A Newcastle fitness coach is on a mission to change the way the NHS approaches weight loss as she gets set to launch a campaign to shift the focus away from the scales.
Kim Stacey is the founder of Body Image Fitness based in Jesmond which provides both online and in-person exercise classes with a difference. The Kenton mum tells clients to ditch the diet and celebrate their body for what it can do in a bid to improve both their mental and physical health.
And now Kim's unique approach to fitness has caught the eye of the Nottingham NHS Trust which has asked the 37-year-old to create a "toolkit" that could be used by medics to help them tackle weight loss in a different way.
READ MORE: Join ChronicleLive's Whatsapp community for breaking news and top stories
"The NHS reached out to me and asked me to do a Body Positive Movement campaign," Kim said.
"The NHS' traditional approach to healthy eating and movement is very medicalised, focused on intentional weight loss, and uncritical of some of the more harmful aspects of diet culture. They want to try something different, and this is where I come in."
Kim launched her business in 2020 after spending years battling with her weight and says she is calling for the NHS to adopt a "weight-neutral approach" to improving the health of "people in larger bodies." Part of this will see Kim advise the trust on how it can change the way it speaks about weight.
"There isn't any critical thinking and awareness of what it is actually like for people who have struggled with food and body image and exercise all their lives," she said.
"It is not as simple as sending them to [weight loss groups] or calorie deficit, it is so much more complex than that."
Kim continued: "It is trying to take the focus of intentional weight loss and looking at what we can do to improve our health away from that. So many people avoid going to the doctors because they don't want to get weighed.
"It is about trying to train the primary care workers to be a bit more passionate and understanding and to give lived experiences of people with disordered eating.
"It is trying to change the language to make it a much more welcoming place for people in larger bodies to go to the doctors and, after that, engage in movement that is going to be a more positive experience."
As part of the campaign, Kim is putting together a booklet talking about weight stigma and the impact it has on people's mental health. The second part of the initiative will then see Kim speaking t sports and leisure centres and encouraging them to have more of a "body-positive approach."
"The aim is to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of people in larger bodies," she said.
"The current approach isn't working. People are avoiding movement and continuing to get more and more unhealthy. People are becoming more aware that we need to try a different approach."
