pushed along in a wheelchair and I just thought ‘that is going to be me in a few years’.

“I knew I had to do something about it.

“I had been suffering from arthritis and had only been able to walk a few yards with my walking stick.

“I’d tried to slim down lots of times with various diets but didn’t have much success.

“This time I joined Slimming World with my daughter Julie and made changes to my diet rather than starving myself.

“I have a sweet tooth so trying to cut down on the amount of biscuits I eat has been hard.

“A lot of old people think that they can’t lose weight because they think it is harder than when you are younger.

“I want to say to them that they should give it a whirl – you don’t have to be dashing down to the gym in lycra!”

And Joan says her weight loss has had a positive effect on her family who have also shed the pounds spurred on by her success.

She said: “My daughter Julie, who comes to the classes with me, has lost a lot of weight. We motivate each other.

And the weight has fallen off my husband Derek just by eating what I’m cooking. He’s also much healthier and fitter because of it.”

Her dramatic weight loss has been recognised by members of her slimming group voting her Slimming World Lower Darwen’s Woman of the Year 2010.

Nicola Haworth, who runs the Lower Darwen group, said: “In many ways, Joan is unrecognisable now from the person who walked through the doors just over seven months ago.

“She looks great and the benefits to her health have been enormous. We’re all incredibly proud of her.”

Joan added: “I feel younger than I have in a long time and have a lot more energy.

“Now that I’m at the weight that I’ve always wanted to be, I know I’m going to stick to it and hopefully inspire more older women to do the same.”