Last updated at 14:30, Friday, 05 March 2010

BEING overweight is a major health concern for many people in the region. Obesity is the main cause of illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes and, according to the latest figures released by research organisation YouGov, one in four Britons are now obese.

The North West is one of the biggest culprits, having the fourth highest average Body Mass Index of any region in the UK.

The BMI calculates the ratio of weight in comparison to height, with 25 being overweight and 30 obese.

Our region weighs in at 27.9, significantly higher than the threshold for a healthy lifestyle and experts warn that if trends continue, many more could become grossly overweight in coming decades.

Without help and expert advice, it is easy for your weight to spiral out of control.

Karen Clarke organises Slimming World meetings in Barrow, Dalton and Ulverston.

She said that people who attend her groups are often worried about how their weight will affect them in later life.

“There are bigger benefits than just losing weight,” she said.

“Our members realise they have to make a change – not just to look slimmer and feel better about themselves, but because they know of the complications and problems that being overweight can bring.”

Dieting is the biggest difficulty that a lot of people face when slimming, because the main reason they are overweight is generally down to what they eat.

For some, cutting out the junk food or comfort food that they have been accustomed to can be too much of a change to take in one go.

Karen said: “People who attend can choose how much they want to eat. There are no set meals.

“What we try and do is make them aware of what are called ‘super-free’ foods, where you can eat loads and there’s no weight gain.

“Most members say that they’ve never eaten so well. They’re eating more than they ever have, but replacing the fatty foods with more salad and fruit.”

At the Slimming World sessions, exercise is not enforced, because it is up to the individual to decide their own goals and the lifestyle changes they need to make.

“It’s not for us to say how much people should weigh,” added Karen.

“It’s really important to have targets to achieve, and we try and help you achieve them.”

Last week, the Evening Mail reported that in Barrow 14.2 per cent of reception children, aged four and five, were classified as obese.

Karen believes that many people don’t have the right advice at a young age, and at her classes children can attend for free with their parents. It is an initiative to get whole families working together and getting children into healthy eating from a young age.

Gemma Humes, 24, from Barrow, attends the sessions in Barrow and agreed that young people need more education in eating healthily. She said: “They look to magazines and celebrities and think that size 0 and crash dieting is normal.

“At Slimming World, you get the advice from the experts but it is also good because it is like a group of friends. We all swap tips, because we’re all going through the same thing.”

For Gemma, comfort eating was a problem. She was teased about her weight as a youngster and it left her with little confidence by the time she finished school.

“I was bullied at school,” she said.

“I wasn’t fat, but they told me I was. I started comfort eating and eventually my weight became a big issue.

“When I went to the group with my mum I was a dress size 18-20, and I’m only 5’3. I lost four stone and now I’m a dress size 8-10, and I feel so much better.

“I’m more confident about the way I look now, and that makes a big difference.”

The psychological effect that being overweight can have can be particularly damaging.

Michelle Varley, who also attends the Slimming World group in Barrow, said that she put weight on after becoming pregnant and was unable to cope when the weight didn’t drop off after giving birth.

She said: “I joined when I thought it was getting out of hand.

“I’d never been overweight when I was younger, but after my third child I started to put on weight.

“I’ve now had five kids and I always used that as an excuse. It didn’t help that I was always eating junk food. I even ate whatever the kids left. I was getting very, very depressed. I felt so low and I was embarrassed to look people in the eye.

“Because I’m quite a tall person I felt gigantic and I thought that everybody was staring at me.”

Michelle said she never expected to lose much weight, but the sessions helped and now feels more confident than she has in a long time.

“My original target was to lose five stone because I never thought I would even get close, but I lost it quite easily.

“Then my target was six stone and I’ve now lost six stone and seven pounds, so I’ve passed that one too.

“I went from a dress size 22 to 12 and I still hope to lose another 10 pounds by the summer.

“I’m still gradually losing weight so I think it should be possible.

“I now run about eight miles each day and play badminton when I can, so I’m doing quite a lot of exercise.

“It really makes you feel a lot better.”

Her success was rewarded in October last year when she was named Cumbria Slimming World’s Woman of the Year 2009, narrowly missing out on the national title.

Michelle said: “It was nice to be selected, even though I missed out in the final to the actress Rebecca Wheatley from Casualty.

“Being Cumbria’s Slimmer of the Year though was fantastic, and made me feel more confident about myself.”

First published at 13:14, Wednesday, 03 March 2010
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk