120 overweight people set out to change their lives

Some 120 people who have been battling obesity for years will today start confronting their demons with a 12-week weight-loss programme that is aimed at changing their relationship with food and helping them adopt healthy eating habits for life.

More than 600 people have applied to take on L-iSfida Ghall-Kbar Biss (The Challenge Just for Adults), but the free programme originally intended for 100 people has now been extended to 120 following the huge response.

"The number of people with weight problems who came forward has been completely overwhelming and the sheer magnitude is what took me by surprise - we had estimated an absolute maximum of about 250 people," said Claudette Pace, who gave birth to the idea as part of her own mission to lose weight.

Ms Pace had had enough of yo-yo dieting and she also wanted to create awareness of the problem in a country where 60 per cent of the population are estimated to be either overweight or obese.

Obesity has been recognised by the World Health Organisation as the "epidemic of the 21st century", linked to conditions like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and other chronic problems.

Saint James Hospital, the Health Promotion Department, numerous fitness experts, nutritionists, psychologists, gyms and private entities have all been roped in and they will be providing their services free of charge over the following weeks.

"Applications and requests to join the programme are still coming in to this day. We wanted to take in and help everybody, but it's absolutely impossible because we have to split the numbers into small groups of 12 to ensure everyone gets the correct guidance," she explained in an interview.

Both Ms Pace and Saint James Hospital Group director Maria Bugeja worked hard to prioritise and select those applicants who were obese, yet healthy enough to embark on an exercise regime.

Of the 120 chosen, many weigh in at 100kg and over. Today, they will be meeting their gym instructors, nutritionists and psychologists - and hopefully start changing their lives.

"You can tell that for some people exercise is a whole new ball game because they called me asking what they should wear to go to the gym. They are rushing out to buy sportswear because they have never owned any," Ms Pace said.

"We have had worrying cases come forward of obese people with thyroid problems, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. We have had pleas such as: 'help me lose weight or I will lose my life'," she said.

Ms Bugeja said people's desperation to lose weight and change their lives had been overwhelming.

"We always knew there was a problem out there, but didn't realise there would be a strong demand. We have always offered these services, but the demand was normal. I don't know if this programme has been so popular because it's free or else it proved to be the necessary push for people to lose weight together," she said.

Ms Bugeja said the team was now trying to devise ways of offering heavily subsidised gym membership rates to applicants who were left out.

"Those who are extremely obese or have underlying health problems require personal attention and gentle exercise. We are also trying to get them better prices at gyms where they can get one-to-one training from a personal instructor as well as the advice of a nutritionist," she said.

Would they consider organising another 12-week programme once this is over?

"I don't think we can, especially because there are so many people who are voluntarily giving their services for free, so it would be a very difficult programme to repeat, but maybe we can find a suitable alternative," Ms Pace said.