A TEENAGER who lost three stone at a extreme sports weight loss camp has backed a new scheme to prevent other youngsters having to take such steps.

Kirsty Powell,19, of Haslingden, is supporting the British Heart Foundation’s new campaign to educate the ‘junk food generation’.

She has recently returned from a pioneering weight loss camp in New York, where she lost weight after dieting and taking part in extreme sports.

Kirsty said: “I’m so much more confident and happier with myself and I’ve made so many lifestyle changes. I go to the gym all the time and eat healthier.

“I think that the BHF’s campaign is a fantastic way to get kids thinking more about what they eat.

“I never used to think about how my weight would affect my health in the future but now I realise how important it is.”

The new scheme, Yoobot, is an online game which gives children an insight to the long term effects of a poor diet.

The game has been launched after recent predictions show that two thirds of all children may be the first generation to live shorter lives than their parents due to obesity.

Earlier this year it was revealed that one in four children in East Lancashire was obese or overweight. Burnley also has the highest number of obese reception aged children in the county.

Some 11.9 per cent of four-year-olds are obese while more than a quarter are overweight.

Neighbouring Pendle has the third worst record for obese four-year-olds in the county and 10 per cent of Rossendale infants are dangerously overweight.

BHF director of prevention and care Mike Knapton said: “Today’s junk food generation can’t see beyond the burger box.

“They are missing the fact that eating unhealthily can have dire consequences on their long-term health.”

Kirsty added: “I think the Yoobot game is a great educational tool.

“It’s so important to take that first step to change your life.

"It can be hard but the positive outcome makes it so worthwhile – I’m proof of that.”

Kirsty weighed 15st 5lb when she started at the camp and now weighs 12st 4lb.