Ladies' Room

The sleep diet

You can lose up to two stone by hibernating under the duvet!

According to the book, the Hibernation diet, you can lose a pound a day - while you snooze.

The book, by nutrition experts Mike and Stuart McInnes and Maggie Stanfield, claims the body burns more fat asleep than during a heavy aerobic exercise session.

A key ingredient of the diet is a spoonful of honey. It's the food we can most easily convert into glycogen - and this allows the release of hormones that repair the body and burn fat.

Once your body has learned to burn at night, you can introduce 20 minutes of resistance training (eg yoga, Pilates or squats) three times a week to tone up.

Aim for as healthy and as balanced a diet as possible. By spring you could be up to two stone lighter.

The rules

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Drink two litres of water a day.

Don't skip meals - if you go to bed hungry your brain goes into starvation mode and instead of releasing the hormone that breaks down the fat it will go in search of glucose and break down muscle, tissue and bone.

Get a good night's sleep - aim for eight hours a night if you can.

Do 20 minutes three times a week of toning exercises.

Eat healthily - cut down on chips and takeaways and stick to a well-balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetable.

Exercise plan

Make the diet more successful by building in some resistance work. The book suggests simple, no-gym exercises to do, or you can use Pilates, yoga, cycling and swimming as alternatives.