Most people feel the need to shed a few pounds after a festive season of excess.

But Tim Gardener is planning to use the "David Blaine diet" by fasting for 50 days in the new year.

He says the stunt will highlight the benefits of going without food and give his body a natural detox.

Tim, a self-employed gardener of School View, Heathfield, believes he can survive on local spring water mixed with a few grains of unrefined salt.

If successful, he will beat the American illusionist, who spent his time in his glass box near London's Tower Bridge, by six days.

Tim, 29, who weighs seven-and-a-half stone, said: "I was interested that most of the response to David Blaine's efforts seemed to suggest it had to be a stunt or ordeal, which involved a certain amount of suffering.

"That doesn't need to be the case at all. After a certain point, there's a relief from suffering and no more feelings of hunger.

"You also emerge feeling clean and refreshed. It's like a form of detox. I did 25 days a few years ago and actually felt I could have gone on for longer.

"If during this fast I do start having problems and feel it's no longer safe, I'll bring it to an end straight away."

But even if Tim completes the 50-day fast, he will still not measure up to Jack Wafer, who went 76 days without food on display in Brighton in 1952.

He survived on 500 bottles of soda water and 2,000 cigarettes.