A mum has told how she shed more than FIVE stone in less than a year after kicking her sugar habit.

Sweet-toothed Melissa Tolan decided to tackle her weight after watching the BBC documentary Obesity: The Post-Mortem and has since ditched her junk food addiction with the help of online food retailer MuscleFood.com.

The former couch potato, who would enjoy a whopping NINE sugars in one cup of tea, quickly embraced a new diet and exercise regime which includes regular dancing sessions with her four-year-old son, Hudson.

Despite being sporty and competitive throughout her school years, Melissa, who works as an accounts assistant for a housing association, piled on the pounds when she fell pregnant with Hudson in 2014, and soon crept up to a size 18/20.

Gorging on entire packets of biscuits, calorific McDonald’s breakfasts and supersized portions of toast and pasta caused the Manchester Mum to balloon to a hefty 16-and-a-half stone and she no longer felt healthy or happy with her body.

After trying and failing to see results from fad diets including meal replacement plans, Melissa finally reached breaking point after watching the BBC Three programme Obesity: The Post-Mortem.

The documentary followed a specialist pathology team as they conducted a post-mortem on the body of a 17-stone woman in a bid to reveal just how dangerous too much fat is to our vital organs.

The show shocked Melissa so much that she threw herself into learning about exercise and nutrition, throwing out all of the fatty snacks and junk food from her house in the process.

Soon after, 22-year-old Melissa signed up to her local gym and placed a bulk order of lean chicken breasts from online health retailer MuscleFood.com in order to start meal prepping.

After losing over a stone in just two months, she had the motivation she needed to continue along her fitness journey.

She now works out six days a week and weighs a healthy 11-and-a-half stone.

Mellisa said: “I started off slow at first – instead of eating a whole packet of biscuits I’d just have one or two, and I swapped out my insane nine sugars in a cup of tea for a couple of sweeteners instead.

“But once I started seeing the results I was hooked. I educated myself about fitness and nutrition and started working out more and more.”

But Melissa confesses that strict gym routines and programmes don’t really work for her.

“I get bored quite easily, so to keep my workouts fresh and exciting I switch things up as much as possible.

“Sometimes, this means me just spending an hour dancing around the living room with my son, lifting him up and swinging him around.

“As long as it gets my heart rate up and my body sweating, I’m happy. The fact Hudson enjoys it too is a bonus, and I love the fact that I’m setting a healthy example for him.”

Melissa, from Oldham, said: “Watching the programme on obesity back in October 2016 really shook me to my core. I knew that I’d piled on the pounds since having Hudson but it was physically seeing the reality of what I could be doing to my organs that kicked me into action.

Melissa continued: “For me, it’s only ever really been about getting healthier rather than getting slimmer, thinner, or weighing less.

“Whilst it’s been nice to watch the scales and my clothes sizes drop, I love the fact that I can now run around after my son and dropping the fat has given me confidence to try new things. I love taking him to things like trampolining now, but I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing that a couple of years ago.

“It’s also done wonders for me mentally. If I’ve had a particularly stressful day or I’m upset about something, I pull on my trainers and go for a run or take out my frustrations on the boxing equipment at the gym – it helps me stay sane!

“I hear so many people moaning that they’d like to get fitter and healthier but they ‘don’t have the time’, yet we all have the same 24 hours in a day.

“I’m a working mum and yet I manage to squeeze in not one, but two workouts a day – even if it means waking up at the crack of dawn.

“Taking control of my health and fitness has given me a new lease of life, but you have to make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.

“If it’s because you want to look like one of your favourite celebrities then you’re setting yourself up to fail.

“Take the time to really educate yourself and learn about what you can put in your body and what you can get out of it, and understand what it means to really BE healthy, and not just look good.”