Some years ago I recall the Herald’s flamboyant wine writer Joe Fattorini waxing lyrical about his great new weight loss plan. Rather than deny himself all his favourite treats, Joe told me that he’d save up enough calories every day to allow him to enjoy a large glass of fine red wine every evening. His theory was pretty sound (although not all the health experts would agree) in that he realised that total denial of all things tasty and calorific would only lead to desperate cravings and an inevitable caving in. The plan certainly worked for him as Joe seemed to lose half his body weight over the space of months.

Yesterday I wondered on Facebook about whether I’d worked off enough calories cycling over recent days to justify a couple of large glasses of wine. The idea was that my cycling endeavours could cancel out a slight excess of wine.

It seemed that my Facebook pals agreed. Replying to my Facebook poser one came up with the calorific facts: One bottle of wine = 500 cals consumed, while half an hour of cycling = 200 cals burned.

Another Facebooker stated: “One bottle of standard red wine would provide about 28% of your total daily calorie count but since nobody drinks standard red wine it probably has 50% extra alcohol so maybe 40% of daily calories.” Gosh!

So I reckon that the fact that I’ve cycled for a total of more than three hours in two days means I could allow myself a couple of large glasses of vino.

Now, I’m not for a minute suggesting that wine is packed with lots of health-giving nutrients and to be honest I’d be a whole lot fitter and healthier if I carried on cycling and running and ditched the wine. But, then, where would be the fun in that?

Does anyone else have the same ideas about balancing keep-fit and booze?!