Leisure trust and social enterprise Tone has revealed that clients of its unique Feel Good Factory have lost a combined 2,500 inches in a 10-month period since it opened - that's the equivalent of around seven and a half London Routemaster buses lined up end to end!

Tone's Feel Good Factory, based at its Blackbrook Pavilion centre in Somerset, is a ladies-only power assisted fitness and inch loss centre. It has its own entrance and reception that separates it from the main facility and is targeted at females who are overweight and/or have limited mobility. The equipment, which includes toning beds and chairs, is especially designed to be suitable for those whose movement is restricted and who might find the main gym either intimidating or unsuitable.

Since opening in January 2010, the first Feel Good Factory has recruited more than 310 local members, many of whom have never used a gym before, who clock up a total average of over 1,600 visits each month. The combined total inch loss stood at over 2,500 in October 2010, with the biggest loser shedding an impressive 65 inches and four dress sizes. This was achieved by visiting the Feel Good Factory five times per week and following a calorie controlled diet. The aim for many of the members is to continue with their visits until such a stage that they feel ready to start using the main gym and classes, with Tone staff assisting them in the transition.

The model has proved so successful that Tone is currently investigating the possibility of rolling it out to other sites.

"We're thrilled with the first set of results from the Feel Good Factory," said Penny Crout, Feel Good Factory supervisor. "Although we keep track of each individual client's progress on an ongoing basis, we thought it would be a valuable exercise to calculate the total inch loss for all our members since we opened at the start of the year, which came to over 2,500 - and counting! It's amazing what gentle exercise can do to help you lose body fat and feel better. The key is to make sure the exercise is regular and that you build up your efforts at an appropriate rate, which is where our expert staff and specially chosen equipment come in. Our clients have found that once they get started, the growth in terms of what they achieve each session is exponential and it's really lovely to see their confidence with exercise blossom each time they attend."

The Feel Good Factory has a total of twelve exercise stations - six chairs and six beds - all of which are used as a 30-minute circuit. The equipment is supplied to Tone by Shapemaster as part of a partnership agreement with Alliance Leisure, which assists Tone in ensuring the Feel Good Factory is managed and marketed to its maximum potential. The new 'Powertone plus pilates' machines replace the older toning table technology, incorporating continuous passive motion, isokinetics and pilates techniques for a gentle but effective work-out. Also installed in the Feel Good Factory are the new range of Easytone machines, which allow a greater variety of exercise and more than double the amount of movement than previous incarnations. Both Powertone and Easytone use power-assisted vibration technology to exercise muscles from a seated or lying position, encouraging the burning of body fat in people for whom aerobic exercise is difficult.