I tested the app that's seen people lose 5 stone as part of my weight loss journey

Weight loss: we all think about it but doing something can feel as likely as hiking up Mount Everest. We live in a world where the tastiest snacks in the world can be anything from a big fat juicy burger delivered from our phone to our front door or giant packets of oily crisps screaming down supermarket aisles to be taken home - all of which means making healthy decisions can be difficult.

But take it from someone who recently lost 23lbs in 11 weeks: you want to sort it out sooner rather than later, and that’s where currently can come in. This year I was kicked out of my decrepit London flat back into my parents’ home, started a new job and bought my own flat all in the space of months.

Alongside this was the existential dread of turning 30 fuelling the choo-choo train of comfort eating - and by the time it hit August the final destination was being 10kg (or 22lbs in old money) overweight. At 6ft 1, 115kg is overweight, even with a few muscles from the gym desperately clinging on.

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My T-shirts bulged at the belly, my jeans were so tight I worried about their structural integrity every time I sat down, and my cat put in a Herculean effort to sit on my stomach in bed at night. Things needed to change, so I finally called up a personal trainer at my gym and got onto a diet plan and workout schedule.

It turns out that using professional help works as I ended up shedding 23lbs (just over 10kg) in 11 weeks - and counting. This puts me in the unique position of being able to judge fairly, as I’ve used the human counterpart to judge.

- which usually costs £29.99 but is reduced to £17.99 currently - is an , using the power of their artificial intelligence Avo to help you with both diet and fitness. The app is, unironically, very simple - you take once you’ve downloaded and it will pull forward suggestions for lifestyle changes.

It also acts as a food logger and there are daily workouts you can use if you need. But does it work? I put the app through its paces to see if it can compare to being motivated by a human being.

Intermittent fasting

Fasting is not for everyone - if you have an eating disorder or underlying health conditions, please consult a doctor instead of using this. But, in my opinion, for those of us that need a little assistance, it genuinely is the golden bullet for weight loss. Our bodies were not designed non-stop gorging for hours on end and there are benefits outside of weight loss.

On the advice of my PT, I fast for 16 hours and eat for eight. I break my fast at 10.30am, with it restarting at 6.30pm. This fits into my work schedule (trying to write without food in my brain is impossible) and I always go to the gym before work. This may sound scary, but fasting also gives you a huge energy boost in the morning, one that I find carries me until at least mid-afternoon when I eat my big lunch.

The quiz at the beginning of the journey takes some notes on your lifestyle - how active you are, what your goals are and when you want to achieve them - then once you’re proper, it asks for your preference of fasting time: fast for 14, eat for 10; fast for 12, eat for 12; and finally the 16:8 schedule my PT recommended.

This immediately put faith into , as it suggested the 16:8 as the optimal one, while giving other options for people who want to ease themselves in. Discipline is a skill anyone can learn, but to stop crashing out you may want to take it a little easier. It’s like with a cold swimming pool: you either ease yourself in one toe at a time, or dive.

Fasting is one of your daily tasks on your homepage, making it easy to remember, and will send notifications of when to start and when to stop. Also, on the Explore tab, you can find a lot of articles on the effects of intermittent fasting as well as tips for how to handle it until you’re in the swing of things when, if my experience is anything to go by, you'll barely notice it. However, it would improve the experience if they cited their sources - science speaks strongest.

With this being the , I think it fulfils the task almost perfectly. Shows you what to do, gives you advice, and handholds you throughout. However, the best part of the app is still yet to come…

Food Tracking and Avo

I find it hard not to roll my eyes at certain AI ‘enhancements,’ especially since so many of them actually make things worse. But Avo genuinely is due to how simple they make everything.

Food tracking is a pain - I use and the constant logging feels like homework after a few weeks. This is compounded by the fact I struggle to concentrate on any task I find remotely boring. However, simplified the process by allowing you to take a photo of your meal to log it automatically.

For my breakfast, I ate a bowl of strawberries (80g) with a pot of Fage 5% greek yoghurt (160g). It nailed the strawberries, but needed a bit of help with the yoghurt (understandably it believed it was cream). However, any edits were really easy to make on the next screen and it even gives you a nutrition score so you can improve later (I got Good, the level behind Optimal).

It absolutely nailed I was having a protein shake and the right amount of liquid with just a photo of my full shaker, which I found quite impressive. However, has other tricks up their sleeve, including a ‘meal enhancement’ function.

So I laid out the ingredients for my lunch - duck breast, kale, halloumi, cucumber and courgette - and asked . After 30 seconds of thinking, they were able to devise a seven-step recipe using the ingredients laid out. It was using the full sizes rather than my actual portions, so for more accuracy I’d follow the instructions without the size measurements it includes - but its ability to recognise it all was outstanding, and will really help if you struggle with mealtimes.

Then if you aren’t satisfied with the nutrition of your meal, it can suggest groceries to pick up next time and the health benefits of each. Spending some time with this, you could develop a meal plan by yourself.

This is quite similar to how a personal trainer works. There are of course a few differences between the two: PTs are able to adapt quickly and take into account mood, schedules and also have the ability to know what food tastes like. But is definitely a great starting point for people whose nutritional knowledge begins and ends with 'five a day'.

The top feature for a foodie like me, however, is the ability for and pick the best options to eat. I chose Dirty Bones in London's Soho as stepping in there for a weight-loss friendly meal is like going into a goldmine and crying there's no copper - that's not what the restaurant is there for.

With one photo of the menu, it filters the choices to give you the options most likely to fit your fitness goals - and breaks it down per subheading too. In the small plates, it filtered out Mac N Cheese and opted to suggested options like Chicken Tenders and Popcorn Frickles. You are required to use a bit of your common sense, as it picked the Mac Daddy Burger - which comes with the saturated fat emperor Mac N Cheese - among some healthier burger options. But it's a cure for being paralysed by choice.

Is Simple worth it?

Simply, yes. range of features are very reminiscent to what you’d get with a personal trainer: someone to hold you accountable, provide you with meal plans and recipes, and to give advice and encouragement.

There are limitations to it, with the app being a robot, which makes the programme more suited to those who are just getting started or don’t know where to start. If you need more advanced help or your weight loss is stalling, that’s a good time to pick up the phone to a PT.

However, its food logging and recipe functions makes it worth the price of admission alone. Even though I’m keeping my PT into the New Year, will help spice things up for me going forward. I highly recommend this app.

If you're in the market for something different, I used a few years ago and found it very user-friendly, though without some of the bells and whistles of Simple.