Dieting costs £4 per lb

A new calculation has found that it costs £4 to shift each pound of excess weight.

Overall this means health-conscious Britons will spend a total of £874 million on dieting this summer alone, Morgan Stanley Consumer Banking has found.

And a large number of us are looking to lose weight as the temperature rises, with more than one person in three (37 per cent) looking downsize before bikini wear becomes necessary.

"Dieting can be stressful, as well as costly but there are several ways to save the pennies whilst shifting the pounds," commented Patrick Muir, marketing director, Morgan Stanley Consumer Banking.

Exercise was found to be the top way Britons were looking to shift their spare tyres, with gym memberships the largest single cost.

UK residents looking to tone and shape are set to spend an average of £37 each on working out over the next 12 weeks, with exercise accounting for 72 per cent of slimming costs.

The next largest outlay is on slimming clubs, at £11, with women leading the way and splashing three times as much on this than men (£15 compared with £4).

Overall, women are set to pay-out 40 per cent more on cutting the flab than men in the next three months. The average woman is set to spend £59 on weight loss over the summer, while the nation's men are planning to spend £35.

Teens are most concerned about their size, with 18 to 19-year-olds set to spend the most on their weight loss programmes (£118), but getting in shape for the summer is not just the preserve of the young, with fifty-somethings spending £38 each.