Quids in! catches up with new slimline Hairy Bikers…

It’s often called a lightbulb moment. When something goes off in your head and you leap to a sudden realisation. For Si King and Dave Myers, aka The Hairy Bikers, their lightbulb moment came when they were on holiday together at Christmas…

“I’d run out of blood pressure pills,” says Dave, “and so I popped in to Si’s room to nick some of his. And then I realised it wasn’t really very rock and roll, both of us being on the same blood pressure pills. Maybe it was time we did something about it.”

It’s probably understandable that the Hairy Bikers had put on a lot of weight over the years. After all they’d been all over the world cooking and eating, with hardly a dull moment for the last ten years and that sort of lifestyle takes its toll.

The challenge the Hairy Dieters set themselves was to lose weight, but without resorting to faddy foods or starving themselves. One of the first things that had to be tackled was the booze.

“Wine and beer were something I relied upon. I do drink less now – but I appreciate what I drink more,” says Dave.

And when it came to the food the Hairy Dieters still wanted to enjoy eating which is why they’ve come up with a range of healthier recipes like their Cottage Pie.

And their dieting isn’t an obsession either as Si points out: “When we get to a point that’s healthy, we’ll start to eat pies again. Just not all the time”