Auckland, June 3 NZPA - Overweight Kiwi blokes may become an endangered species. Health crusaders are out to cut the fat on bulging waistlines with a new men's only Gutbusters programme being launched tomorrow. This comes in the same week as the new fat-blocking pill, Xenical. New Zealand is being targeted by enterprising businesses alert to the fact two-thirds of our male population is deemed too thick around the middle.

Professor Garry Egger, the Australian designer of the programme said the six-week course was based on pure common sense. Through audio tapes and written material, it aims to teach men about nutrition and lifestyle. "There's nothing magic about the programme. Men understand very little about nutrition and the right physical activity to lose weight. You don't have to run around every day until you throw up. It's about changing bad habits, eating less fat and increasing movement."

The good news for many potential punters is that booze is not ruled off limits. "Alcohol doesn't make you fat. When you drink, it's the type of food you have with it that tends to be high in fat," Prof Egger said. "So we insist you keep drinking up to four (alcoholic) drinks a day which has to be balanced with, say, walking."

He also advises men never to weigh themselves again, as the scales are a crude measure of body fat. A tape measure around the gut is most accurate, with a 100cm girth the upper limit. Prof Egger, from the Sydney Centre for Health Promotion and Research, was asked to develop the programme in 1991 by the New South Wales health department. It was originally run as a group course, but it is now a $245 home-based programme.

More than 50,000 Australian men are course graduates. Gutbusters is due to be launched in the United States and Britain this year.