In a bid to lose weight and get healthy, Daily Mirror Assistant Sports Editor Keith Webster has joined Slimming World online to take advantage of the support on offer, plus thousands of recipes and tips. Here is this week’s instalment..

The centenary of the Great War’s armistice has evoked countless memories and emotions in millions of people.

I thought about my great uncle Norman at the Third Battle of Ypres a century ago and of his brother, my grandfather Nelson, being taken prisoner of war at St Valery some 23 years later.

In re-reading my grandfather’s POW diary, I thought about the hardships and the ways in which life – and food – has changed drastically over a couple of generations.

The notion of people on planned diets to watch their weight must have seemed alien in those times, with POWs scrambling for any food they could lay their hands on.

Back home, it is inconceivable nowadays to imagine the concept of rationing milk, butter, eggs, sugar, meat.

Yet, with meagre supply of these dietary staples, the nation did not suffer significant health problems.

The rationing in the final few months of the Great War is reckoned to have reduced energy intake by just 3% and protein by 6%.

Even the more widespread rationing of the 1940s allowed for 3,000 calories per person per day – well in line with, or above, today’s standards.

The market for diets has been brought on largely by our lifestyle and choices but perhaps what would do us all good is to stick to the moderation – forced or chosen – of previous generations. Weight 14st 5lb, down 2lbs, down 33lbs in total

Chest 42”, no change, down 4” in total

Belly 40”, no change, down 5” in total

Waist 39”, no change, down 3” in total

Hips 42”, no change, down 3” total

To find your nearest Slimming World group visit slimmingworld.co.uk or call 0344 897 8000.