When Julie Thompson first logged on and started dieting, she had no idea it would land her a starring role in a TV ad.

The Shoebury hairdresser has lost almost two stones with tescodiets.com and says it has changed the way she thinks about food for the rest of her life.

She can now be seen alongside six other successful slimmers as part of the advert, filmed to promote the diet.

The ad shows the seven slimmers in a line, each wearing an item of pre-diet clothing to emphasise their weight loss.

"It was a great, fun day and a great experience," Julie says. "We had our makeup done and just had to stand in a line and mess about. We had a great laugh."

Julie, 42, of High Street, Shoebury, stumbled across the e-diet after deciding to do her supermarket shopping online.

"When I logged on, I saw an advert for e-diets, so I had a look," she says.

Julie signed up to the GI diet, outlined on the site, which rates foods according to their glyceamic index - the lower the GI the better.

She started the programme in mid-August and lost nearly two stones before Christmas.

It's the best diet she has ever followed, she reckons: "When you first start, there is such a lot of information to read through, but once you get going, it couldn't be easier."

The range of foods meant she has never felt hungry on the diet.

"It's great, because you can eat so much and you feel fuller for longer," she says.

"Before, when I have dieted I've been climbing the walls. I've tried loads of different diets in the past, from the cabbage soup to counting calories. It always ends up with me feeling deprived and starving. This is definitely the one for me."

The diet offers an online slimming club, which allows members to chat with each other in a forum.

All the necessary menus are provided and can be printed off for the week.

"There is so much to help you, including support boards where you can talk to everyone else who is in the same boat about having good days and bad days," Julie says.

The site also allows dieters to compile a shopping list of all the items they need to stick with the programme, helping them stay on the straight and narrow and avoid putting diet-wrecking treats in their shopping trollies.

Julie adds: "It really couldn't be easier. It does all the thinking for you. If there is something you don't like, you just click on the meal and it offers you hundreds of alternatives."

Having battled most of her adult life with her weight, Julie says she has been a yo-yo dieter, losing then regaining two stones for most of that time.

"This has really changed my eating patterns and I really feel different in my mind about this one," she insists.

"It's more like a healthy eating way of life than a diet. I can see myself eating like this from now on, as the food is so delicious.

"But the best thing has been the two litres of water it recommends each day. It really makes a difference."