Alexander (aged 9)

January 2006

Alex felt uncomfortable about attending P.E. lessons at school because he was always the first to get tired.  “All the other boys were always much faster than me because I was so  heavy ."

Alex's mother, Maria, had tried her best to help her son lose weight but nothing seemed to work.  " I would try to buy what I believed to be healthy snack bars for Alex, but he just kept gaining weight.  I felt that as a mother I was failing him."

Maria saw the MEND Programme as a unique opportunity to help her son improve his weight and self esteem. " I decided we should attend the Programme and Alex agreed as he really wanted to lose weight and feel happy again."

During the Programme Maria learnt special techniques to help Alex and her family stick to a healthy diet plan.  She says she now feels more confident and informed when buying the family's groceries. “Our shopping trips take much longer now, I spend hours looking at the ingredients on food labels of the products I want to buy just so I can make sure that they are healthy. People must think I'm crazy!" 

Alex admits that he also enjoys shopping for healthy food, “I seem to like vegetables now!"

Maria believes that having both parent and child attend the Programme is what makes it so effective. " It's very important that children don't feel that it's their mum being an ogre whose aim is to stop them from having treats, but to understand and learn the reasons why."

In December 2005, Alex appeared in his first school play - something he would never have dreamt of doing before. Maria decided to buy him a new pair of trousers for the performance and instead of his regular size 12, had to buy him a brand new size 11. “There was also room to spare. I was so pleased for him!"  she exclaims. 

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