Shape-Up in Camden

Want to get healthy for good? Stop dieting and Shape-Up!

What weight management programmes can I do in Camden?

Apples & Pears

From April 1st 2013, Shape-Up in Camden has moved to Apples & Pears, Camden's Weight Management Service. Shape-Up is now one of four community based programmes available to Camden residents. To find out if you are eligible for the Shape-Up Programme in Camden, follow this link:

http://www.healthycamden.com/content/healthy-weight

Shape-Up is a lifestyle programme offered FREE OF CHARGE in Camden that can help you manage your weight, improve your health and improve your quality of life.

What makes Shape-Up special?

• Shape-Up is not a diet or an eating plan. And it is not just about weight loss.
• It is a psychological approach to managing eating and physical activity for good!

Shape-Up provides an evidence-based alternative to the endless cycle of dieting people often find themselves in. Shape-Up is used by thousands of people each year across England to help them lose weight, get fitter and healthier and feel better about themselves. Over 1000 people have completed Shape-Up since it has been running in Camden alone!

Weight Concern knows that weight management can be a lengthy and lonely business. Shape-Up groups such as those offered in Camden provide people with the opportunity to work through the programme with the support of others in the same position. And you don't have to fear stepping on the scales each week in front of others! You will be encouraged to keep track of your weight but it won't be discussed in the groups.

Shape-Up will give you the skills and confidence to take control of your weight for life - abandoning 'diets' for good!

The Shape-Up Programme will help you to:

• limit further weight gain
• achieve modest weight loss at a healthy, sustainable rate
• get into a regular eating pattern
• balance the types of food that you eat
• reduce your tendency to overeat
• become more physically active
• develop a healthier lifestyle

The Shape-Up Programme helps people achieve all this by offering vital information on changing your behaviour such as how to keep motivated, how to identify triggers which lead to unhealthy habits and how to deal with lapses. It also offers practical information on portion sizes, cooking, shopping and eating out tips, and record sheets and diaries to keep track of things.

There is also an online forum where you can chat to others going through the Shape-Up Programme and you can get daily hints and motivational tips from Weight Concern on Facebook and Twitter @weightconcern

How do I get involved in the Shape-Up Programme in Camden?

To find out if you are eligible for the Shape-Up Programme in Camden, follow this link: http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/leisure/sport-and-physical-activity/get-active-and-healthy/lose-weight/?dm_t=0,0,0,0,0

Read Drew's story and see the difference Shape-Up has made: Click here to download pdf

What other past participants say about the Shape-Up Programme

• 'The Programme is fantastic because it stops you thinking about being on a diet and instead makes you focus on making healthy choices for life'.
• 'Thanks for all your hard work and motivating words during the Shape-Up Programme... I learnt a lot... I feel much healthier, definitely have a better diet, and am losing weight slowly but pretty constantly - it's amazing how, although it's only a little bit each week, it eventually adds up. I've lost 26.2 kilograms in 10 months, which is 4 stones and 1 pound! When I first started walking during the Shape-Up Programme it meant a nap in the afternoon when I got home. Now I do a 10-15 mile walk, get home, do the shopping and the cleaning and all in all feel much better for it!'
• 'The group sessions were great, highly supportive and the time just flew past'.
• 'After just two sessions, I changed the way I thought about what I was eating, and by 3 I had made significant changes which I have stuck to'.