Who is RUINING YOUR DIET?

Friends and family would never try to sabotage your weight-loss efforts, would they? See if you recognise any of these behaviours

We’ve all been there. Just when you’re doing so well on your diet, your friend pops over with a cake or your husband arrives home bearing a Chinese takeaway. They’re insistent, and the temptation (coupled with fear of seeming ungrateful) is too much.

However, you need to realise that you’ve been ambushed by a ‘diet bandit’ – and there are more of them out there than you think. Often they’re the people who love us the most, so why on earth do they want to scupper our aims?

Joanne Reid Rodrigues, slimming consultant and author of Slim, Happy & Free (£9, Jonquil Press), says most women will come across at least one diet bandit. ‘They might be lovers, friends or family,’ she says. And the reason they do it? ‘Mostly it’s down to their own insecurities. They fear change – or your success – and do their best to stop it.’ So how do you spot them? And, crucially, how can you beat them?

Your friend