Reality hit Claire Evans when she realised she had gained weight during the 2020 lockdown.

As a field manager for Slimming World, the 50-year-old from Dartford spends her working days helping people across the county shed their unwanted pounds and get back into shape.

Claire said losing a stone helped her recover from Covid-19

But Claire found herself sat on the opposite side of the table, as she and the rest of the country tried to cope with the mental and physical constraints of being stuck inside.

She said: “I put on just over a stone, which when you’re 5ft 3”…I really started to feel it, I couldn’t breathe as well, I was getting worn out going up and down the stairs.

“I know you might laugh and say ‘Claire you work for a weight loss organisation,’ that doesn’t mean to say that there’s a magic pill that I take which means I can do it.

“I realised that I couldn’t do it on my own and needed some help, so I actually joined a group.”

Claire lost most of the weight before being struck down with Covid-19 in December, and believes that thanks to her weight loss she recovered much faster than she otherwise would have.

She said: “I shook it off relatively quickly, and I absolutely believe it was because I was in the right mindset, the foods I was eating were good and that sort of thing.

“I worry how long it might have taken me to shake it off if I was still drinking alcohol, not eating good food.

“I do believe now with Covid, that more and more people are realising they don’t need to lose weight for how they look, it’s actually about their health - if you just Google the links with obesity and Covid, it is absolutely alarming.”

In July the government unveiled its Better Health campaign to try and encourage people to lose weight to better protect themselves from being admitted to hospital from coronavirus.

'If you just Google the links with obesity and Covid, it is absolutely alarming...'

A paper published by the British Medical Journal in October also stated that fat increases in the lung could affect how the lung handles the virus.

Claire’s husband was admitted to hospital with Covid-19 and noticed the number of people around him who were overweight and being treated for serious coronavirus symptoms: “He doesn’t have a weight problem, but one of the things he said to me that was heartbreaking was ‘Claire, everyone that was on my Covid ward was obese.’”

The Slimming World manager believes that since lockdown the number of overweight people has likely risen, as people have increasingly turned to comfort food during such a difficult time - and during National Obesity Week, she has been trying to encourage more people to think about kickstarting their health.

A report released this week by Public Health England estimates that two districts in Kent are among the highest in the country for the proportion of adults who are overweight or obese.

Results from a survey estimated that more than 75% of Dartford’s adults are overweight, while the same can be said for 71% of Dover’s adults.

Lucy-Anna Turner went on a weight loss journey during lockdown

Claire said: “People are out of energy in lockdown and are going for the easier option - what we want to try and help people do is kick themselves back into action and say ‘is that what you really want, or actually do you want to come out of lockdown feeling healthier, fitter, slimmer and happy?’

Slimming World is encouraging people who are classed as overweight to lose 10% of their body weight, which it says can help reduce the risk of developing other health conditions like type two diabetes, heart disease, strokes, some cancers and fertility problems.

A fellow member of Claire’s Slimming World group went on a health and exercise kick between April and December 2020, and also believes that regular exercise and healthy foods helped her shake Covid-19 off more easily.

Lucy-Anna Turner, from Hawley, said: “It never entered my head until I got Covid myself - I probably didn’t think it was too bad because I was so much healthier and so much fitter, I was fuelling my body with the right type of food and looking after myself.

“My experience of Covid wasn’t as bad as it could have been back in April when I was a stone and-a-half heavier.”

The 24-year-old added: “Losing weight has definitely helped my recovery from Covid.”

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