Lotus Journeys, Portugal

They say: Challenge your personal limits. Five days of rigorous exercise on a calorie-controlled diet will kick-start any health programme. Whatever your goals, Bootcamp is a springboard to a lifestyle change. At “weigh-out”, you’ll step off the scales inspired to maintain a healthy weight.

We say: A typical day’s exercise consists of 1hr 45min of dynamic yoga, a long hike and two hours of Pilates and resistance training. Breakfast is muesli and a boiled egg, lunch soup or salad and dinner could be tofu kebabs and salad. The wake-up call is at 7am; there is little to do in the evenings, so most people crash out at 9pm. The setting is beautiful – a rustic villa with a pool high in the hills of the Algarve, and that makes the exercise regimen uplifting rather than punishing.

I arrived home detoxed, toned and inspired, but drained; don’t go for the relaxation.

This course is not luxurious but well priced, and the group lost an impressive amount of body fat; the biggest single drop was almost 7lb (3kg).

Based on two people sharing for five nights, the cost is €1,100 (£785). www.lotusjourneys.com, 020-8968 3666

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