We girls are terrible for spending money on gyms and exercise classes only to see it wasted after the initial motivation has worn off. I once spent €90 on a Pilates course and left after the second week. Many of my friends still spend money regularly buying diet aids, attending Weight Watchers or joining over-priced boot camp sessions all in the hope of achieving their ideal body.

When the rest of our money goes on vodka and pizza, it is an eternal uphill struggle.

Two of my best friends and I had an idea to motivate each other, after constantly complaining that we wanted to get fitter and lose half a stone. One is my gay best friend who looks perfect to me but likes to join in our girlie ranting, while the other is a girl who, like me, wouldn't mind shedding a few pounds.

The word diet is banned but luckily our healthy living plan won't see any competitiveness among us as these really are the best kind of friends. She is that rare precious friend who finds joy in seeing me do well and vice-versa with not a sniff of bitchiness between us. Both of us are pretty comfortable in our skin but feel that keeping the weight off is an increasing battle in our mid-20s.

The plan is to weigh ourselves at his house every Saturday, while during the week we will be upping the anti from power walking to running, and shunning any school-night drinking.

As many friends and colleagues over the years have agreed, breakfast and lunch is easy to smugly munch on Ryvita. It’s dinner that presents the problem.

As I'm working from home right now I need to be extra vigilant with snacking and once I've had my dinner I'll be hiding while my boyfriend fills his lean frame with a cream-drenched carb fest each night.

It’s hard living with a highly metabolised food lover who’s a whizz in the kitchen.

As my female friend and I are both food junkies who love wine and find exercise a chore, we reconciled with ourselves a long time ago that a size 8 was never going to happen and made peace with our size 12 curves, but we would like to be more toned and fit version of our curvy selves.

Our efforts might not go according to plan, but at least it’s a chance to have some recession friendly time together that doesn't involve spending money on eating, drinking and cheaper than going to the gym!