The 15-year-old, of Culduthel Crescent, is among 60 overweight youngsters who will take part in the Wellspring UK weight-loss programme launched this week in the Lake District.

For the next four weeks Charlotte, who weighs 15 stone, will face a gruelling regime which includes outdoor pursuits, motivational counselling and healthy meals.

Although such camps are perceived by some as drastic, Charlotte’s mother — who has paid £5700 out of her own pocket for her daughter to attend — claimed there was no practical help elsewhere to help children.

“We have had years of this, trekking backwards and forwards to the doctors, to nutritionists, to psychologists,” Shirley Tracey said.

“We have been to the hospital. She has had every conceivable test done.”

Ms Tracey said Charlotte was chubby as a baby.

“People said when she started toddling, she would lose it,” she recalled.

“Then, it was when she started running around she would lose it; every stage she was going to lose weight.”

But over the years Charlotte continued to put on weight despite attempts to control her diet and warnings about the potential health risks.

“The problem with Charlotte is that it is like an addiction,” Ms Tracey said. “It is an illness. But people think you must be a bad mother and that is so dispiriting.

“I would go to my bed at night and she would wait until I was asleep and go downstairs to get food. Charlotte is like a scanner for food. She would walk into a room and scan for food.”

Ms Tracey, who owns a beauty salon, felt her daughter’s problem was partly genetic.

“I am not a fat person but I watch what I eat and I have learnt to be strict over the years. I would get very fat if I ate what I wanted.”

Likewise, although her 12-year-old son, Bradley, did not have a weight problem, she felt he could have a tendency to be overweight.

Determined to help her daughter, Ms Tracey started researching the problem and eventually came across Wellspring, which holds summer weight loss camps around the United States.

Its first camp in the UK was held last year at the University of Central Lancashire’s Newton Rigg campus near Penrith.

Charlotte Tracey is currently at a summer weight loss camp.

The company claims an average four pounds per week weight loss for each child and an 80 per cent success rate in maintaining that loss.

“They take children for a month and take their lap top computers and telephones off them so they can concentrate on the programme,” Ms Tracey explained.

Although she was lucky to be able to send Charlotte to the camp, Ms Tracey felt there were many other parents who would not be able to do so.

“I love my daughter and I want her to be healthy. I don’t want her getting diabetes or other problems.

“I see this as a lifesaver. I also see this as a saver for the government — every other word which comes out of their mouth is about childhood obesity but they are not giving help to people. It is very short-sighted of them.”

She maintained that other options such as gastric band surgery, which involved placing bands around the stomach to restrict eating, were not only costly but also carried risks.

“It is a very dangerous operation and it doesn’t always work,” she said. “You are not tackling the reasons for the problems or giving people any other programme to work to.”

Mrs Tracey has spoken to Charlotte since her arrival at the camp.

“She has already lost seven and a half pounds in the first week. She is having a great time and lots of fun.”

Charlotte aims to shed a couple of stone before returning to boarding school in Perthshire next term.

“I’ve always been slightly overweight, but recently it’s got to the stage where I feel I need to do something about it,” Charlotte said.

“I don’t get bullied at school, but kids can make comments that can be hurtful sometimes.

“My mum spotted the camp on the internet and asked if I wanted to go. I thought it would be a good way to spend the holidays and lose some weight.

“I’m a bit nervous about being so far away from home, but I reckon it will all be worth it to see the expression on the faces of my friends.”

v.sweeney@inverness-courier.co.uk

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