WEIGHTLOSS group leader Pippa Westerman celebrated slimming in style with X Factor star Rylan Clark-Neal.

Rylan, who shot to fame after appearing on hit show The X-Factor, co-hosted the annual Slimming World Awards with the organisation’s founder and chair Margaret Miles-Bramwell OBE recently, and among those to meet him was Somerset group leader Pippa.

The event also marked 50 years for Slimming World, as Margaret opened her first Slimming World group in 1969 and has seen the business has grown to become the UK's leading group-based weight-management organisation, today supporting nearly one million slimmers.

Pippa, who runs Slimming World groups in Burnham and in Highbridge, was delighted to get a chance to cuddle up to Rylan.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the members of the Burnham and Highbridge groups," she said.

"Not only have they lost fantastic amounts of weight throughout 2018 – with many of them hitting their target weights – they’ve also improved their health, boosted their confidence and are heading into 2019 with new healthy habits that will help them stay slim for life.

“Watching people change before my eyes and start being able to do things that they didn’t think possible before losing weight absolutely amazes me.

"Every week I feel privileged to play even a small part in supporting consultants to help people towards these achievements and to celebrate with them, so I felt especially honoured to represent Burnham and Highbridge at the Slimming World Awards.”

Rylan, who is now a seasoned presenter having appeared on This Morning and Channel 5’s Big Brother’s Little Brother, said he was thrilled to meet Pippa at the event, which was held at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre.

He said: “While the stories I heard were obviously very personal, the one thing they all had in common was how much support they received from their ‘Slimming World family’ and how so many of them were achieving their dreams.

"Every one of them spoke passionately about how they couldn’t have made those changes to eat more healthily and become more active without support week in week out, so people like Pippa who run and manage Slimming World groups are clearly worth their weight in gold.”

Pippa added: “This New Year I truly believe that joining a local Slimming World group is the best way for people to lose weight, learn new habits and make long-term healthy changes. I’d love for anyone in Burnham and Highbridge who wants to make a change to join us, I promise they won’t look back.”