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RYG: What are the best motivational messages that people have given you?

DM: For me the only person that makes me workout and push myself harder is me. It has to come from me, and it has to come from when I'm ready.

I usually think that losing weight is something to do with having to deny myself a pleasure, but that's not true. I have to step up my exercise to three times a week, an hour each time. I have to really sweat, or work really, really hard for half an hour, but you have to push yourself, and you know what that is.

My other thing is that I have to stop eating in between meals. I'm really, really bad at that. If I absolutely have to eat something, like I'm starving now and it's nearly lunchtime, I will let myself have a piece of fruit in between. I have two massive sugars in my coffee but I try and restrict myself to a maximum of two coffees a day. I have no sugar in tea, so I can have as much tea as I like. I'm trying not to drink too many fizzy drinks though I do sometimes if I go out somewhere.

It's not about saying 'I'm never going to have that again,' or 'I mustn't eat carbs in the evening.' If I want to have a potato in the evening, I'll have a potato in the evening and just be sensible about it. If Matthew's working I eat with the children. It's quite good to eat early because then you burn off the food before you go to bed. I try to never eat after 8.30pm because I'm not going to burn it off.

I try and chew because I love food; I try and have one helping instead of two; I try and avoid puddings, but on a special occasion I'll have one. It's not about not allowing yourself butter, you know I love butter I don't like marg, so I just have a little bit. It's about compromising. It only happens when I think 'Right I'm doing this and I'm doing it for me, I'm not doing it for everyone else.'

Moderation is a tough one. It's very, very difficult, especially for me. The best bit of advice somebody gave me was actually Jackie. She said keep a food diary for a week, and it's a shocker because on top of the three meals that I was eating I was eating probably another two meals in snacks that you think are good for you. Like yoghurt covered raisins - not good. The yoghurt's basically chocolate, sugar, yumminess - not good. You think they're raisins, they're practically healthy - no.

RYG: What's the best thing that sport has given you in terms of confidence?

DM: It's about me and how I carry myself. Now I don't have the body of a 22-year-old anymore, and I've got a bit of a jelly belly, but I carry myself with great pride. I think when I carry myself with pride I look nicer, I look better and I look sexier.

I feel good about myself because I feel fitter and I can keep up with my children. I used to walk upstairs, now I run upstairs. I used to just play around with them but now I'm running up and down with them, and throwing them around, and I can do that. I'm probably stronger and fitter than I was 10 years ago, and that's lovely.

RYG: Does this confidence help you in your work?

DM: Yes definitely. Unfortunately in my business people tag an enormous amount on your appearance. It's all about 'Oh look isn't Davina blooming in pregnancy,' which means that I've put on a lot of weight, and how quickly do I lose it. Well I don't lose it very quickly at all, but I do it in a way that I view safely and sensibly.

Weight loss isn't about a quick fix, it's about something that happens slowly, over time. It doesn't matter if you don't lose weight for a couple of weeks, just as long as you're eating sensibly and then you might lose a pound over the next couple of weeks. It's a slow process because if you lose it too quickly you'll just put it all back on again, and you won't feel very well.

RYG: Does this new found energy mean there are lots of other things you can do in other areas of your life?

DM: Yes. I got this bruise on my arm from a challenge that Chris Moyles at Radio 1 set me, which was running around the studio on the celebrity lap. I got injured, and beaten by Jo Whiley, but only by half a second, and she was wearing trainers. I wasn't last, I'm sort of somewhere in the middle and I didn't know the studio very well, so I was quite proud of that.

I think on a really personal level it's being able to keep up with my kids, feeling fit, looking good in clothes, confidence and the effect it has on my relationship.

Even when I go to the doctors for a check-up. Blood pressure - low. My doctor always goes 'Gosh you're fit aren't you, you must work out a lot,' and I think that's nice, you don't even need to see me in a bikini to say 'Oh you work out a lot,' you can tell on my blood pressure, it's a good thing.

RYG: Any challenges ahead this year? Any sporting challenges?

DM: Well at the moment I've decided I'm not very good at running, and we've got Sport Relief coming up 14-16 March 2008. This year they're doing a special thing where you can run one mile, three miles or six miles. Normally I'd say I'll do the one mile but I'm going to rise to the challenge, which is what they're telling me to do this year, and I'm going to do six. So I ran two miles yesterday and I came back and I was literally pink! My whole face was pink. It was such a bad look, and my hair was all sort of stuck to me, and I was saying 'No, this is bad. This is bad, I'm never going to be able to do it, I've got six weeks.' I'm sure it'll be fine though.

At the moment I'm saying I just want to be able to run for six miles, but maybe closer to the time if I can run six miles no problem, then I'll be saying 'C'mon let's do it under an hour - fifty minutes.'