Diet-conscious people in mid Wales have a new aid in the fight against flab - a calorie street map.

Weight-watchers in Aberystwyth will be able to count the calories they burn as well as they walk around the town - thanks to a street plan with a difference.

The routes have been scientifically tested

The map has been published by the new Department of Sports and Exercise Science at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Developed by department head Professor Jo Doust, it shows 15 walks in and around the town.

What is different is that it also shows the average number of calories burned - based on individual weights - during each walk.

The map is designed to show people how they can introduce exercise into their normal day-to-day routine to improve health and fitness.

A walk from one end of the town's promenade to the other is one of the most popular routes.

The map reveals that a person weighing 11st or 70kg walking the whole length of the prom and back will burn 221 calories.

You must not assume just because you have walked for 20 minutes it is OK to eat an extra doughnut

Prof Jo Doust

Or, if you fancy a stroll from the town's post office to the National Library of Wales, that could account for 96 calories.

Prof Doust believes that the map will help to dispel a few myths about walking and losing weight.

"The calories you burn walking don't seem a lot," she said.

"Some, I am sure, will ask, 'Is it really worth walking to use up 120 or so calories, which could be replaced by just a couple of biscuits'."

"But what if you worked in town and walked in and out five days a week?

"The calories soon mount up, to 1,100 a week, 4,400 a month, 48,400 a year."

Diet

Prof Doust said that exercise alone was not enough, however.

"You must, of course, watch your diet and not assume just because you have walked for 20 minutes that its OK to eat an extra doughnut," she said.

Whilst the Aberystwyth Calorie Map is intended as a light-hearted introduction to the benefits of exercise, the new university department is an important development for the institution.

The first students arrive in September 2002.

A new �1.5m research and sport complex is being developed which will include 10 laboratories for experimental work in physiology, biomechanics and psychology.

It will include an environmental chamber which can mimic the temperature and humidity found anywhere in the world.