IMAGINE having your own cake business and not being tempted to eat any of the leftovers.

That’s what life is like for Cwmbran woman Lynsey Gunn, who runs her own cake-making business on her own from home but still managed to lose four stone in 11 months slimming down from a size 16 to size 10.

Mrs Gunn has been running her business, called Sugar Flowers Cakes, for the past nine years in the kitchen of her home in Greenmeadow.

But last August after looking at photos from a family holiday to Turkey with her husband, Mrs Gunn was horrified to see that she had put on weight and not realised.

Shortly afterwards she decided to sign up to Slimming World at Fairhill Methodist Church in Cwmbran to get back into shape again.

“I thought I had put the pounds on after because I work from home and a lot of the time I am just stood still and not exercising or moving,” Mrs Gunn said.

“I went to have a look before I joined so I could know what to know as I didn’t know what to expect. I had never been on a diet before so it was all new to me.”

However, the 40-year-old realised losing weight wasn’t as difficult as she thought, and in just over a year she’s lost more than four stone.

But how did she manage it when running a cake business? Well, Mrs Gunn’s secret is not actually having a sweet tooth.

“I haven’t eaten cake since I was around eight-years-old, I’ve just never really fancied it or liked it that much,” she explains.

“When Easter came around I would be the one that was re-arranging and dusting my Easter eggs, and everyone else would eat them as soon as they got in the room.”

Mrs Gunn said Slimming World also helped her with her weight lost, helping to build relationships and help others at the group out with healthy cake recipes.

She said: “There are recipes on the app but last week I did make my own healthy version of a trifle which I shared with everyone last week.

“I think a lot of people are jealous because I don’t have a sweet tooth and they do, so it means they crave a lot of sweet things and it is difficult for them being on Slimming World.”

Mrs Gunn began to baking when her son was five years old and after making cakes in her spare time, she decided to quit her job as a carer so she could bake full time.

At the moment she makes around seven cakes a week but her maximum amount is ten.

Mrs Gunn makes all her own decorations, and went back into adult education to learn how to create cake decorations such as flowers and characters.

“At first I had to work out how many cakes was too many and I decided to give up work and started Sugar Flowers Cakes from my home, that was nine years ago now,” she said.

All of the cakes Mrs Gunn makes are always slightly different, even if she does get a request for them same design or style, as she likes to make each one individual to the person.

As she has been healthier and following the Slimming World plan, her husband has also managed to lose weight and lost three and a half stones.

“The kids eat 90 per cent of the same food that me and my husband have, so it fits in really well with our life style,” Mrs Gunn explains.

Losing more than four stone in 11 months has also meant that Mrs Gunn has won her Slimming World group’s Woman of the Year award, which she was presented with last month.

She said she’s still surprised at winning the award, and didn’t expect that she would even be in the running.

“It was quite a shock, it was sort of not expected and I thought I just go and help people and I didn’t think I was doing much to get it.

“I didn’t realise doing Slimming World would get me this far.”

However, Mrs Gunn said the variety of her business keeps her going, even though it does sometimes get hectic with the amount of cake requests.

She said: “I think it is [something I want to do in the future] because of the variety and I never make the same cake twice.

“It’s a great thing to do and it’s great when you see people enjoy their cakes.”

Lynsey's "guilt free" and Slimming World friendly trifle recipe

You need:

- Powdered gelatin

- A bottle of still flavoured water of your choice - syn free on Slimming World

- A variety of chopped fruit of your choice - speed food on Slimming World

- A tub of Quark - syn free on Slimming World

- Sweetener

- Vanilla extract

- Yellow food colouring

Instructions:

Mix 1 tsp of the powdered gelatin with 50 ml of boiling water until dissolved. Top up to 160ml by adding the still flavoured water of your choice and mix in chopped fruit. Leave to cool and refrigerate until set.

Mix together Quark (as much as you want) with a few tsps or a tablespoon of sweetener, a few drops of vanilla extract and a few drops of the yellow food colouring (to resemble custard). Top with more sweetened, but uncoloured, Quark and top with more fruit.