A PEEBLES-BASED business has scored a fitness award for helping their clients shed the pounds.

Mark and Nicola Lafferty opened their new premises in Peebles in September 2015, and within the last year and a half, the businessman has expanded with an extra location in Galashiels and has signed up scores of new clients.

The 44 year-old lost three stone in ten weeks himself through the Cambridge Weight Plan and he is now helping others with their weight loss goals.

The pair travelled down from the Borders to the Cambridge Weight Plan convention in Telford, which happened on Friday 25 and Saturday 26, November.

After previously winning the prestigious Above and Beyond award in 2015, Mark and Nicola have continued to build on this success and won the Champions award, given to only 50 out of the 3,400 consultants. On top of the award, they won a holiday to Dubrovnik with the other champions.

Mark told the Peeblesshire News: "This award is the icing on the cake to what has been an amazing year for us. I'm over the moon to have won this and it's such a delight to see my business make a difference in people's lives and helping folk across the Borders.

"It was a really good day and we're very pleased to be in the top 50 consultants.

"We started out with a team of seven consultants a few years back and have since, continued to grow."

Looking ahead to next year, Mark added: "We're going to hit the ground running in the new year, and we'd encourage anyone who wants to make a change in 2017, to jump off of the sofa and sign up."

“The plan is about lifestyle changes as much as anything else. There are no short-sharp fixes to losing weight, but we've had great results and feedback from those who have came to us to help them.”

The Cambridge Weight Plan is made up of a flexible six-step programme that can adjust to different lifestyles and the calorie limit is between 440kcal to 1500+kcal per day.