Our dieter Dianne Bourne has completed a third week of her month-long “Drop a Dress Size” challenge.  But with a mountain of cheese to tackle this week, how would it affect her weight loss results?

You don't have to be a dietician to know that munching 60 different types of cheese, cream and butter in one day is not exactly the way forward on a weight loss campaign.

But that's what I had to contend with this week as I headed to join the judges at the Nantwich International Cheese Show.

I didn't really know how to tackle this event in light of my drop a dress size challenge, particularly as I didn't really know what to expect in terms of how much cheese I'd have to be munching in taking on a judging role.

Needless to say, I had never imagined that I'd be required to taste 60 dairy products over the course of one calorie-fuelled morning – including devilish chocolate cream pots, honey-flavoured butter and pepper and chilli-flavoured slabs of full fat cheese.

But then, this is the world's largest cheese show, with 3,700 dairy products all to be assessed before lunchtime.

In fairness, I did also get to judge a few low fat dairy products along the way too, although I'm not sure that will exactly have helped my cause.

With my calculations, I must have consumed around about 1lb in weight of cheese over the course of the day.

Quite by coincidence, I'd been emailed by the British Cheese Council last week insisting that cheese can be incorporated into a dieter's daily menu.

Although closer inspection revealed even they couldn't find a way to make the amount of cheese I consumed in one sitting an effective method in fighting the flab.

However Blur star Alex James, a passionate cheesemaker and also a judge at the Nantwich Cheese Awards this year, had taken part in an interesting experiment not so long ago for

Channel 4 that appeared to show that incorporating dairy in your diet actually helps you to excrete more fat from all the food you eat.

But he does admit that his foodie lifestyle these days has had an impact on maintaining his “bass guitarist figure”.

His antidote to chomping on all that cheese?  “I have to run seven miles every morning,” he laughed.

Yes, I suspected as much.

So I was not entirely surprised to discover that after my exploits this week I lost a measly one pound, taking my overall weight loss after three weeks to 12 pounds.

Back in the gym the day after the dairy debacle, personal trainer Glenn Williams from Cheshire Fitness grimaces as I confess the full cheesy truth.

He's upbeat about it all though, telling me the key thing for any dieter out there is not to be floored by a binge blip, but simply to return to your healthy eating habits as soon as possible.

“It's just one day,” he smiles.  “The key thing is not to let that get you down, and remember all the positive changes you are making.”

However, I can't help but note he pushes me extra hard at the gym to compensate with a heavy dose of cardiovascular exercises like a cycle sprint and dashing up a stair machine to try and sweat out some of those cheese calories.

And I returned straight away to the food plan which is based on reducing carbs and focusing meals around protein including fishes bursting Omega 3 fats like salmon and mackerel over the four week plan. 

I was straight back to the two eggs for breakfast on toast, chicken/salmon salad for lunch and turkey/chicken/salmon with green leafy veg for dinner and apple and blueberry snacks in between.

Clearly something did the trick as managing not to put on weight this week is probably my greatest achievement of the shape up plan so far.

Next week will be my final weigh in, and the final results of my month-long drop a dress size challenge will be revealed. 

And with my diary clear of any major hog-out engagements in the week ahead, I'm hoping to have a final push towards my weight and inch loss goals.

Personal training sessions with Cheshire Fitness cost from £35 an hour.  For info see cheshirefitness.co.uk

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