West Midlands

There are now more than two million overweight children in Britain.

And the Midlands, the Black Country and parts of North Staffordshire have child obesity rates well above the national average.

But a new programme hopes to tackle that statistic.

MEND

Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do it (MEND) run more than 300 programmes, via local authorities, across the country.

These consist of different exercise and nutrition classes for the whole family.

Negative image

At just 12 years old, Mike Harte, has been classed as overweight.

Mike Harte: bullied because of his weight

He's one of the 27% of British children that are considered to be above a healthy weight.

Mike, says he's been bullied in the past and has a negative image of himself:

"When I look in the mirror its not what I want to see. 

"I'd rather see something else."

Mike's weight is also a worry for his mum, Kim, who's noticed that it's been slowly increasing over the last three years.

She worries about the long term effect on him:

Kim Harte: worries about the long term effects

"I don't want him to be overweight. 

"He's at secondary school now and he's going to get interested in girls and I don't want them to take the mickey out of him for being fat."

So Kim decided to take action and join a MEND group.

Reducing waistlines

MEND say their ethos is not about putting kids on a diet but more about making healthy changes that are sustainable throughout the child's life.

This is a view that Sally Cornfield from Dudley Primary Care Trust endorses. She says that teaching children about nutrition at a young age can help prevent adult diseases.

"We've got really high levels of obesity. 

"We're actually seeing an increase in children getting Type Two Diabetes, which is the adult onset disease which is brought on by being overweight."

Graduation

At the end of the MEND programme the children have a graduation ceremony and a final weigh-in is conducted.

The first step on the journey

Mike Harte has lost 2cm from his waist and he's doing a lot more exercise so his mum, Kim, is really pleased.

MEND claim that their programmes have had more success in reducing the waistlines of kids in the West Midlands than anywhere else in the country.

It's the beginning of the journey for Mike and for the next two years Dudley Primary Care Trust will be following his progress.