Dieting success stories don't come much bigger than the rise of Changes at Slimfit

When iVillage member June Macfarlane and her sister Mandy Drake decided to quit the slimming club they worked for, they walked away heavier than they'd begun. But after 20 years of gaining and losing weight the determined pair still weren't ready to give up.

'We started looking for a plan which was going to get us slim and keep us that way,' says June, 43. 'I'd been miserable for 20 years. I was either miserable because I was starving or miserable because I was overweight.'

After searching around for something new June and Mandy, 40, hit on an idea that was to change their lives - and bodies - forever. 'We couldn't find anything that we were happy with so we decided to create our own eating plan,' June explains. 'Because we'd been involved in slimming for a long time we had a good basic knowledge of what was involved.

'We wrote everything down and researched nutritional information because although we were aware of which foods were slimming we weren't aware of which were healthy.'

What they came up with was a basic low-fat plan. 'We have avoided all the pitfalls of slimming. All the things that make slimmers get fed up such as counting calories and separating foods.'

The fab four
The sisters also enlisted the help of pals Lynne Simmons, 44, and Julie Woodcock, 33, and opened their first class. 'We opened it in our home town of Darlington and on the first night we had to turn more than half the people away because we just didn't have the space. We changed venue immediately.'

Five years on their company, Changes at Slimfit, has 35 classes in the North East and shot to national notoriety when a relaunch campaign - where the women posed seemingly naked on the back of local buses - saw them later gracing the pages of The Sun and The Daily Sport. 'I was horrified,' laughs June. 'Amongst all these nude 18-year-olds there was a picture of us looking pretty naked but we had more clothes on than anybody else in that newspaper!'

Despite their blushes the four friends have a lot to be proud of. They have lost a combined weight of 15 stone and have kept it off for the past five years.

Tackling the psychology of slimming is a huge part of the club's ethos. 'It's all about listening to your body,' says June. 'Often when you are slimming what you are doing is listening to what someone else is telling you.'

June and iVillage
It is this positive attitude that makes June such a valuable member of our You Can Do It - Diet Support message board, where she posts under the name lucychangling. 'When I found the board I thought it was absolutely brilliant. I get so much from it and I want to help as many people as I possibly can, I know it sounds corny but I get a lot of enjoyment from that. I live and breathe slimming and I have so much valuable advice I feel I can give people.

'Some of the messages make you feel totally helpless because people do get depressed over weight problems and if I can even just say "I am here for you", it helps.'

Check out June's website www.changes.uk.com for more information about the company and a free one-day sample menu.