Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust is launching nine new weight loss groups across the district. They are free to adults living in Bradford and Airedale who would like to lose weight and make lifestyle changes.

The first group starts w/c 12 September at Allerton Health Centre, 10am-11.30am. The groups are held weekly, Monday to Wednesday, at different times and at nine different locations across the district including health centres and community venues.

Run by the Care Trust’s health trainers, who specialise in supporting people to achieve their lifestyle goals, group members will gain the knowledge to make long-term changes to lose weight and keep it off.

The groups will run for 12 weeks and give people the skills to take control of their weight and lead a healthier lifestyle. People will be supported to make small changes and given practical tools and information including how to understand food labels, meal planning, healthy swaps, managing cravings and what makes a balanced diet.

Yasmin Maskin, Health Trainer at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It’s not a fad diet; we promote safe and sustainable weight loss supporting people to make healthy food choices and also giving people skills to prevent weight gain. We are here to support people to meet their weight loss goals whatever they might be, I’d encourage people to come along and give it a go.”

Shahnaz Ali was supported by the Care Trust’s Health Trainer service to lose weight after swollen feet and a bad back started to affect her work life. Her GP advised that losing weight would put less strain on her body. Adamant to get healthier and drop a few dress sizes before the religious festival Eid, Shahnaz was supported by Health Trainer, Yasmin, to set and achieve goals which changed her life.

Shahnaz said: “Discussing my weight-loss concerns with Yasmin encouraged me to make healthier choices in every aspect of my life and she made recommendations to support me. I took small steps and worked towards a gradual approach to help make changes to my lifestyle. This was much easier for me to come to terms with.”

Shahnaz dropped from an extra-large to a medium dress size and no longer experiences swollen feet or back pain. In the end, she had her Eid dress re-fitted because she’d lost so much weight.

Catherine Jowitt, Practice Health Champions Lead at the Care Trust, said: “There are lots of benefits to losing weight including increasing your energy, improving mobility, reducing blood pressure and improving mood. We work with people to help make changes to their lifestyle and behaviour by setting goals and supporting people to achieve them.  The most important goal for Shahnaz was dropping her dress size rather than pounds on the scales. This goal meant she remained focused and was able to pick healthier options. Everyone has different goals they want to achieve which is why we support people to make changes that are right to them.”

If you are interested in joining the groups please contact the Health Trainer Service on 01274 322666 or email healthtrainers@bdct.nhs.uk

Full list of Care Trust weight loss groups.