Woman, 53, who has a brood of FOURTEEN children is still only a petite size 8 - and puts it down to housework

From stretchmarks and unwelcome cellulite to shifting the unwanted baby weight, the aftermath of birth is a time that many women fear.
So for the woman who gave birth an incredible 14 times, post-birth weight loss looked set to be a lengthy process.
But not for Patricia Sparkes, who remains a slender size eight and puts it all down to the housework.

Mother-of-14 Patricia Sparkes puts her incredible slender figure down to doing housework

It is hard to believe that Patricia Sparkes has given birth to a brood of fourteen and measures to a slender size 8

The 53-year-old from Belfast has given birth to a brood aged between seven and thirty five and hasn't an inch of fat on her, weighing a tiny eight stone.
At 5ft 8inches, Patricia only found it hard to get back into shape after giving birth to twins Anthony and Liam, who are now 25.
But she attributes her healthy figure to dancing whilst doing the housework, chasing after her mighty brood and helping her husband Bernard to run his busy charity games business.
Speaking in an interview with The Mirror, she said: 'I had a little belly afterwards. I went up to about 14 stone. I’d put a dress on and looked like I was still expecting

Patricia and Bernard Sparkes pictured at their home in Armoy, the pair met in a bar in Leicester

Patricia's amazing family includes 14 children and three grandchildren

'But I was determined to lose it because I like to look my best. That’s when I started dancing while doing the housework and the weight eventually fell off.'
Patricia, now 53, was at the tender age of seventeen when she gave birth to her first child, Andrea, who as the oldest is now 35.
She later remarried and went on to have eight more children with her husband and after a second marriage breakdown she found love with a man who she met in a bar when visiting her niece who was willing to take on her large family.

Patricia, 53, puts her slender figure down to doing the housework and chasing after her kids

Eight of the children still live in her six-bedroom house but Patricia wouldn't have it any other way

The pair, who have been married 14 years, went on to have a further four children and Patricia is now a grandmother to three young children.
Eight of the children still live in the six bedroom house but Patricia wouldn't have it any other way.
'When one leaves home it’s a wrench. I love having a full house. I do a lot of baking. I don’t even want to think about when they’ve all left home, with no one here to look after and go girlie shopping with… I can’t imagine it,' she said.
'It’s like an addiction – the pregnancy, nurturing a little life, the first movement… it’s amazing. Being a mum is my vocation in life.'
Patricia has always made sure that she was able to afford her family without handouts and she and Bernard have run a number of successful businesses over the years.
She says: 'Of course, we have to make things stretch more than small families, but we have always managed to have fun doing things on a budget. We have days out at the beach or the park where we can have a picnic.'
In fact struggling to entertain the children without spending a fortune grew in to a successful business plan for the Sparkes.
Patricia says: 'I used to make up stories to make the kids laugh and my ideas sort of grew and grew over a few years, I'd made up stories about a family of eggs called Splat, Cracker and Exactly – the children loved them so I expanded it to make a book called Shelltown.'
Shelltown is now a successful paperback and animated cartoon series (www.shelltown.co.uk) featuring the voices of Ronan Keating, Johnny Vegas and Kenneth Branagh.
The couple - who are passionate about giving something back having dealt with two autustic children of their own - have also recently launched a charity board game called Convoy that they hope will raise over £22,000 for the North West Air Ambulance.