Soldier comes home to find wife is half the woman she used to be... after she loses FIVE STONE to surprise him



A soldier had a surprise present for Christmas when he returned home after six months away to discover that his wife had shed five stone.



Nicola McAvoy, 38, joined a slimming club just before husband Mike, a US Army serviceman, went on duty overseas in June.



When he returned on December 21, Mike was delighted to find that his wife was half the woman she had been after dropping from a size 22 to a size 12.



Downsized: Slimmer Nicola McAvoy, from Sawtry, Cambridgeshire, who lost five stone while husband US Army serviceman Mike was serving overseas.

Mother-of-two Nicola weighed 17st 4lb at her heaviest and said that she had gradually ballooned thanks to constant snacking in front of the TV.

Overweight: Slimmer Nicola McAvoy before she lost five stone this year She said: 'I never had breakfast and during the day I used to eat less than I do now, but in the evenings I would be with the family and sit in front of the telly with the Pringles.'

Mike was thrilled to find Nicola cutting a slimmer figure at 12st 1lb after transforming her bad eating habits to three healthy meals a day.



He said: 'I was ecstatic. It is absolutely fantastic. I am very happy for her. I was very surprised by it all, she is very much smaller.'

Nicola, who lives with Mike and their boys Joshua, eight, and Bradley, six, in Sawtry, Cambridgeshire, lost weight after joining a Slimming World group in the village.



She said: 'Mike has been away in America since June and when he got back he couldn't believe the difference. It made me feel really good.'

Nicola said she was stung into action when she found she had to buy a larger size of clothes each year when she went on cruises with her mum.

She said: 'Every year I was going out and having to buy a bigger size which was absolutely terrible and I was upset about it.'