And when you get home the most you feel like doing is collapsing in front of the sofa or taking the dog out for a 10 minute stroll.

Sound familiar? If it does, you're probably one of the two in three adults in the city who are overweight or obese.

Because, while many of us have the very best intentions as far as staying trim is concerned, many of us are just too busy to eat well or exercise, and our working lives don't encourage us to break out and seek a body beautiful.

But, all this is set to change as Peterborough Primary Care Trust is asking business to change their ways, and encourage their employees to live healthy lives in and out of work.

The launch of the scheme came exactly a year after the PCT, in conjunction with the ET, rolled out Healthy Weight Peterborough, which was a concerted effort to cut down on the number of plump Peterboroughians.

City's consultant dietitian in weight management Jean Hughes said the 2007 campaign had been a great success, with more people being seen by her and her team, and being given more intensive support.

Jean and her dietitians are pleased with the results of their first year of work, and are now turning their attentions to getting workplaces to become healthy. And after that it's children – recent statistics of all children entering primary school in Peterborough last September show that 500 out of 2,000 kids are overweight or obese.

"Over the next 10 years we will be happy if we manage to keep things as they are," said Jean. "Rather than seeing them get worse and worse as they have been doing in previous years."

Trio lose more than 12 stones in weight
This time last year Janet Macdonald weighed 27 stones. She would eat a massive bar of chocolate a day, and her life was ticking along, until one day she was admitted to hospital with painful sores on her leg.

She had cellulitis, which was caused by her legs struggling under the weight of her body: it was then she realised she had to do something about her weight and fast.

She went along to city clinic and was helped by Peterborough Primary Care Trust dietitians, and now tips the scales at 18-and-a-half stone. She has gone from a dress size 34 to a 20, and hopes to one day fit comfortably into a size 16.

The 47-year-old Peterborough District Hospital nurse said: "I feel so much better now. I used to not really like going out of the house much, I would go to work, but that would be it. I hadn't gone to a nighclub since 1982 because of the way I looked, but before Christmas I went with friends to two.

"I have so much more energy now, and feel much more confident.
"I would tell anyone who gets themself into the same situation as me that they can lose weight. It doesn't matter how big you are, you can always lose the weight with the right help and support, and the determination to do it for yourself and no-one else."

Christina Lavery, from Dogsthorpe, has had plenty of support from her family and friends, and said that one of the big motivating factors for losing weight was that she wanted her children to be proud of her.

"At the start of last year I realised that my grandson would be 13 in December, and would be having a party, and I didn't want to go to that and have him be embarrassed by me," she said.

"I saw a note about what Rachel Cooke and others at the PCT offered in a free magazine delivered to my house, and so I called her and went on a 12-week course about healthy eating and nutrition.

"After that I kept on meeting up with my peer group, and that has really helped me to stay motivated and keep losing weight."

Christina now tips the scales at 12 stones, and wants to lose two more by August 4, which will be her 53rd birthday.

"Cheese was my big downfall," she said. "And eating too much, not really of the wrong things, but just getting my quantities wrong.
"The help I got at city clinic was amazing, and you really can lose weight and start to feel more confident and full of energy."

This is a feeling echoed by Geoffrey Barnett, a 62-year-old from Windemere Way, Gunthorpe, who saw his weight inch up and up until it peaked at 18 stones last May.

He cut back, trimmed down and lost three-and-a-half stone. He said: "Losing weight is not about denying yourself things, it's about cutting out junk like muffins and chocolate and eating proper meals instead.

"A diet like the one I was on isn't a diet, it's just what you should really be eating."

Companies sign up
POSH, the ET and Perkins are just some of the businesses that have signed up to become a healthy workplace with the Peterborough
Primary Care Trust.

Basically, to take part a business needs to nominate a healthy champion who will consult employees about what they would like their employer to do to help them lead healthier lives.

This might be swapping the Mars Bars in the vending machine for bananas, getting a Quit Smoking counsellor to visit the business during lunchbreaks, installing showers for people who want to bike to work but not sit all day in their sweat, or get corporate gym and swimming sessions.

The PCT will then work with the business to help them make the changes.
Simple and painless, and it might just make employees healthier, happier – and more productive.

For more information, or to sign up, call the PCT's Rachel Cooke on 01733 466 666, or e-mail rachel.cooke@peterborough
pct.nhs.co.uk