So, summer is drawing to a close and it's time to get back to normality minus the sugar-laden cocktails, barbequed burgers and hot dogs but there's a problem, your jeans have either shrunk in the wash or the flab monster has paid you a visit. Thighs that once fit snugly into your pair of skinnies now bulge at the seams and you have a new and improved pair of love handles perched cosily on top of your waistband. Time to take drastic action.

There's only one thing for it, you need the 'Give me my body back' programme. Divided into three simple rules, it's all you need. If followed individually, they produce great results for those who stick to them, but when all three are followed, the programme becomes more powerful than you could possibly imagine...

For that reason I advise you to abide by the rules I'm setting to the letter. Don't pick and choose the bits you like and discard the rest, or you'll be cheating yourself of amazing results. OK, enough build-up. You ready?

Rule one: Follow an elimination diet for a minimum of 14 days

Let's face it, one of the reasons that holidays are such fun is that we can let our hair down and do the things we don't normally do when we're at home. In fact, it's the main reason we go on the things, isn't it?

Yet daily consumption of alcohol, ice cream, desserts and other 'goodies' we'd normally reserve as an occasional treat can really take its toll on our metabolism and our immune system (not to mention our figures). This is why we'll often get a cold or feel 'run down' when we return from our hols.

So, before we pay attention to anything else, we're going to treat our body to a little of what it needs: supportive nutrition. By supportive nutrition I mean that we'll only be providing our bodies with foods that support the metabolism and immune systems and avoid those things that tax and weaken them. For 14 days I want you to avoid:

All alcohol - Yes, it can make you feel good temporarily but it is, quite simply, a poison. Avoid it in all its forms. A couple of weeks off the sauce isn't going to kill you.

All wheat and gluten products - After training literally thousands of people, I can tell you this one variable alone can make all the difference to helping people get the body they desire. Avoid everything and anything with wheat or gluten in it. This includes pastries, bread, biscuits, crackers, most sauces and processed foods - too many to mention.

All processed foods - Processing basically kills or denatures foods to the extent that they become 'non-foods' which cost your system more to digest than they actually give you. In addition, processing adds many undesirable elements to your food, such as colourings and flavourings made from chemicals that are harmful to your system. So, if it's tinned, freeze-dried or has anything unpronounceable in its ingredients, don't eat it. Simple!

Rule two: Drink a litre of water for every 50lb you weigh

If you decrease your hydration levels by just one or two per cent, your metabolism changes dramatically, causing you to react differently to the foods that you eat, hold more fat and stress your immune system. Maintaining optimal hydration has a positive impact on everything from metabolism and fat retention to immunity and general health. That's why I want you to drink a litre for every 50lb you weigh.

So, if you weigh 10 stone, or 140lb, you should be drinking just under 3 litres of plain, clean water a day. This does not include tea, coffee or fruit juice (you shouldn't be drinking tea and coffee anyway, as they're processed). If you find yourself rushing to the bathroom every five minutes, then simply add the smallest pinch of pure sea salt (not table salt) to every litre you consume. (If you can taste it, you've used too much). This will help your body to hold the fluids you need better.

Make no mistake, hydration is the key to many, many vital functions that both keep you healthy and keep you looking your best. If you ignore this rule, then you'll NEVER reach the goals you've been setting yourself.

Rule three: Perform strength exercises five days a week

Most people I know will begin a new programme of fitness by hitting every permutation of CV machine that the gym has to offer, running, cycling and step, step, stepping themselves into fatigued failure. This is a complete no-no.

Not only will you get bored very quickly, but quite honestly, you'll be killing off nearly all the benefits you're trying to attain from training. In fact, you'll be getting rid of the one thing you want to keep... muscle! Instead, I want you to exercise daily with strength exercises that challenge your muscular system. These will not only improve your strength and function but you'll also improve your shape and burn more fat from your body than any CV machines ever would.

Which exercises?

Well, almost any exercises will do as long as they follow these basic rules:

1. They MUST be done with bodyweight or free weights (barbells or dumbbells)
2. They should follow my 600 rule. That is, each exercise should use as many of the 600 muscles in your body at one time as possible. Exercises like squats, lunges, jumps, push-ups, pull-ups, deadlifts, shoulder presses, etc, work best.
3. You should choose a load that is heavy. By heavy, I mean that you choose a weight that you could only lift for a maximum of eight times.
4. You should never train to failure. Always keep a couple of reps 'spare' in each set by stopping the set before you really have to struggle.

Don't worry, you won't get big or gain any 'man muscles'. On the contrary, this will make you more toned and 'compact' in your muscles than you've ever been before.

Well, there you have them. My 'magic three'. Now, don't let the simplicity of each rule fool you into thinking they won't work. They will, and quite dramatically, too, if you stick to them for long enough. In this case, I'm asking you to invest one month, four weeks or just 28 days in adopting these rules into your life. If you do, and you follow them unerringly, not only will you get your pre-holiday body back, but you'll be in better shape than you have for ages.

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