Flair's Health and Fitness stories are always well received. If it's a weight-loss success story, it makes others think 'maybe I can do that too'. With the countless diet fads that sometimes change overnight, it's always good to know the ones that work. Throughout 2009, Flair told you the diets that work, and the tried and true methods of losing weight. On August 3, we brought the story of a woman who was able to lose a fair amount of weight in a very short space of time. This one had our readers calling in. Have a happy and Healthy 2010.

After five years of trying unsuccessfully to lose weight, Camille Richards has finally done it. The 33-year-old lost 38 pounds in just five weeks on a plan designed by personal trainer Nicholas Pratt of All About You Fitness Studio.

Fast food

At 5ft 6in, Richards has always battled with her weight. At one point, she managed to lose some of it, going down to 130 pounds. However, she regained the weight and was at 165 pounds for quite a while. Six weeks ago, her weight skyrocketed to 178 pounds. "I was training rigorously," she told Flair. "The problem was, I love food!"

Every morning after leaving the gym, she would head directly to the nearest fast-food burger spot, she admitted. "My weakness was fried breadfruit and codfish and fries. My mother would always say, 'you going to gym and you still big and fat'."

Richards said when she saw the 178-pound reading on the scale, she knew she had to do something about it.

Detox programme

Pratt put her on a 14-day detox programme, though she admitted to Flair she only did seven, then a low-carb, high-protein diet. "What became important for me was portion size," said Richards. "I didn't have to give up the food I loved."

The programme Pratt designed for Richards included plymetrics, light-weight high reps and high intensity. Richards now works out five days a week with an hour and a half uphill power walk every Saturday. "It's all about the food, the gym is like 10 per cent. It's about not overindulging in bad food," noted the now 140-pound Richards. Her ideal weight is 135 which, she noted, she should be able to get to in two weeks. Pratt explained that Richards' rapid weight loss is perfectly healthy. "Too much is determined by what you do," he explained. "If you're eating 1,200 calories per day, it's not too much. If you're starving yourself to lose it, then that's different."

All About You Fitness Studio, 7 Goodwood Terrace. Telephone: 925-6630.