GETTING fit and eating well demands honesty, and many of us tend to cut corners or have false hopes about the reality of our exercise, sleep and eating patterns.

So how about a personal monitor keeping tabs on how much you eat, work out and sleep?

That’s the idea of the Ki Fit monitor, your own version of a health watcher in the form of an electronic counter strapped to your arm.

The promoters describe it as “the only multi-sensor available that can accurately track calorie burn, physical activity, steps taken and sleep duration and efficiency”.

The device started out as a calorie counter, but in these electronically advanced times it morphed into a combination heart-rate monitor and exercise coach as well.

Oh, it also tells you whether you are sleeping enough and how many paces you take daily.

I was pretty confident I’d check out OK, but got a dismal shock to discover I’m eating twice the calories I need to function and lose weight (about 3,000), while my hard-won exercise achievements, such as a 50-minute run, or a weight-training and boxing session, only merit a measly few hundred calories.

However, your normal physical activity during the day burns calories, and any exercise or workout is in addition to this — it’s all recorded on the monitor.

My results were satisfactory, according to one of the Ki Fit lead scientists, and here is their breakdown of my efforts, which would be about the equivalent of a normal and reasonably fit and healthy Irish adult.

Average daily calorie burn = 2,591 kcals.

Average daily physical activity = 3 hrs 16 mins.

Average daily steps = 10,836.

Average sleep duration = 7 hrs 29 mins.

Average sleep efficiency = 88pc.

There was some concern over my sleep patterns, and this might be caused by middle-of-the-night restlessness. But overall my results were reasonable and like most of us, I do have to watch how much I eat and drink, and try to maintain a healthy active lifestyle.

It’s all there on the monitor and there’s no cheating. The relentless machine is deadly accurate, and it can be a useful tool to aid weight loss or gain, as well as providing interesting data for the fitness enthusiast.

You input what you eat into a food diary, although I fell down on this at first as I kept forgetting to record my meals. There are plenty of useful recipes and tips to help you stay on track for your recommended calorie intake.

It’s fairly user-friendly. Once you have your armband and are signed up to the online monitoring service (for which you pay monthly), you download a program that allows the Ki Fit’s activity manager to run on your computer.

For gadget fans this is a powerful tool, but I know some people will ask do we really need a computer to tell us how to eat and exercise?

The information can certainly be useful once you log on and keep track of your progress, but some results can be disappointing.

For example, 20 minutes of cycling equals only a couple of hundred calories, and I learned on some days I’m consuming twice what I need if I really want to knock off that extra stone.

You have to check in regularly to track your progress, and this is not always ideal for someone like me who can forget to put on her armband or might not be completely honest when it comes to recording my food intake (surely eating birthday cake is a family duty that makes your child happy, so let’s not tell the machine).

In the end, though, you still need to follow advice that is simple but not always easy in practice — eat sensibly, cut out processed food and fizzy drinks and exercise regularly.

And no, the machine didn’t tell me that, I worked it out by myself — like we all have to.

The verdict

WE TRIED: Ki Fit exercise and health monito

DID IT WORK? Yes, it gives you an accurate and interesting reading of your fitness and exertion levels 24/7. What you do about it is up to you

PLUSES: A powerful tool to help exercise and weight loss

MINUSES: Inputting food data can be a chore, and seeing a remorseless record of your eating, training and sleep patterns jogs your conscience

COST: 149.99 (€167) + subscription + postage and packaging, and can be bought from www.kiperformance.co.uk or 0207 307 8280.

CONTACT: www.kiperformance.uk

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