As you’ve probably already realised by now, I am the PlayPennies guinea pig when it comes to weight loss fads, gadgets, gizmos and doodads. Last year I did a Slendertone bum challenge which actually worked (and which I still do) so this year they asked me if I would be ok with doing it on my stomach.

Now, my stomach is no longer the pretty flat thing it was before childbirth. No. And exercise sort of shifts it but it remains a bit, well, wibbly. Do you think I hesitated before saying yes? Exactly. I leapt at the chance. I am willing to try anything once and if it works, then yay!

So, the Slendertone Abs belt has been revamped, renewed and cleaned up until it sparkles. It promises fab abs in four weeks thanks to a long list of patented technologies and features. Obviously it will have an effect on your muscles but if you keep eating cake and chocolate and doing no exercise you aren’t going to see much in the way of results.

The Slendertone Abs need you to do some work towards a healthier body and this includes eating right and doing some cardiovascular exercise. At the moment I do an hour of exercise every morning which ranges from Tai Chi to a run. My stomach is still a soft and wobbly place that my daughter calls her (sigh) “pillow” so I am hoping that the Slendertone Abs will help me get rid of it sharpish.

I am going to be following the Slendertone Abs programme five days a week for a month and monitoring my progress. I won’t be changing my diet or other exercise routines so as to try and keep the test as genuine as possible. Next week I will hit you with my measurements at the start and what they are after a week. Wish me luck!

Well, this has been an interesting week. Bolstered by the results from last week, I’ve been very focused on keeping the carbs and crap out of my system and doing both the Slendertone and the exercises faithfully. I can really feel my bum getting a workout now and I’ve had to ease into the settings instead of just jumping into action.

Last week I sat at an intensity of around 60/65, this week it ramped up to as high as 75 and, I have to tell you, my butt noticed! At first I tried to take it all the way up from the moment I started my session. OW. That is NOT a good idea. It actually hurt.

Plan B was to increase the setting incrementally over a couple of minutes so it didn’t hit me all at once. The intensity is so high that you can see the muscles being pulled inwards. It is still rather relaxing but you are getting one heck of a workout.

Things were going along swimmingly until I fell down some stairs on Wednesday – we were mid house renovation and a piece of plastic had been cunningly hiding on the step. One dislocated shoulder later and I am now unable to complement the Slendertone machine workout with the included exercises.

On one hand this isn’t too bad. Now, any results I get from the Slendertone will be exclusively from the device itself and not boosted with additional exercise. On the other hand my plan for the Cameron Diaz bum is going to take a lot longer than I originally planned.

I am still finding the machine awkward to set up every time I put it on. I am becoming more adept at sort of placing the pads in the right locations but almost every other time sees me leaping up into the air and restarting the session because I’d placed a pad in the wrong spot. And when you do that, the nerves can get a bit miffed.

That is a downer but not one I see changing really, you can’t exactly design the trousers to be any more self explanatory. It is just a side effect of not being able to swivel your head Exorcist style or, if you are like me, not asking your husband to help you out because they can’t contain their laughter.

The results have stayed steady this week. Whether this is a direct result of not doing the physical exercise as well as the Slendertone or just the way the programme goes is hard to say, but I am happy to report that I can feel and see a physical difference. So far you can colour me impressed.

Right, so week 2 has flown by and I’ve been a good girl and followed the plan to the letter. It has been rather interesting as the intensity has shot up from 20 to 65 and has become, if I am honest, a tad painful.

The first few days of the week had me rev the gears up to 40, 50 and 55 respectively, with the increase starting to really sting a bit. At first I was rather concerned by this but as the programme ran, I found it rather relaxing. You can really feel the muscles contracting and relaxing at this level and it is also a bit disconcerting.

I had to leave for a three day road trip with my child so the Slendertone was duly packed into the suitcase, along with the Challenge notes, and taken with me. The expressions on the faces of the people I was staying with were priceless. The first mum I stayed with spent the entire 30 minutes laughing at me, the second was fascinated and the third bunch of mates all had to prod my bum to see if it was as hard as I said it was.

And it is getting really firm. Of that there is no doubt. After doing 30 minutes at level 65 on Thursday morning my muscles were sore. So sore that walking through Bath was a bit challenging at first. I had a rather entertaining limp.

My results are also starting to come in now. Last week there was no movement in size as I stayed at a steady 39cm. This week I have lost half a centimetre as the measurements are down to 38.5. Now that IS good news!

I also promised you last week that I would ask Slendertone what the next step would be, how you would maintain your lovely new bum without having to spend an hour and a half a day doing exercises focused only on one specific area. Their experts immediately got back to us with this reply…

We recommend the user use the Bottom for 30minutes, 5 days a week for 6 weeks at the highest intensity while maintaining their comfort. After completing their 6 week course they should use the device 2-4 times a week again for 30mins to maintain the toning, conditioned benefits from use of the device.

So there you have it. I am rather pleased with that response, actually, because the exercises that come with the device are very time consuming. The lunges, squats and leg lifts are all brilliant for your thighs as well, but it would be nice to free up some time to do arms, stomach and back.

While I am rather frightened of going up to level 70 and 80 next week, I’m also kind of excited. What will the results be after such intensive muscle workouts? Stay tuned to find out…

I’ve been happily, and a tad painfully, working my way through the first week of the Slendertone Bottom Challenge and have had some interesting results. Last week my measurements sat at 39cms across the widest part of my bum and this week they sat at pretty much exactly the same measurement.

I’ve lost about a millimetre, if that, since starting out and I’ve been utterly faithful to the process. In fact, I have done the additional exercises five times this week as opposed to four and I’ve also been doing my step machine on some alternate days.

Taking a look at my diet, I haven’t eaten any more or less of the bad food I’m prone to so it shouldn’t be that having a negative effect on the results. However, I have to admit that the machine is definitely doing its job. My muscles were so sore on Thursday that I was walking a bit like I’d been beaten up.

So far the regimen has done nothing for size but has it done something for tone and looks? I’d have to say yes. My bum is looking and feeling a lot firmer and some of the clothes I was starting to find a bit tight have loosened a fraction or two. This can only point to the fact that something is working, even if it isn’t measurable yet.

As this is a five week challenge I am not particularly disheartened or disappointed. This kind of thing takes time to make a difference and I do need to monitor the rubbish I am eating too. So, next week is all about making sure everything is a little more focused.

The programme you follow over the course of the weeks increases the level of, er, charge each time you use the Slendertone machine. To start with I was on level 20 for a few days, that has gone to 25, 30 and, today, it sat at 40. Wow. It was almost painful on one area but in a nice way. I have to admit that I found it rather addictive. I was close to disappointed when the programme finished. The regular zoom of the voltage is very relaxing actually and a part of me feels quite smug that I am lolling on the sofa, taking in a spot of TV, while my muscles get a stonking workout.

There are some down sides, though. First off I realised that I can’t really walk around and do other things while I am doing the programme. The pads have a tendency to come off and, if they do this while the voltage is humming, they can give anything in the way a nasty shock. Like my hand. It really wasn’t pleasant. They can also shift position in spite of the stickiness of the pads and that can also hurt.

So, the best thing to do is to really relax in front of the TV or with a good book before you press Start. I am sure that some of this is user error and the fact that the trousers seem to come in a “one size fits all” style so if you are a tad bigger than most the pads don’t cover the entire Velcro area as effectively.

I am impressed with the length of the battery life, though. It has been a week since I charged it and it hasn’t needed a boost since then. I also like the fact that the pads have stayed really sticky, are easy to maintain, and the very portable nature of the kit. You can fold up the shorts into a small little square and store it, along with the remote, in a handy travel case that comes with the set.

The one thing that has been preying on my mind is the sustainability of the programme. It’s all very well to focus on this area for the duration of the challenge, but what happens once you’ve achieved your goal? You can’t focus exclusively on your legs and bum every day and need to incorporate other exercise elements into your daily workout so, unless you have two hours a day to exercise (which most mums don’t) there needs to be a workout plan that maintains your bum’s new good looks without having to focus on those exercises every day.

With that in mind, I have emailed the folks at Slendertone and asked their experts what they think and what they recommend. I’ll update you on their thoughts next week.