Who wouldn't say no to burning more calories, losing weight and toning up without even changing your daily routine?

As a fitness editor and insufferable gym bunny, I've tried hundreds of trends, gadgets and accessories over the past 20 years, from running backwards (weird) to being locked in a coffin-like hyperbaric oxygen chamber (scary).

But there's one bit of kit, neither counter-intuitive nor high-tech, that's booming in popularity. Starting at just £20, the humble weighted vest is your secret weapon.

I first started clocking people wearing them while walking on the rural trails where I live in Oxfordshire. Then they were all over my Instagram feed, too – a hit with health and ­fitness influencers, as well as celebrities such as Davina McCall and beauty entrepreneur Liz Earle.

You can even wear them around the house while doing the washing, hoovering or just pootling back and forth to the kitchen.

So can this funny little waistcoat really help you burn more calories and build strength while you go about your daily life?

I've just turned 50 and have been wearing one for about two years, and I give it a very enthusiastic thumbs-up.

'Carrying the extra load raises your heart rate, which makes you burn more calories,' says fitness coach Kate Rowe-Ham. 'Plus, it helps with building strength, too – it increases your bone density, which is crucial for peri and post-menopausal women.'

The data seems to bear out those benefits, too. A study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise showed wearing a weighted vest can increase calorie burn by up to 40 per cent.

This figure will depend on the weight carried and the intensity of your movement, but if you do a daily hour-long walk that normally burns 200 calories, you could burn 80 more with a vest. Over the course of a week, that's an extra 560 calories.

'If you do your usual level of movement but just add in the vest, you will absolutely lose weight,' says Rowe-Ham. 'But you need to keep upping the ante to see the results, so slowly increase the weight you carry.'

Vests range from 3-30kg and many are adjustable – allowing you to add 1kg weight blocks or pouches to their front or back pockets.

Decathlon's basic model (£24.99, decathlon.co.uk) goes up to 5kg, while Rowe-Ham's vest of choice, by Mirafit (£49.95 mirafit.co.uk), comes in ten, 20 or 30kg options. I chose one from Davina McCall's collaboration with Argos – she calls a weighted vest a key part of her 'fitness tool kit' – which is a manageable 3kg (£22, argos.co.uk).

Experts advise starting with a vest that's 5-10 per cent of your body weight, and 3kg is just over 5 per cent of mine (I'm 58kg). This is heavy enough that I notice the increased intensity when I walk, especially in my thighs.

Interestingly, my Oura health tracker, which measures heart rate increases, always logs my vest-wearing walks as 'intense' workouts, while the vest-free ones are always 'moderate'.

I also burn bang on 40 per cent more calories when I wear the vest.

With two children and a busy career as a freelance journalist, some days the only free time I have to exercise is a brisk 20-minute stroll ­during my lunch break.

Without the vest, my tracker confirms I burn 50 calories, but doing the same walk in the vest, at the same pace, burns 70.

I love that I can ­turbocharge my humble walk without allocating any extra time. It doesn't feel like I'm ­making too much extra effort, either.

The vest isn't so heavy that it feels like it's dragging me down – it's on a par with carrying a couple of bags of groceries but with the weight evenly distributed around your torso. There's no strain on my lower back or joints, and my hands are free.

What's more, I feel stronger. I find that I'm consistently hitting personal bests lifting weights in the gym and I can lug giant terracotta plant pots and bags of gravel around my garden without asking for help.

A few notes of caution: the weighted vest works best when you wear it while doing chores (I love that it gives something as boring as housework a health benefit) or while walking.

The vest absolutely does not work if you are just sitting down. That, I'm afraid, is wishful, non-calorie-burning thinking.

Conversely, it's not great for higher-impact activities: I tried mine when playing tennis and it impeded my serve; I went for a run in it and gave up after three minutes as it was too exhausting; and it ruined my balance and hurt my knees when I wore it to lift weights in the gym.

Unless you hide it underneath a coat, you do have to deal with every other person you meet asking you what on earth you're wearing.

Minor quibbles aside, I wear mine almost every day.

Having tried every fitness fad going, when it comes to an accessible, affordable and low-effort health boost, the weighted vest is my number-one recommendation.