21 JUNE 2008, Page 71

your problemS Solved

Dear Mary

Q. I am in despair because I am growing fatter and fatter with every week that passes. I seem to have developed the most enormous appetite and now want roughly double what I used to eat. I have had all the relevant medical checks done privately and there is nothing wrong with me other than what my doctor calls ‘straightforward greed’. I have been to three clinics/spas already this year but each time I come out I start gorging again. One of the problems is that I work at home. The other is that I know for a fact that Weight Watchers is the only method which has worked for me in the past but these days I am what is called ‘high profile’, so it would not be advisable for me to rock up at meetings. I do not want gastric band surgery nor do I want to hire two full-time minders to block my way to the fridge like that man from the Beach Boys. Mary, what is the solution?

Name and address withheld A. Like Alcoholic Anonymous, Weight Watchers is all about the power of the group. Since you cannot access this magic without attending meetings and you say that public meetings are out of the question, then — as money is clearly no object to you — you must hire a Weight Watchers leader to come privately to your home once a week. You can round up your own trusted friends and neighbours to form the membership of the group. There are many first-time binge eaters in the same position as yourself so there will be no problem making up numbers.