Weight gain, and the associated health risks, is becoming an increasing problem for the general population and even more so for people with a learning disability. But a project that combined physical exercise and dietary advice has helped a group of women to reverse this trend, as Sue Bradley explains

Obesity is headline news and will probably remain so for some time. Obesity levels have tripled over the past 20 years, with one man in four and one woman in five now classified as obese. In addition, 41 per cent of men and 33 per cent women are overweight (House of Commons Health Committee 2004, Rushton 2004).