BELGRADE, THUESDAY

THE DISCOVERY that the Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing has focused the radical end of the weight-loss industry on the Equator more and more.

It is a fact that gravity, in all its forms, has less effect at the Equator, because of its distance from Earth’s centre and its stronger centrifugal force, than at the Poles.

With the Earth’s spin slowing, and that spin being one of the factors that affect weight at the Equator (it acts against gravity), desperate wannabee dieters are discovering that the solace available at the Earth’s girth, where they weigh less, is slowly vanishing.

This has sparked a rush to the Equator.

“It’s always been a psychological thing really,’ explained Deek Swipe, whose company, C It Come Off, runs tours to the Equator aimed at the ‘very significantly weight-challenged’. “Just a few days weighing less,” he said, “even if only a very small amount, can have a huge effect on these people’s mindset. Often it’s been the kick-start to a genuine attempt at weight-loss. Because once a person sees they can weigh less, they really want to weigh less. The problem is, with the Earth’s rotation slowing, the weight-loss readings are less and less. It’s like watching a light go out, slowly. So everyone wants a piece of the action before it’s gone. We’ve never been busier.”

Weight-loss tours are not cheap though, principally because aircraft usually cannot take the same number of passengers as they normally would, and hotels are required to give double rooms to many individuals.

“It’s a trade-off,” said Swipe. “We find that clients who take a tour often wind up eating less. So they save money there.”