Well, I'm finally there - it seems like such a long time ago now that I dropped into the 14s and now I am 13st 13.5lbs - I am soooooo thrilled. That's 4lbs off this week. I'm just 1/2lb away from losing 3 1/2 stones and my 20% and 1lb away from being halfway to target. I'm hoping to do both by next Saturday's weigh in.

It's been a good week, on Thursday I went clothes shopping and except for Next, where I had to buy a size 20, all the clothes I got were size 18 and one top from Evans, which was a size 16! It was the first time in a very long time that I shopped in "normal" shops and I was so happy. The days of being a size 26 seem to be a long way away now.

Hope you all have a great weekend xx

"The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."

George Bernard Shaw


This quote was delivered into my email inbox by Sparkpeople and it really made me think. I know that I am far too lazy when it comes to doing exercise and I often ignore opportunities to do more. For example, I live 21/2 miles from the train station and, as I commute daily, I get a taxi both ways, which costs me £55 a week!!!

Now, as I already leave home at 6.10 am there is no way I am ever going to walk in the mornings. However, there really is no excuse for me getting a taxi in the evenings. I take 2 trains home and every night when I get on the first one I start an internal conversation with myself which goes something along the lines of "Shall I phone for a taxi when I get to Clapham Junction, or am I going to walk? Well, (says one part of my brain), you are really tired and if you walk it will mean that it will be 13 hours since you left home and then it will be really late to cook and you won't have time to go on the treadmill and you will miss something good on telly." The other part of my brain offers a feeble response and I phone for a taxi. If I don't phone for a taxi from Clapham then I have no option but to walk as the local taxi firm only has 2 cars and they are always busy unless you book in advance.

It also made me think about my personal life - my marriage broke up 5 years ago and until a little while ago I was 100% happy on my own, but over the past few months I have started to feel a little lonely at times. However, I never put myself in a position where I could meet anyone - so now this quote has made me think about how I might rectify that too.

As I said a couple of weeks ago, I am a little bored with WW online. I like counting points, but now that I am on 20 I find I am getting bored with the food choices that I make - it's not even that I'm hungry, I just miss the flexibility that the extra 4 points I started with gave me. So I have been looking around for something else that might suit me better

I signed up at the Biggest Loser UK site but have not found it to be particularly supportive or useful. The best thing about it is that you get to pair up with a buddy, but other than that for the nearly £10 a month, there is little information, advice or help available.

Yesterday however, I came across Sparkpeople This is a free site, but has a huge amount of resources available. I particularly like the ability to be able to track different nutrients and vitamins that you are eating as I have very high blood pressure and so I can keep a real eye on my sodium intake. I love the instructional exercise videos and all of the articles. I think that I will need to browse the different groups that are available until I find one that really suits me, but already people have been very welcoming. The downside is that the site may not have all the foods that I eat in its database. However, it is really quick and easy to add foods to the database and with a large number of Brits on the site already I found quite a lot of foods from British supermarkets etc. So all in all, this site looks really promising.

Well this week started really well and by Tuesday I had already lost 2lbs. However, it all went rapidly down hill from there - not sure why as I didn't really eat anything horrendously bad (well until Friday night at least), but every day I was 3 or 4 points over just because I had silly things. As an example, it was a friends birthday at work and she brought in Jelly Babies and without thinking as we sat and chatted at lunchtime I ate at least 10 of them! On Friday I went out for a meal and didn't even consider the amount of points or calories in my choice :( So, on Saturday at my 20th weigh in, I stayed the same and was hughly relieved at that.

Since then I have been angelic :)

I got on the scales this morning and for the first time in almost 20 years, I weighed in at less than 200lbs. OMG, I was so excited. I KNOW that I'm really going to do it this time xx

Whilst I know the WW diet plan really works, I've got a bit bored with counting points so I've just joined the Biggest Loser site I'm hoping that it will inspire me. You can pair up with a buddy and become a team. My Buddy is called Beverley and I'm really looking forward to working with her. The forum seems very friendly, although possible not as busy as the 5+ board, but I don't mind that. You can also add friends and exchange private messages so it looks good.

I have no idea how it happened, but I lost 3lbs this week, so that makes over 3 stones gone!! I'm really delighted and it's just the spur I needed to get me back in the mood for dieting properly. Plus, I think all the family events are over for a little while, so it should be easier now than it has been over the past couple of weeks

Oh my, having taken a few days off due to the celebrations and then excitement of my grandaughter's birth, plus my birthday, I just don't seem to be able to get back on track. I really need my hand held and some help!

I really, really don't want to mess up big time after all the effort I've already put in.

I went shopping today and I can't believe that I brought size 18 tops from Evans. I know that their clothes come up quite big, but I used to be a size 26 at Evans so I am so excited.

It is a real spur for me to make sure that I get straight back on the dieting wagon after my not so great week.

This week I put on a well deserved 1/2lb - in fact, I can't believe that I have only put that on.