I'm really pleased as I lost 6.5lbs this week - it has actually only been 6 days but, I wanted to make Saturday my weigh in day. The week has gone well and I know I have eaten much more healthily than usual. It also hasn't as much as a pain to come home and cook for myself each evening as I thought it would be. In the past, I've often come home and thought "I'm too tired to cook" or "I can't be bothered" and ordered takeaway instead. Some weeks we would have 3 or more take aways. I pointed up my usual Chinese takeaway meal and OMG I was eating more than 1 days points in one meal! No wonder I got to be as heavy as I am. This week I've concentrated on simple meals that I have been able to put into the oven and ignore. I've had a chicken a couple of times and duck once (no lovely crispy skin though) and salmon a couple of times. One evening I made bruschetta with loads of tomatoes, onion and goats cheese, it was really yummy.

The other major achievement is that I have not had any coke this week, not even the zero points stuff. When I am at work I find I have a real dip in energy between 3.30 & 4pm and I had taken to drinking a can of coke to give me a quick pick me up. But I realise that this is not the answer and so I decided to go cold turkey. The lack of coke has probably been the most difficult part of the diet, but hopefully the cravings for it will pass quite quickly.

Frustrations this week have partly been due to my lack of organisation. Twice this week I have made lunch for myself in the evening, but forgotten to take it to work. Luckily I had enough tins of beans and soup at school so that I had something to eat which didn't mean buying sandwiches from the loacl shop or eating in the school canteen. I have also had a touch of gout in my heel - gout is the bain of my life and although medication prevents the majority of really bad attacks that I used to get, I still get small attacks which really limit my mobility. The 7 minute walk from the station to work has been taking me twice that as I have struggled to walk properly. This has also meant that I haven't exercised this week.

Yesterday I knew I had lots of points left for the day plus I had 14 points banked and so I thought I would buy myself a packet of skittles which are my favourite sweets. It has been known for me to eat a family size packet in one go! This time I just got the individual packet and three-quarters of the way through I realsied that I wasn't really enjoying them anymore and so I THREW THE REST AWAY!!!!