A beauty therapist is setting up her own weight loss club after losing over three-and-a-half stone in just over two years.

Amy Goddard, 27, of Osborne Road, Leyton, is starting her own group of Slimming World in Wanstead which she joined to lose weight before being a bridesmaid at her sister’s wedding.

Miss Goddard has always suffered with food allergies and believes this was one of the main things stopping her from losing weight.

She said: “Losing weight can be difficult but with the added problem of food allergies and intolerances it can seem impossible.

“I knew how to eat healthily but I just couldn’t find the motivation on my own to make the right choices.

“I was apprehensive at first that the group wouldn’t understand my problems and would just think I was being difficult, but the group were brilliant and I never felt judged or humiliated.

“It was easy to blame my health as the cause of my weight gain. I would eat healthy meals at home but then binge on chocolate and crisps to try to make myself feel better.

“The irony was that my increasing weight was making my health worse.”

According to Public Health England, Redbridge child obesity figures are higher than the national average of 19.2 per cent, with 23.2 per cent of Year 6 children in 2013 recorded as obese.

Miss Goddard completed her training to be a beauty therapist this year but then decided she wanted to help others achieve what she had.

She said: “It made such a huge difference to the way I felt about myself and how much more I was able to achieve in my life.

“I love to help other people feel good about themselves and helping them to eat healthily and lose weight is a natural extension to this.”

Miss Goddard will be opening her new group in Wanstead Baptist Church, Wellington Road, Wanstead, on January 2 and will continue to run two sessions every Thursday, with one at 5.30pm and one at 7.30pm.