Nearing the end of January and I'm still loving MyFitnessPal.com - the fact it calculates how many calories I am eating every day makes it easier for me to resist food I know I shouldn't have. And if I do cave and eat that KitKat - 210 calories - I can just exercise a bit - brisk walking for 30 minutes, half an hour at the gym - to bump up my calorie allowance.
Can't say I'm sticking rigidly to it EVERY day or that I haven't had lapses - you try sticking to 1200 calories a day on a weekend in Miami - but overall I find that having a greater awareness of what I'm eating helps me make healthier choices.
Making healthy choices is easy when I'm cooking for myself at home, it gets harder when I'm out and about, picking up food on the go. The Danish pastry I had at a work breakfast last week weighed in at 440 calories on MyFitnessPal - not much off half my daily allowance!
A clinical study carried out by the University of Hull for Diet Chef (a home-delivery diet service) found that people who have meals delivered are three times more likely to be successful than those who devise their own diet programmes. This follows on from a recent YouGov survey that found home-cooking portion sides are destroying diets. And it's also true that as I reduce my portion sizes, the quicker I start to feel full - chewing everything slowly helps as well.
So I'm giving Diet Chef a go. For the next 7 days I will be eating exactly 1200 calories a day, as that's what I've signed up to receive. I'll be getting breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks from the service, hoping to lose at least 5% of my body weight in two weeks as this is what 60% of participants in the Diet Chef study lost. Here goes ...

Find more information on www.dietchef.co.uk

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