The dreaded D word

When I was at my mum's this weekend, she observed that it must be very hard for me to keep the weight off as I still have a very good appetite.

Sadly, that's very true. While I am nowhere near Victoria Beckham's proportions, and never likely to be, I am a couple of stone lighter than I was back in 2004 and I've tried to keep it that way. I'm happy being a normal BMI and size 12. I would love to lose another stone, but it probably isn't going to happen because food is one of the joys of life and I would hate to be on a regime the whole time.

To lose weight, and keep it off, you have to find a system that works for you personally. I went to a class once and hated it, but for some people WeightWatchers and other classes are wonderful. I've tried most of the blockbuster diets but I now realise there's no mystique to it. Calories go in, calories go out. There's a certain number you need for your build and level of activity. It doesn't matter how these calories are consumed. You could eat three Mars bars and be under the limit (although obviously the nutritional value would not be great!). And you could eat an extra Mars bar if you exercised a lot.

So the way that works best for me is calorie counting. This way, I don't need to ban foods. If I want to eat something high in calories occasionally, I can balance it out by lowering my intake the following day.

I like carbs too, particularly potatoes, and I refuse to acknowledge the mumbo-jumbo that is written about carbs. Provided you build your potato intake into your calorie target, there's no reason why you can't eat potatoes. When I lost two and a half stone in 2004, I did it with a jacket potato every day.

Eat too much protein and yes you get thin, but you look older, your breath smells and you lack energy. A balanced diet which includes the right amount of carbs and healthy fat is very important to me.

I find the online calorie counter Nutracheck excellent. First you enter your height, weight, how much activity you have and so on, and it gives you a target date. Then, every day in your food diary you enter the barcodes of many everyday foods from Sainsburys, M&S and so on, and it counts up your fruit and veg portions a day too. It's an excellent educator to guide you into how many calories various things are. And you can also enter the exercise you do, in my case water aerobics, intense effort, three times a week.

Earlier this year, after my Cyprus holiday I realised I was 10 pounds over my preferred weight, and it made a big difference. So I made a concerted effort to lose two pounds a week. Some weeks it happened, others I had to go to business lunches or whatever. The key thing is not to allow a lunch or a dinner to derail you. You can start again the next day.

Christmas poses its own unique challenges. I would love to indulge myself in all my favourite foods: quiche, Scotch eggs, dips, crips, cheese, trifle, dark chocolate - not to mention a huge roast and lots of cocktails. But I find it's better not to be tempted. So I won't be buying most of those things. I suppose it sounds as if Christmas is a bit bleak at my gaff, but we'll still have a big, normal roast, and a small amount of some of the "naughties." But neither of us sees the point in stuffing to excess and then going into the New Year with the miserable task of having to shed pounds. As they say, a minute in the mouth, a month on the hips......

I also find that over indulging leaves me feeling tired and lethargic. I start to crave salads and vegetables. So I plan to cook lots of nutritious meals with healthy ingredients, and will drink plenty of water to offset the schooners of sherry!