'I tried the new Slimming World recipe book - and lost 9lbs in a week'

As the summer comes to an end many of us are looking at the damage a few weeks of holidays and relaxing in the sun has done to us. Like many other people my relatively healthy diet had fallen by the wayside thanks to barbecues and breaks with family and friends and I was finding it hard to get back on track.

So it was time for a radical challenge. As a former member of Slimming World I knew the plan was healthy encouraging people to eat plenty of simple but tasty foods packed with lean proteins and fruit and vegetables.

But I wanted something to focus me more so after being given the new Slimming World's Out and About cook book I decided to see if I could live on meals made just from its recipes for a full week. It comes recipes for more than 60 breakfasts, lunches and dinners - but while that is a decent amount would there really be enough variety for 21 meals?

I also wondered just how much time it would take prepping and cooking everything from scratch. And would I be popping to the shop every few minutes for the herbs and spices and other obscure ingredients you would never have just sitting in your storecupboard?

I set about coming up with a meal plan so spent a good half hour with a coffee going through the book to see what I even liked. I'm not too picky but don't like most fish which can often be a bit of an issue.

I also wanted to try to avoid spending a fortune so didn't want to have to shell out for loads of things I'd use once and then have sitting on the shelf until they go off and head to the bin. I've done that far too many times and have hopefully learned my lesson.

To be honest at first glance I thought I might struggle to get anywhere near the 21 meals as I wanted the lunch and dinners to feed the whole