A young mother has spoken of her “dramatic re-entrance” into society after receiving cosmetic surgery.

Jill Turnbull, 24, from Greenfield Gardens, in Eastburn, was 21 when she had her second child, Billy.

After piling on the pounds throughout her first pregnancy — with Caitlin, now five — and second pregnancy, she felt too fat and depressed even to enjoy Christmas with her new-born son.

Before becoming pregnant, Jill had maintained a healthy size 12 figure but she then weighed 13st 7lb and took a size 18.

Miss Turnbull said: “I was sick of feeling uncomfortable and getting out of breath, generally being unable to enjoy life because of my weight.

“I made a New Year’s resolution in 2007 and then I lost five stones in five months by eating low-calorie food and exercising two hours a day on equipment I had bought for my room.”

But the former Craven College student, originally from Newcastle, felt her excellent achievement had come to nothing because she still had rolls of excess skin she couldn’t shift.

“I still couldn’t wear tight-fitting tops because of my skin and when I ran it would bounce around,” she said.

After trying various exercises to tone up her stomach muscles, a visit from the doctor confirmed that a tummy tuck was the best way to achieve her desired look. She visited Harley Medical Group, in Leeds and Manchester, and agreed to pay £5,500, which she borrowed from her mum, to have a tummy tuck.

Jill struggled to walk for two weeks after the operation and it hurt to sneeze and laugh, but she says her life has been transformed by her size eight figure and flat stomach and is adamant she has no regrets.

She said: “I feel much more confident now. I can buy the clothes I want without trying them on and can wear a bikini and feel good on holiday. “I can also run around after and play with my children — which is what life is all about.”

Jill lost sensation in her belly, a common consequence of a tummy tuck operation, but it is starting to return.