My Fitness Pal

I've never been one for dieting as I've always done, or thought I've done, enough training to ensure that my sometimes excessive calorie intake has in some way been balanced out.

Training for the Rome marathon has changed my approach and has made me think a lot more about the foods I put in and the app, My Fitness Pal, has helped me to look at the calorie count too.

Although I haven't measured it, I think my calorie count on some weekends may well have been well over 4,000 a day. I could easily devour a family pack of sweets whilst watching a movie, 3 or 4 cans of coke and dinners big enough to satisfy a king.

But this app has changed that. I'm now looking at packets in shops for calorie information, I'm having one treat, not six and of course the best part is that I'm feeling good about it.

It's a little too early to see results, but I'll be weighing myself in once a week to chart my progress. Although I don't think I need to lose weight, I'm quite comfortable as I am, by my reckoning if I could shift some excess weight that will be less weight to shift around a 26.2 mile course.