Here is a picture of Taylor-Ann, my son Chris (her daddy) and me. Taylor was born at 17.54 yesterday and weighed in at a hefty 9lbs 3lbs. She is absolutely gorgeous and I am sooooo excited and proud.

The problem is that last night I went out to celebrate and had a Chinese. Today we left the hospital late and ended up eating out again and then on Saturday I am going out to Pizza Hut, Sunday I am having a BBQ for my 48th birthday party and then on Monday, which is my actual birthday, my family and I are going out for yet another meal :(

Think I'm going to enjoy the next few days, whilst trying to limit the damage as far as possible and then restart the diet agin on Tuesday. In the broad scheme of things, a few pounds gained this weekend will soon come off again and I will have lots of nice memories to look back on.

These trousers are a pair I got from Tesco just before I started the diet. They were not tight on me, but they did fit properly and were not loose.
As a comparisson, the picture of me in the blue Tshirt was taken at the end of February.

ummh - I've become obsessed with my fingers!! All of a sudden my dumpy sausage like digits are starting to become bony. I keep looking at them OMG, what a sad person I really am lol

My lodger has a little boy, who is 5 years old. He is a smashing little boy and I like him a lot. I had a new treadmill delievered last week, but it was damaged and the replacement arrived yesterday. So last night was the first time I have used it. Dylan, the 5 year old, watched me for a while and then said. "Jackie, are you doing that because you want to get thinner, because you are quite fat you know" I didn't know whether to laugh or throttle him - I settled on laughing, because let's face it, despite all that I have lost, there is still a bloody long way to go and at least he stopped me from being complacent!

I can't believe it's been 16 weeks! When I weighed in this morning I had lost 1/2 a pound. I was really happy with that because I had put on 2 1/2lbs between Saturday and Tuesday of this week. I've been really strict since then to try and minimise the damage and yesterday I still thought I would be looking at my first gain, or STS at the best. So this morning was a real celebration.

I had an eureeka moment today. I know that 40lbs in 16 weeks is a really good weight loss and that I have gone from a size 26 to 20, but it hadn't really registered if you know what I mean. And then this morning, I posted my WI result onto the 5+ and 3+ boards and someone said "OMG 40 pounds in 16 weeks - that's amazing" and for the first time, seeing someone elses reaction to it, I got really excited and proud about how I am doing. I know now that I can lose all of the flab and that it doesn't matter how long it takes, because I will get there.

Thanks to all of you for your encouragement. It means such a lot xx

Bugger! Today was my daughter's 30th birthday. She had a party on Saturday and then tonight we had all the family over. I was STARVING by the time we ate and I really pigged out. I'm at least 7 points over for the day and that is probably a very conservative estimate. This follows too many points on Saturday and not that great a day yesterday. Ummh I see 4 days of being on only 18 points to make up for it all. Drats :)

I wanted to have something to slim into as an incentive. So yesterday I got myself a pair of size 18 jeans. I tried them on and I can do them up and sit down in them. They give me a big muffin top so they don't fit properly, but the last time I could get into an 18, let alone do them, up was 25
years ago when I was in my early 20s!! It's mad to think that 15 weeks ago I was a size 26 and now I am a small 20.

Just found this site http://weight-watchers-points-recipes.blogspot.com Because it's an American site the points will need adjusting, but it's good to have some new recipies to look at. She posts recipes on Twitter too http://twitter.com/GinasWWrecipes

Ummh, well I had a good night, but actually was very proud of myself as I didn't go mad. I had a few vodkas and some BBQ, but didn't stuff myself silly and didn't drink so much that I got a hangover. However, I do wish I had gone to bed before 4am. I got up at 10 to go for a walk, but I'm ready to go back to bed now. Old age could well be catching up on me lol

I can't believe I am at wk 15 of this and still going - I've NEVER got beyond 12 weeks before and usually by then I am cheating more than actually losing weight. This week I have lost 1.5lbs.

Tonight it's my daughter's 30th birthday party and I had planned to have a very quiet night - no alcohol (I don't drink very often) and only chicken and salad (she's doing a BBQ) but actuly, during the day today I have decided to eat and drink what ever I want. I will have a whole week to make up the extra points and it's not like I go to a party every week lol.

I'm looking forward to a good night

I'm doing it again - just when I get to a point where it is all working beautifully and I'm execrcising and making good food choices, a little voice in my head says "Stuff it, just have.... or just don't worry about the exercise today". It's self-sabotage! I really need to work out why my brain thinks there are more advantages in staying fat than in losing it all.

I know I use the fat to hide behind sometimes. I'm quite shy and not always comfortable in social situations and I like the cloak of invisibility fat can shroud you in. I also know that when I lost weight last time and got down to just a bit above what I am now, I didn't know how to respond to people as they started to treat me differently, but this time I thought I had sussed that out.

I'm SO CROSS with myself uuggghhhhh!!!!!!!!

I lost 3.5lbs this week - which I was really happy about. I've passed my 15%, gained another silver 7 and achieved my Easter target all in one week. I am a very happy bunny

Jackie xx

Yesterday I went to Painshill park with my son and his heavily pregnant girlfriend, Charlie, (she is due on April 21st) and one of my son's friends, Rob, who is like another one of my kids. It was pouring down with rain, but we had a great time - I was hoping that all the walking would start of Charlie's labour, but no such luck :) I would REALLY like her to have the baby before the 20th as that is when I go back to work - selfish, I know lol.

My family are being really supportive in my attempts to walk most days and I often find that one of them decides to come with me. It is a great way of spending time with them as well as getting fit.

Tuesday 7th April - had a really, really lazy day and only walked 1500 steps, so nothing worth adding to the total :(

Wednesday 8th April - 2 miles to add to the total today - didn't manage to get out and about. I have a lodger moving in on Friday and so spent the day sorting out cupboards etc so there is room for his stuff. Luckily the lodger is a family friend and we all know each other well, but my daughters and I think it might take a bit of getting used to having another adult living in our home with us.

Total miles covered on the challenge = 29.36 miles

Thursday 9th April - 18000 steps today, which was 6.5 miles so my total is now 35.86 miles

Friday 10th April - so far today I have walked 13924 steps or 5.05 miles. Hopefully by the end of the day the total will be a fair amount higher.

Total miles covered on the challenge = 40.91 miles - only 29 to go

Over the past two days I have walked over 12 miles and I have seen some really beautiful things. On Sunday at Painshill Park I saw the first spring chicks, fluffy balls of yellow and brown - not sure what variety of birds they were, but I think they were some type of geese. I was also very excited to see a beautiful pheasant, I had forgotten just how metalic looking they are. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a photo that does it justice.

Today I went to Wisley Gardens I haven't been there for years and I loved it. My favourite part of my walk was going through the woods, where all of the magnolias and camillias were in bloom. The perfume of the flowers was so wonderful and I could have spent the whole day there. I also really liked the Moore sculpture, which was placed at the top of a small hill and the shape of it suggested an archway inviting all the visitors to walk through it.

I sat for a while on a bench facing the river Wey surrounded by pine trees and listening to the sounds of the water and crickets. I love times like that spent on my own when I can just sit and contemplate my life or just immerse myself in the surroundings.

As I walked around and saw the butterflys dancing in the sunlight and looking at all of the flowers it was good to realise that spring really is here.

My day was just perfect.

See todays photos here: Wisley Gardens

So far I've walked 27.36 miles on my virtual walk between Bath and Reading - I sincerely wish that the actual walking was virtual too lol!

I'm really happy with this week's result. I lost 2.5lbs which takes me down to 14st 13.5lbs - I haven't been less than 15 stone something since 1993! I have only 1/2lb to go until I have lost 2 1/2 stones, which is brilliant. I can also start to plan which bead I am going to get next for my bracelet, although of course I won't buy it until I have actually lost that last bit.

Bring on next week x

On Thursday I got a copy of the book "Smartgirls do dumbells" and a set of 3 different sized dumbells (these ones) - to be honest, I don't like the book that much as I think the photos are not that clear, but I'm LOVING using the dumbells. It makes me feel as though I really am exercising.

I also ordered a treadmill today. I do so much jogging using the wii fit, but it would be good to know how many calories I was using etc. Also, my wii fit isin my bedroom and so it gets a little boring, but if I have the treadmill in the living room I can use it watching tv or with one of the music channels on. I can't wait for it to be delivered. :)

So far I'm at about 15 miles. Not that great, but I will do loads of walking over the next few days, so the miles should soon rack up (hopefully!)

So far today I have managed to walk 4.5 miles (12000+ steps). That's 10% of the journey done. To be truthful I could have walked more today as I had intended to walk home from the station, which is 2.5 miles, but I was bone tired and so instead I did 20 mins of free jogging on the wii fit. I'm feeling really good about the dieting again and hopefully by my birthday on the 4th May I want to be under 14st 7lbs.