Weighty Issues

Last year, you might remember me lamenting my weight. I was actually topping the scales at 196lbs at one point.

Well, I'm pleased to say that's finally changed. Since January, I've been using My Fitness Pal, an online calorie counter recommended to me by Paisley Penguin. Now, I've slimmed down to 180lbs.

I've still got another ten pounds to lose before I've back at the fighting weight I was during my early twenties - but I'm optimistic I'll get there. Finally, after almost half a decade, I've found a diet that actually works!

It's very simple. My Fitness Pal works out how many calories you burn during an average day and calculates how many you should consume to lose weight. Then you can 'spend' those calories on food.

With an enormous database of popular foods from the UK and US, it's dead easy to search for each item and enter it into your 'food counter.' (from a 12oz bottle of Sam Adams Winter Lager to a single tortilla from a box of Old El Paso.)

With that in mind, I've managed to more-or-less stick to a reduced calorie diet for the past five weeks or so - and it's actually worked!

More importantly, I think it's made some positive changes to the way I live my life.

In France, the word for diet is régime. It's very appropriate - dieting means following a regime and making changes to your lifestyle, rather than just denying yourself for a month or so.

Having a limited number of calories to 'spend' forces you to think about exactly what it is you eat. You don't need to deny yourself anything, but you do need to eat it in moderation.

Over the course of the last five weeks, that means I've:

• Reduced the portion size of almost all my meals.
• Started eating a lot more pasta, vegetables and lean protein, which 'fill me up.'
• Cut out snacks like crisps, popcorn and pork rinds (my secret weakness.)
• Moderated my drinking, switching sparkling water for a second glass or wine or beer.

I haven't missed out too much. There have been days I've gone over my calorie limit, like when we ordered the occasional pizza (the nutritional information for which you'll find on My Fitness Pal's database.) I've also had wine or beer most evenings with my meal.

I think the 'trick' is just to tone it down and make yourself smaller portions - and stop grazing between meals. I've been successfully on this diet for over a month now and they say that 30 days is long enough to turn a change into a habit. Perhaps this diet will be a permanent, positive adjustment to my eating habits.

It's not all roses, though. Cutting down on calories and drinking less means my 'party' instincts aren't as robust as they used to be. A couple of weeks ago, an empty stomach and a couple of Martini cocktails conspired to kick my arse. Those things should come with warning labels. I've officially sworn off them, despite my James Bond pretensions.

But all in all, I'm happy. As I've learned in life, the satisfying part isn't necessarily 'getting there,' it's just knowing that you're traveling vaguely in the right direction.