Eight seriously obese people have been given an extraordinary chance to lose weight, get fit and change their lives in a marathon 500-mile walk from the south coast of England to Edinburgh.

The walkers taking part are:

Adam Van Gogh – 29, from Newcastle, weighs 22 stones 9 lbs

Adam wants people to see past his weight to see the man inside, but his wife’s cooking – she even deep-fries lettuce – isn’t helping!

Alice Duxbury – 27, from Leicestershire, 22 stones 8 lbs

Alice wants to get married but is afraid she won’t look good in her wedding dress. She has tried every diet in the book and all of them have failed. This is her last chance to get control of her weight.

Gary Baines – 44, from Lancashire, weighs 24 stones 4 lbs

He’s been told that unless he loses weight he won’t be around to see his daughters grow up and is worried that they will become fat too.

Hayley Rentall – 27, from Middlesex, 23 stone 11 lbs, dress size 24-28.

Hayley has two kids, aged 2 and 3-years old, and doesn’t want to be the fattest mum at the school gates. She was bullied as a child for her weight.

Jack Gordy – 20, from Leeds, weighs 26 stones

Jack wants to lose weight to have the confidence to stop hiding away at home and get a life that a lad his age should be living, going out having fun and meeting girls. He has a BMI (Body Mass Index, a measure of how fat someone is) of nearly 50 – twice the recommended healthy limit of 25.

Jane Thompson Smith – 41, from Middlesborough, 23 stones 3 lbs

Jane wants to have kids, but she’s been told that it will be a risk unless she loses weight.

Stacey Pinnock – 22, from East London. 23 stones 8 lbs, dress size 28.

She’s never had a boyfriend and is unemployed. Stacey wants to lose weight to get her dream job as an airhostess (she can’t fit into the seats at the moment).

Vincent Youngman – 24, from Brighton, 31 stones 5 lbs

Vincent is an actor who’s sick of being offered jobs because of his size and wants to be appreciated for his talent instead.