Well, this strange syndrome flared again when I announced Corbett's Biggest Loser Challenge just over three weeks ago. Overnight I became ravenous, devouring stuff I'd normally never eat. I couldn't get enough of my wife's self-saucing chocolate pudding, even though I don't like it. Ice cream, which I never eat, seemed a compulsory accompaniment to rhubarb crumble or sticky date pudding and caramel sauce. Then I'd be in the kitchen cutting a whole slice, not the sensible half a slice, of my wife's orange cake.

Not until the third week of the 10-week challenge did I get a grip on this syndrome, and while I haven't weighed myself yet my belt is in a notch. I was 97.3kg (before the splurge) hoping to get to 85kg, and I'm still a chance I think. Old boy, for example, has lost 4kg from his 93kg in the first two weeks, and we have similar calorie intakes. My weekday intake is 1200 calories - I'm going to have a few beers on weekends - and while 1200 was old boy's target he's down as low as 1000 calories a day. Click on the Lose Weight With Corbett button on the Herald site to see how old boy and others are going, and you'll see, too, that Wilma has had a bout of my gorging syndrome. While you're there you're welcome to join us shedding the kilos.

In my case losing weight is really just a matter of giving up beer, because my dieting intake of 1200 calories is not much lower than my usual weekday intake of 1500 calories - the difference is just a couple of pieces of fruit, and of course the 1500 calories does not include beer.

But there must be more to losing weight, or at least losing weight healthily, than eating less. Old boy, at 175cm tall, is taking in just 1000 calories a day, which seems to be low. But many people believe that a low-calorie diet is the secret to longevity.

Tell us about experience with dieting. Do you have a diet that works?