A size 24 woman who was left mortified after being unable to fit into an aeroplane seat has lost more than half her bodyweight.Liz Hiscutt, 40, who would gorge on chocolate, crisps and takeaways every night, had been overweight her whole life and hit 18st after surviving on a diet of unhealthy food.Miss Hiscutt, of Gravesend, Kent, said her turning point came on a holiday to Portugal when cabin crew were forced to get a seatbelt extension to stretch over her stomach. Liz Hiscutt, 40, dropped from 18 stone (left) to nine stone (right) after she became too large to fit an aeroplane seatbelt around her size 24 frameHer holiday horror prompted Miss Hiscutt to lose 9st 3lbs and she shrunk from a size 24 to size 8.She said: 'I couldn't wait for a bit of sunshine as we jetted off to Portugal but my excitement turned to shame as I struggled to pull the plane seatbelt over my bulging belly.'I was mortified as the cabin crew fitted a seatbelt extender and was embarrassed for the rest of the three-hour flight.'Liz, an administrator, has struggled with her weight since she was in school.

She said: 'I wasn't obese as a child, but I was not the slimmest. As I got older and moved away from home I started eating more and more.' Her holiday horror prompted Miss Hiscutt to lose 9st 3lbs and she shrunk from a size 24, left, to size 8, rightShe would tuck into mounds of crisps and chocolate every day before spending the evening on the sofa next to fiance Richard William, 48, for a takeaway every evening. Before she knew it, Miss Hiscutt tipped the scales at 18st 3lbs and she was forced to hide her frame under size 24 clothes. She said: 'I used to eat a lot of food - I didn't believe in small portions. I feel like I have never had an "off switch" with food - I will eat whatever's put in front of me. It doesn't matter how heavy or fattening it is. 'I hardly ever exercised - I even struggled to get up the stairs. It's a miracle I never developed any life-threatening conditions as a result of my obesity.'The final humiliation came on a flight to Portugal in 2011 when the cabin crew had to find a seatbelt extender after Miss Hiscutt struggled to stretch the standard belt around her waist.

Now Miss Hiscutt weighs 9st 1lb and can fit into size eight clothes. Since her dramatic weight loss, health conscious Miss Hiscutt has completed several 10K runs and plans on completing a half-marathon before the end of the yearShe said: 'It was quite upsetting, but the cabin crew were very professional and gave me a bigger seatbelt without anyone laughing. I knew I was overweight so I had resigned myself to being fat for the rest of my life. 'Moments like that make you think about changing.' Before losing weight, she would tuck into mounds of crisps and chocolate every day before spending the evening on the sofa On the same holiday, Miss Hiscutt faced further embarrassment when a cafe owner replaced a plastic chair with a reinforced metal one in case the flimsier chair collapsed under her weight. She said: 'For the whole holiday I stayed in my frumpy clothes, I didn't dare to bare my flesh on the beach in a swimming costume or a bikini.'Her holiday convinced her to finally shed the pounds and in May 2012 she signed up to her local Slimming World group. 

The determined slimmer ditched curries and cakes for fresh vegetables and sweet potatoes, following a carefully constructed diet plan. Before her weight loss, Miss Hiscutt would tuck into a McDonald's egg McMuffin for breakfast with two hash browns and a coffee. She would skip lunch but snack on crisps and chocolate throughout the day. Headlight Bulb Lumens ComparisonIn the evening she would eat a takeaway tandoori mixed grill and bombay potatoes with rice, poppadoms and naan bread. Patio Furniture Simpsonville KyNow, she eats fresh fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, a salad and jacket potato for lunch and a veggie burger in a wholemeal bap with a salad for dinner. Wake Up T-Shirt CiscoThroughout the day she snacks on fruit. A month after starting her weight loss journey she had lost a stone through diet and attending Zumba and yoga classes. 

She said: 'I couldn't believe it. I knew I could keep going and lose more. I managed to lose six stone without putting on any weight at all, it just kept dropping off. I still ate tons of food, but the food I was eating was much healthier.'Now Miss Hiscutt weighs 9st 1lb and can fit into size eight clothes. Since her dramatic weight loss, health conscious Miss Hiscutt has completed several 10K runs and plans on completing a half-marathon before the end of the year. She said: 'I still can't get my head around the fact I can fit into size eight clothes - I have to take a skinny person with me so they will stop me buying massive dresses. I still think of myself as a fat person. 'I can shop anywhere, I can pick up a T-shirt which looks like it's the size of a hanky to me and it will fit. When I look in the mirror I still can't believe it's me.' Liz after her weight loss at nine stone wearing one of her old fleeces with a friendWith the world’s airlines collectively losing around £10m a day, they are looking closely at the bottom line – of their passengers.

In the battle to squeeze maximum earnings from its seats, Air France-KLM will have an explicit policy aimed at obese flyers.From 1 February, Air France and its Dutch subsidiary, KLM, will insist that “passengers with a high body mass” book a second seat at 75 per cent of the original fare. The definition of overweight depends on the cabin: in economy class, the airline says its seats are designed for passengers with a waistline up to 135cm (53 inches). If the cabin turns out not to be full, Air France will refund the price of the extra seat. Obese passengers comprise a growing problem for airlines on three counts. First, with average weight across the population rising, fuel consumption is increased. Next, with more overweight flyers, more passengers experience discomfort from sitting next to them. And with airlines collectively filling a higher proportion of seats, there is literally less room for manoeuvre on board for the cabin crew to shuffle passengers around. The first airline to address the problem was Southwest Airlines of the US, which now flies more passengers, of all shapes and sizes, than any other airline in the world.

The seats aboard its Boeing 737s, though, are one-size-only, and one passenger in 200 cannot fit into them. The airline says: “Our responsibility is to provide safe and comfortable air transportation for each and every customer.” So for the past three decades it has enforced a simple policy for “persons of size”: if a passenger cannot sit in a single seat with both armrests down, they must buy a second ticket. The fare is refunded on any flight that has one or more seats available – which, says Southwest, happens in 98 per cent of cases. A rival airline, United, has recently declared that passengers in a fully booked economy cabin who cannot buckle the seat belt using a single extender must buy an upgrade on the same flight, or book an extra seat on the next available flight. UK airlines have traditionally dealt with the issue on a case-by-case basis. Obese passengers have always been able to book a second seat – indeed, BBC licence fee payers once stumped up for the corporation’s corpulent chairman George Howard to fly to New York on Concorde at twice the normal supersonic fare.