Fussy dieter

I'm a seriously awkward dieter: I'm a cheese-loving vegetarian, I work shifts (which always bring about the nibbles) and I adore food, wine and eating out. In the past when I've put on a few pounds, I've just cut out the more obvious bad foods, stopped drinking so much, and run up the stairs more often.

But... now I'm over 30 and fat gets harder to shift. I've also had quite a stressful year and indulged in comfort eating - and reached my highest ever weight. Drastic action required.

The Solution?

Weightwatchers is the best known slimming club, but I always associated it with quite a fuddy duddy approach. Then a few mates recommended their latest diet, 'Pure Points,' so I checked the website. I thought about meetings, but working nights meant it would be hard to go there. So - I forked out £42 for the CD-rom. It sounded a lot of pounds to lose without losing a pound...

I've now had it for five days, and thought I'd update this as I went along. So you guys can be my diet buddies...

First Impressions

The CD-rom has a nice clean interface, and you enter a password to get to your personal details, so that several people can use it on one computer. Having said that, you have to insert the CD-rom itself for each use, so there's little scope for sharing it beyond one PC (for obvious reasons!).

You do need to use the accompanying booklet to understand some of the functions, and I am still having a few problems navigating. But the content is generally good: tasty looking recipes, quizzes, and a huge database of foods with their 'points value.' Which brings me onto...

The Diet Itself

'Pure Points' is a dead simple idea: every food has a points value, and you can eat a set number of points every day, depending on your sex and your weight. So, in theory, I could eat three Magnum ice creams, one Solero and loads of
vegetables (which are mainly 'points free') every day and still lose weight. You can also earn extra points for exercising, and save points for days when you want to go out or have a few bevvies.

The CD-rom allows you to work out your daily intake, to add foods which aren't on the database, and to track your weight over time. It's a bit fiddly, but there is something quite satisfying about writing down what you're eating, providing you are being a good girl!

The proof of the pudding....

OK, it's Day 5 and so far it's proving quite easy to work everything out. They also send you a neat little card which lets you work out your points anywhere (supermarket or whatever) by reading the labels on food.

I'm a bit of a rebel, and so the idea of conforming to my daily 20 points does irritate. But I know I've got to do it, and I do like the flexibility of being able to drink wine, eat Pringles or whatever now and then. It's particularly good if you're a vegetarian like me, because so many diets are based around tuna and skinless chicken and all that. I do wish cheese wasn't so full of points though!

Weigh-in comes in two days time... My starting weight is (gulp) 10 stone 8, and I'm 5 foot 4... so I'll keep you informed.