WEIGHT-LOSS PILLS THAT KEPT ME AWAKE FOR THREE DAYS

WHEN Mum married for a second time, she went off on a six-week Caribbean honeymoon. I was 13, and I must have been feeling somewhat emotionally unsettled, because I started comfort eating and put on a stone-and-a-half while she was away.

Mum looked tanned and fabulous when she returned. I looked terrible and at the next school holiday she dragged me away to a health farm, to detox together. This was utter torture: three days of nothing but lemon juice, building up to plain yogurt on the fourth day.

I went along with the regime, believing that the juices and massages were doing me good — but above all I enjoyed being with Mum. I’ve been a yo-yo dieter ever since.

After Mum died and I got my first job as a radio presenter, in Nottingham, I was living in a bedsit. Every morning, I would start with a full fried breakfast at the Maid Marian Cafe, and then sit in the studio for hours eating biscuits and sandwiches. Not surprisingly, I ballooned to 18st.

The funny thing is, when you lose weight you still believe you are fat, but when you put it back on you can look in the mirror and think: ‘I’m not that fat.’

The turning point came for me in my mid-20s, at a live broadcast, when a man in a football scarf started heckling me, calling me ‘Fatty’.

I saw my GP, who put me on ‘appetite suppressant’ pills.

I loved those pills. I would never dream of doing illegal drugs, but these were on prescription and they were supposed to help me lose weight. They gave me a real buzz, such energy.

Of course I didn’t realise they were amphetamines — I just thought: ‘I like dieting now!’

Unfortunately, they didn’t work on my waistline. In fact, I put on 4lb. So I went to a private doctor, who prescribed super-strength pills. The first time I took one, I didn’t sleep for three days. That really triggered the weight loss.

As the fat fell off me, my boss announced an innovative radio campaign called Diet With Dale. We picked five listeners and put them on a really well-designed system of exercise and healthy eating.

They all lost weight, and soon people were queuing round the block for our diet sheets.

I never let on about the amphetamines, though. Thank goodness, they were taken off the market shortly afterwards, before I could become addicted. I really don’t recommend them for weight loss.