The shape I'm in: Philip Boucher-Hayes, journalist

Philip Boucher-Hayes eats an apple and a fistful of nuts when he gets peckish.

ON Wednesday night we saw a determined Philip Boucher-Hayes go all out to get a ripped torso in 28 days.

For the first episode of What Are You Eating? the intrepid journalist munched his way through more than 3,000 calories a day and undertook a gruelling workout regime.

The experiment left him carrying extra weight and feeling miserable. But there was an upside — it got him into the habit of going to the gym.

“I always thought gyms just weren’t for me,” he says.

“Looking back, I have no idea where this silly prejudice came from. Because I love my workouts now, well not exactly... I love how I feel after my workouts.

“The endorphin release has me high on a cocktail of hormones I haven’t felt since I was a loved up 15-year-old. Plus it’s a revelation that it’s actually possible to touch my toes without groaning loudly.”

* What Are You Eating? RTÉ One, Wednesdays at 8.30pm

What shape are you in?

A lot done, more to do. I’ll never be Mark Wahlberg, but I feel supple, limber and more full of energy than I have in years.

What are your healthiest eating habits?

Snackification is one of our worst sins. Irish people eat on average two-and-half snacks a day and I’m particularly weak-willed when I’m hungry. My meals are healthy enough.

It’s what I get tempted into doing between them that causes problems. So what really works for me is an apple and a fistful of mixed nuts.

What are your guiltiest pleasures?

A sneaky pint and a packet of crisps. Or cheese. I have chronically high cholesterol, with people dropping dead of heart attacks on both sides of the family.

I am unable to remove butter from my diet (life is too short) so I’ve cut right back on cheese. It’s no bad thing, previously a wheel of Camembert never lasted the night when I was around.

What would keep you awake at night?

Thoughts and the neighbour’s cockerel.

How do you relax?

By looking at the back of my eyelids.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

Donald Trump and then I would surround him with a glittering cast of eminent climate scientists, feminist thinkers, constitutional lawyers and migration experts. It might not change anything but it would be fun to watch him struggle.

What’s your favourite smell?

I love the smell of haylage in the morning, basically fresh cut grass all year round.

What would you like to change about your appearance?

I’d like to look a little less tired all the time, but I accept I’ll have to wait for the kids to grow up and move out before that happens. Luckily, I’m of an age, 45, where I’m happy to accept that there’s no overcoming my genes.

But I look at all these young lads in the gym striving for the unobtainable. Fellas owe women a big apology for only now understanding the corrosive body image pressures that marketing people have been placing them under for decades.

When is the last time you cried?

My kids are both at a very inquisitive phase. Anna is eight and Robin is five and I have a golden rule — seize any opportunity they offer to engage with them now because communication is only going to get harder not easier.

But the variety, complexity and above all the relentlessness of the questions sometimes leaves me shedding tears. For example: ‘Which is faster — a unicorn, a centaur or a fairy pony?’

What traits do you least like in others?

A lack of generosity towards others. We have a tendency to reduce people to a single incident or character trait.

We are all much more than that, the sum of many parts, not just one unfortunate thing we did.

What traits do you least like about yourself?

Irritability. I’m a classic down-the-rabbit-hole type thinker.

I immerse myself very deeply in doing one thing and when I have to stop and turn my attention to anything else I get cranky about it, and I’m not good at hiding it.

Do you pray?

No, I’m an atheist. But the time I spend with horses every day, feeding, mucking out, riding and so on is very meditative. I’m out with the animals every morning at 6.30 and it’s a very valuable part of the day.

Most of the time I don’t really even think about anything in particular.

What would cheer up your day?

A hug. When either Suzanne or my two girls, throw their arms around me unbidden it just makes my heart sing.