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..

I went from being a food fighter to a Foo Fighter on Friday night. If you had told me a year ago that I would be either, I would have scoffed but it is amazing what brow-beating can achieve.

After years of trying, a DJ friend, ‘Funky’ Mike Fulford, coerced me into trying karaoke. He did so around the same time this paper’s editor and features editor convinced me to be a Slimming World guinea pig.

The result had unexpected side-benefits. The loss of weight (36lbs) and inches (15) were obvious.

Tying shoe laces, running for trains and putting on clothes, somewhat more subtle. But the confidence to get up behind a microphone and sing in front of an audience was the greatest surprise.

From Bowie, Oasis and Snow Patrol to Springsteen, Radiohead and Chris Isaak, I have been on a musical journey as well as a food one.

On Friday, appropriately for a diet, I sang the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Under The Bridge and instead of wondering about what went through my gut, I reached down into it to do the Foos’ Best Of You.

I began the diet to arrest the march of middle-aged spread, but there are benefits way beyond the ones right in front of your nose.

As for me, I’ll be signing off this column next month, but look out for a picture update at the start of January.

Chest

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