Want to burn over 22,000 calories a year without even breaking a sweat?

Research has found that the average bus user burns 22,630 calories a year - clocking up the annual equivalent of 11 marathons. This is just by doing their daily short walk to their bus stop and final destination, research by Dr David Lewis of Mindlab International found. And if you’re really keen to maximise the calorie-loss-count, you can always get off the bus a stop earlier now and again.

One local lady, Laura Dunn, knows only too well the benefits of walking and using the bus, after shedding an impressive 13st 7.5lbs.

Laura, 29, from Birtley, doesn’t drive and walks and gets the bus everywhere. She joined Slimming World in March 2013 and thanks to their diet and her no-car lifestyle she has since gone from 24st 1.5lbs, to 10st 8lbs.

The members of the Durham and Chester-le-Street Slimming World team all lost a huge 52,890 pounds between them in 2015. To demonstrate just how well they’ve done, they recently came along to our Gateshead Riverside depot to have their photo taken with two double deck buses – which weigh the equivalent of what they have lost.

Laura said: “I’d tried losing weight before – I’ve done pretty much every diet there is – yet I always found the plans that I followed too hard to stick to because they left me feeling hungry and deprived, which made me miserable. Slimming World was completely different.

“With Slimming World I still enjoy all my favourite dishes like sweet potato curry too. The meals I cook taste great, so my family and friends are always happy to tuck in as well, which means I don’t have to spend time preparing different dishes for everyone and they’ve benefitted from eating more healthily without even trying.

Laura says she couldn’t have achieved all she has without the support of her Slimming World group: “I can remember the first time I walked into the group I felt very self-conscious and so nervous, everyone was really friendly though and made me feel really welcome. Now I look forward to it every week. We swap recipes and advice, and it’s a lot of fun.”

If you’re not a fan of exercise and fancy burning calories by using the bus instead, click here to find out more about your local bus services.

• For more information about Do Something Good for U JanUary week (11 - 17 January) click here.
• For more information about Slimming World click here.

Picture Caption: Slimmers with double-decker vroom vroom. L-R: Suzanne Jones, Dianne Harris, Nic Young, Lorraine Dingwall, Vickie Gallagher, Jan Jamieson, Katherine Mason, Claire Pilkington and Julie Melvin.