What type of dieter are you?

What type of dieter are you?  Do you recognise yourself?

(Points awarded are shown after each letter)

1.  You've decided to lose weight, do you:

A  1 pt    Start at the beginning of the new week? On Monday morning?

B  3 pts  Make a shopping list and visit the supermarket?

C  3 pts  Start straightaway?  That minute!

2.  Your best friend asks you to go on a sponsored diet. Do you?

A  2         Agree immediately?  No question.

B  1         Ask to have a look at the diet first?  To make sure it 'suits' you.

C  3        Make an excuse in order to avoid divulging your weight in public?

3.  When you're on a diet do you:

A  3         Try to do it without anyone knowing?  Does this really apply to anyone?

B  2         Get your family to help you stick to it?  Or order them to help you.

C  1        Involve everyone at home and at work?  Not forgetting the dog!

4.  You've been dieting for a few weeks and your husband brings you a huge box of chocs. Do you:

A  1         Hide away somewhere and scoff the lot?  In the loo - really.......

B  2         Save them until you've reached your target weight? A round of applause for anyone that has!

C  3        Allow yourself two a day as a little treat for good behaviour?

5.  You open a packet of biscuits to fill the tin.  Would you:

A  3         Immediately put the tin away without eating any?

B  2         Take just one or two, but be careful to add the calories to your daily total?  Well done!

C  1        Eat the whole packet, feel guilty, and give up your diet for the rest of the day?  Familiar?

6.  You're invited to a dinner party. Do you:

A  3         Let your hostess know that you're slimming?

B  2         Take your own calorie counted meal?  Such will power!

C  1        Refuse the invitation?  Fool!

7.  After being extremely careful all week, your scales show no weight loss. Would you:

A  1         Get discouraged and go on a binge?  Of course not - you come to us!!

B  2         Write down everything you eat and drink for the following week?  Very sensible!

C  3        Cut your intake even further for a few days?

8.  It's been a terrible day.  The kids are safely in bed. Do you?

A  2         Pour yourself a drink?

B  1         Eat a bar of chocolate?

C  3        Ring up your closest friend and have a good, long chat?

9.  A friend gets a pay rise and asks you out to lunch to celebrate.  Do you:

A  2         Choose the lowest calorie items you can find on the menu?

B  1         Just have a fillet steak and a green salad?

C  3        Abandon today's diet and enjoy yourself?  Does that mean you only enjoy yourself when you eat fattening foods?

10.  Your diet says 'chicken salad' but the family's having spaghetti.  Would you:

A  1         Forget the salad and have a portion of spaghetti  with similar number of calories?

B  2         Eat your diet meal then finish up everybody else's leftovers?

C  3        Give the family their meal first, quickly throw away any leftovers and then enjoy your     chicken salad?

11.  You pick up the latest issue of a slimming magazine.  Which article do you look at first?

A  1         The latest diet.

B  3         The recipe features.

C  2        Their latest list of calorie values.

12.  Your holiday's just around the corner, but you're still eight pounds over your target weight.  What should you do while you're away?

A  3         Stick to the same diet or ask your Group Leader for another one?

B  1         Throw the diet sheet away and eat and drink everything you fancy

C  2        Try to eat sensibly and get plenty of exercise.

13.  You want to get fit as well as slim.  Should you:

A  1         Go out and buy the latest fitness video?

B  3         Try to swim or walk for 30 minutes, at least three times a week?

C  2        Join an aerobics class?

14.  When you do the weekly shop, do you:

A  3         Just buy what's on your list and nothing else?

B  2         Wait and see what's on special offer?

C  1        Get tempted by the bargains buys and new lines?

15.  What would you consider the best reward for losing weight?

A  1         Being Slimmer of the Month and getting the trophy  in your club?

B  2         Getting into a smaller pair of jeans?

C  3        The feeling of great personal achievement.

If your total score was less than 20:

It's probably best if you leave nothing to chance!  You need a diet that provides a lot of discipline and does not require you to make too many decisions about what to eat.  This usually means following a set menu for each meal for every day of the week and allows you little or no choice.  Your eating and drinking may even be on a strict timetable.  Slimming with a group is best to  help your will-power, which tends to crumble under pressure.  The added incentive of a weekly weigh-in will do wonders.

If you scored between 20 and 40:

You can cope with a fairly flexible approach to dieting.  You have enough motivation and know-how to follow a healthy and sensible diet that's not going to rule your life.  It will require some effort on your part - but it allows you more choice about what you're going to eat and when.  The basic flexible diets are suited to a busy lifestyle and you'll find it easier to make positive changes to your overall eating habits that will hopefully last a lifetime.

If you scored 40 and over:

You feel you need to tackle your weight problem with a combination of diet and exercise.  You are happy to tackle the job with determination until you've achieved your target.  This approach is very successful for the strongly motivated like yourself, but you have to ensure that you don't feel a failure if your progress isn't to your satisfaction.  One treat never spoilt a diet!  Don't be too hard on yourself.