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MISSOULA - A local program which is designed to help women lose weight is also helping people with diseases increase their mobility.

The goal of Inches A Weigh is not only to drop the pounds, but to help folks live a better life as well.

"I think it's really helped me all the way around which is why I've stuck with it this long, cause I have a habit of not sticking with things," client Barbara Erlandson told us.

Customer Doris Lyon agreed with Erlandson, "It's keeping me active, it's helping me become more outward."

Staff members at Inches A Weigh help their clients lose weight by monitoring their diet and exercise. They also use tables invented in the 1940s for patients with polio. Inches A Weigh owner Loree Dark said different table allow clients to work on specific problem areas.

"We have seven different tables, and so you're in on calls for 45 minutes on the tables each of them has it's own unique thing," she said. "What they do is they help the women work on their problem areas."

Program manager Kara Smith said the program also caters to those with physical restrictions.

"Women that have a lot of physical restrictions to conventional type exercise find this as a very safe environment to come," she explained.

Erlandson contracted polio when she was 5 years old and it's affected her left side of her body, making it hard to go to a gym.

"The machines are easy to do and they teach you different things as you progress more," Erlandson told us.

Loree Dark said this program is great for people like Erlandson. "By coming here with the low impact, she's able to participate in all of the tables and all of the exercise."

Barbara has been with the program for 18 months, has lost over 30 pounds and now says she has more energy.

Erlandson said this program has helped her in many different ways. "I've got granddaughters to keep up with now and I couldn't have done it before."

Inches A Weighs oldest client, Doris Lyon, started the program almost a year ago and Smith said Lyon was another client who has been greatly effected by the program.

"When she came in she felt that she was too old to start on any kind of exercise program, and she has since reached her goal in both inches and in pounds," Smith commented

Lyon said she couldn't have made the progress without Inches A Weigh. "Overall this has been great and I can't do it on my own, I never could, and I've been a yo yo dieter and loser over the years as far as weight is concerned," she said.

"So, it was just better for me to get on this program which gave me the exercise that I needed and allowed me to meet other people and to realize that hey there's still hope when you're in your 80's."

Owner Loree Dark says the program is for everyone and added she brought it to Montana to help women live a healthier life.