A FIT and trim Basingstoke slimmer has been honoured in a national weightloss competition.

Formerly obese Claire Peel, from Hatch Warren, lost nine stone and gained a third-place award in a competition to find the Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Magazine Slimmer of the Year 2004.

The shapely 26-year-old also won £750 at the ceremony at the Roof Gardens in Kensington, London.

Marketing co-ordinator Miss Peel said: "The award was a total shock. I didn't diet to win something - but it's the icing on the low fat cake!"

"The weight-loss is absolutely fantastic. I feel like a totally different person with so much energy and self-confidence."

She said she used to keep deceiving herself about how fat she was, while her weight crept up to 19 stone.

She had started putting on weight at university, where she lived on convenience food and chocolate.

It was only when her doctor diagnosed her obesity as the cause of her permanent exhaustion, and being left sweating and panting after even the slightest exertion, that she contemplated tackling her problem.

She signed up to the Rosemary Conley diet and fitness course at Costello Technology College in Basingstoke, and lost about 2lbs a week over 18 months - finally reaching 10st and slimming to a size 10 dress size.

Miss Peel said when she first joined the classes seemed tough, but now she is an exercise addict.

In addition to attending a weekly Rosemary Conley class, she visits the gym six times a week and regularly runs.

"I love it," she said. "I think the key to losing weight is you have to want to do it. If people are telling you to, but you are not committed, you are not going to achieve it."