Starting in the new year, residents of North Lancashire with an unhealthy BMI, will get help with fitness and dietary issues through a subsidised health scheme and exercise referral programme.

YMCA Fylde Coast will deliver the scheme across the region, working in partnership with Momenta, a weight management organisation which runs courses to re-educate participants in the way they think about food, exercise and their dietary lifestyle.

The scheme targets over 18s with a BMI of 25-40 and takes a two step approach with 12 weekly sessions and then follow up monthly sessions of an hour each. The course is subsidised by the local authority and implemented by the YMCA’s Momenta lifestyle coaches.

“We are delighted that we succeeded in winning this tender with YMCA Fylde Coast,” said Momenta director and co-founder Lisa Taylor. “It shows the power and cost-effectiveness of combining the YMCA’s local knowledge, presence, people and passion with Momenta’s expertise in weight management. We look forward to supporting the YMCA to deliver an excellent service and help as many people as possible lose weight and keep it off.”

Lancashire County Council has contracted the YMCA and Momenta to deliver the programme on the Fylde Coast due to its success across neighbouring Fylde and Wyre boroughs. Momenta is currently running its programme at 25 centres across England.

Mike Vernon, director of Physical Activity and Outdoor Education for the YMCA said he was "excited by the opportunity to expand the YMCA’s health and wellbeing programmes into more communities." He highlighted how the weight management programme provides "great synergy with the YMCA ethos of developing strong communities through positive impact with the individual.”

The Fylde Coast’s YMCA Y:Active Health Team already operates a range of initiatives to support residents in leading more active, healthier lifestyles. Alongside GP referral programmes, health walks, and cardiac rehabilitation programmes, it also runs Kids Get Active, a child weight management scheme for 7-13 year olds. The team estimates it currently helps over 2,000 residents annually.

The Momenta programme evolved through a similar scheme known as MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition...Do it!) which was created to deal with the development of healthy lifestyles in childhood. Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and University College London’s (UCL) Institute of Child Health developed MEND in 2004 and a programme has since been rolled out nationwide with notable success.

Dr Paul Chadwick, a leading clinical and health psychologist at UCL, who wrote the first adult weight management programme for the NHS over a decade ago, identified how the MEND programme could be adapted for adults and pulled together a team of dieticians, nutritionists, psychologists and exercise specialists to create Momenta.

In adopting this new programme, YMCA Fylde Coast joins a growing number of fitness organisations and local authorities turning to educational schemes to tackle the nation’s weight and health issues. Health Club Management reported on East Lindsey District Council earlier this month, which has set up a charitable trust to improve the wellbeing of residents and tackle obesity with a series of health improvement programmes.

The YMCA Club in London, the organisation’s flagship gym, works with Westminster Health Improvement on a 10-week exercise referral programme similar to Fylde Coast’s to "encourage behaviour change among people whose health can be significantly improved by taking up exercise.”