Teaching her son good food habits has helped Debbie lose weight, and introduce a fun new dinner guest.

If you think it's tough getting kids to eat their vegetables, imagine trying to get them to eat an eyeball - yet that's exactly what Debbie O'Connor asked her four-year-old son, Joel, to do and he was happy to comply.

Of course it helped that the 'eyeball' was really a pea and that it belonged to "Andrew Potato Face", a character Debbie created from mashed potato, corn, carrots and peas (and named after Joel's favourite uncle). In an instant, Joel went from screwing up his nose at vegies to happily munching on someone else's schnoz - if it's made from cheese.

Sharing the success
Debbie's vegetable victory with Joel, now five, prompted her to self-publish a book, Andrew Potato Face, which encouraged kids to eat their vegies. All of which is a far cry from the days when Debbie was 10kg overweight and living on creamy pastas and white-bread sandwiches.

Debbie had been overweight since childhood and viewed any form of exercise with reluctance. Her turning point came when, during a day of pampering and relaxation, a massage therapist, whom Debbie had never met before, sensed she lacked self-esteem

"I knew what she was talking about," says Debbie. "I'd never come to terms with my weight, but once she put it out there, I knew I had to change it."

Even though Debbie thought she was eating healthy meals, once she joined Weight Watchers she realised the high POINTS values of her meals.

"I used to have white bread, ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches. Now I realise that that's almost a 10 POINTS values sandwich." She swapped her regular sheeses for cottage cheese and limited her bread intake for the day. "Now we hae many more home-cooked meals thanks to Weight Watchers cookbooks".

The family help
Support from friends and family was the key to Debbie's motivation. "Most of my family lives overseas, but through email I informed them I wanted to lose weight and was doing something about it."

"Seeing my clothes become looser was another great motivator".

Once Debbie had reached Goal, she celebrated her achievment by visiting an image consultant with four willing friends.

"I wanted to find the clothes that highlighted all my good areas - from length of sleeves, skirts, necklines to body shapes," says Debbie, who loves making the most of her new body. "It was a great day - we all learnt so much." Armed with newfound knowledge, they hit the shops.

"I found Meetings to be an essential part of learning how to lose the weight and then how to keep it off," says Debbie, who still attends them regularly. Along with her taste for creamy pasta, her reluctance to exercise has disappeared. She loves the gym and considers it "my time".

Debbie loves attending group classes for their upbeat and motivating environment and is a keen BodyPump attendee. All this newfound energy goes into running her graphic design business as well as creating much healthier meals for husband, David, Joel and daughter, Jade, two.

Andrew Potato Face isn't the only extra guest at the table, on any given night they could be joined by Carol Couscous or Sammy Sausage. "This isn't going to make your kids suddenly eat every vegetable off their plate. It just allows them to get a taste for it," says Debbie, "and realise it's not so bad after all."