WALKING down the aisle in a size 10 wedding dress was a dream come true for Dawn Fuller.

The 38-year-old from Exminster married Adrian on October 25, 2008, after 14 years together.

And being able to buy her beautiful blue dress in a size 10 was the icing on the cake for Dawn, who lost over six stone after joining a Rosemary Conley slimming group in January 2007.

Back then, she weighed 17st and was a size 20-22. When she was featured in the Echo in September 2007, she was 12st 4lb. By Christmas 2007 she had reached 11st, and early last year she reached her goal weight of 10st 8lb.

"For the past six or seven months I've stayed between 10st 8lb and 10st 10lb, which is a size 10-12," said Dawn.

"My wedding dress was a size 10, which was very exciting. It fitted perfectly. It just made it all worthwhile."

It was taking her daughter Catherine, now four, to an adventure park and realising she couldn't fit on the slides or get on the rides that first motivated Dawn to lose weight.

Once she started, she didn't want to stop.

"When I do things I do put 100 per cent effort in," she said. "It was sheer stubbornness. Once the weight started to come off I didn't want to fail. It just kept me going.

"Each time the stone number changed it was just brilliant and unbelievable all at the same time. If someone had said that one day I would weigh 10st 8lb, I would have laughed. I remember saying I would be happy at 14st 16lb because I thought it would be so hard. But it just kept coming off."

Dawn still follows the Rosemary Conley low glycaemic index diet, which includes aiming for five portions of fruit and vegetables a day and only eating foods with five per cent fat or less per 100 grammes.

She also still goes to the Rosemary Conley group at Willowbrook School in Exeter on Tuesday evenings, run by Jan Waugh, which includes a 'salsacise' class.

"I still plan what I'm going to eat each week and I still measure and weigh out my portions," said Dawn.

"Adrian, Catherine and I all eat the same food. It's now the way we eat as a family, not a diet. I cook from fresh ingredients, which means I know exactly what goes into our food. It's also cheaper. You forget the calorie content of prepackaged foods — no wonder that with no exercise I was the size I was.

"Regular exercise is one of the bonuses of the weekly class. When I started I wasn't an exerciser at all, but I knew that at least once a week I had to do half an hour to 45 minutes. Now I exercise three or four nights a week, mostly with the Rosemary Conley video. It's easy and I can fit it around Catherine."

Dawn has just one regret — that she didn't make the decision to lose weight sooner.

"I wish I hadn't waited. I had been large from the age of 12 to 36 — that's 24 years of being big," she said.

"You don't realise until you are smaller, more active and healthier how different it can all be. It just makes life so much easier. I'm much happier in myself and more confident. It's changed my whole life. It does make me wonder if I might have got a bit more out of university if I had been more active. Now I'm coming up to 40,but I'll be fit and 40!"

For more information about Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs in Exeter, call Jan Waugh on 01823 339863 or visit www.rosemary-conley.co.uk.