Clinically obese and wearing size 30 clothes, Lizzie Stevens vowed to change her lifestyle as she approached her half century.
Now, after losing 10 stone, the 51-year-old is preparing to run her first triathlon.
The dramatic turnaround was kick-started after she began worrying about her own health following the death of her mother.
Two and a half years ago she began changing her diet and began working with a personal trainer, hitting her goal weight at the end of 2014.
Lizzie, who lives in Killin, now fits into size 12 and 14 clothes and regularly takes part in races.
The systems administrator said: “My mother died. She’d had several strokes, late-onset diabetes and angioplasty, and I said to myself I don’t want to put myself more at risk.
“That’s what started me off but I didn’t take action immediately you accept you have to take action but you haven’t decided what you are going to do (about it).
“In 2012 I started seriously buckling down and doing something about it. It took me about two years to lose 10 stone.”
Lizzie chose not to follow a fad diet, instead overhauling her eating habits.
She said: “Years ago I did a low-carb diet and you lose the weight but then you put more on. This was a lifestyle change.
“I started off by not eating late at night if I’d been playing golf I’d just have a bowl of soup rather than a proper meal. I lost three to four stone just doing that.
“I am careful about what choices I make but I don’t say I can’t have something because on the diet. If I fancy a scone I’ll have one.
“I also upped my exercise. I’ve always been active but I started going to a boxercise class and then in April 2013 I employed a personal trainer, who I still see once a week. That gave me the extra push.”
The regime also had an unexpected effect on Lizzie’s golf.
She said: “As I was losing weight my handicap came down at the same time, which was good.
“I feel great. Losing weight has given me a whole new lease of life and I certainly don’t feel my age. I’m so much fitter and more able to do things.”