WHEN reporter Liz Mackley signed up for a skydive to do her part for the Adver’s 160 Appeal, little did she know she would need to lose 3st for the privilege.

Shedding the weight in just three months has been an upward battle for Liz, paved with a Spartan regime of hot yoga, pilates, daily runs and a strict diet.

Now resigned to the constant pain, muscle stiffness and hunger, the 24-year-old, who is 21lbs lighter already at 13st 10.5lbs is determined to reach her 13st target.

“As a loyal and dependable member of the Adver’s editorial team, I signed up for the skydive with a jump date of June 1, and set up a page to help me raise the necessary £600 for Prospect Hospice,” she said.

“About a week later, the lovely organisers at Prospect Hospice gave me a call. Unfortunately, the weight that I had indicated on the form (about 100kg) was too much to be able to jump for health and safety reasons. Because I am fat, I wasn’t allowed to parachute for Prospect.

“But I had already been given £80 in sponsorship money, and I wasn’t going to let them down. Instead I decided to lose the weight and re-arrange the dive for the end of the summer to give me a little more time.”

The journey was hard, especially the first week, which involved a lot of Googling, an ill-fated juice binge and gnawing panic generally.

“I was panic-stricken and immediately put myself on my own juice diet.

“The logic behind it was that I needed to find a way to cram as many tasty nutrients into my body as possible to clear up my skin and boost my energy levels as well as live with the pride that I was eating green veg – albeit mushed up and thrown back as quickly as possible.

“I just made a heap of juices, skipped breakfast, had a juice for lunch, and then something stewed in the slow-cooker for tea.

“I was hungry most of the time and entered this wonderful zone where watching the world was a bit like looking out from long tunnels and I relied on coffee and diet coke most of the day.”

Thankfully Liz was rescued from her juice fest and put on a much healthier path by personal trainer and fitness guru Ronny Terry, who suggested a high-protein diet and heaps of exercise.

Between her bouts of successive anger, frustration, despair, exhaustion and hunger, Ronny had his work cut out. But under his guidance the mood swings subsided and Liz steadily lost a stone and then two. She is now on track to take the plunge on August 31 at Redlands Airfield.

“The challenge is harder than I ever imagined, don’t get me wrong, but it has done wonders for my self-confidence. I just hope I can go down to 13st by August 31 and raise £600 for Prospect. I have gone too far to give up now and let everyone down.”