NHS paid for an overweight couple to undergo `his and hers' gastric band operations which helped them shed a combined 21 stone.

Husband and wife Kate Glencross, 61 and 62 respectively, were so obese two years ago that doctors warned them to loose their flab if they did not want to die.

The couple had been binging on a diet of fried and fatty food for several years which made them swell up to a combined 42 stones.

Ms Glencross was suffering from high blood pressure and she needed a cocktail of tablets to treat her problem. Her weight rose to 18st 3lb. Her firefighter husband, Mr Glencross' knees were going to crumble under his weight and he needed a stick to walk because he had become a giant with a weight of 25st 6lbs.

They decided to crash diet but all their efforts failed and they were finally offered the gastric band operations at a cost of £24,000 on the NHS.

The couple underwent the keyhole surgery on the same day in June 2008 at Peterborough District Hospital.

After two years, Mr Glencross is a trim 14 stone and his waist size has shrunk by almost two feet. His wife also weighs less than 10 stone and her dress sixe has dropped from size 26 to size 10.