Thank you so much to all of the lovely people who read my post yesterday and tweeted me with words of support and encouragement. I have to say that I was really touched and ended the day positively buzzing with excitement. My blog isnt read by many, which is entirely my fault as I do tend to leave long gaps in time between writing one post and another and yesterday the stats showed that over a hundred people viewed it. Now that may not sound much, but to me that had me jumping up and down with utter joy.

In yesterdays blog I failed to mention how I was hoping to shed a whopping five stone of weight. That’s a whole lot of pounds to lose and as I want to go down the slow but steady route to get to my goal I’m ideally giving myself around fourteen months to reach my target. That’s a long way off in the future, so I’m aiming for small bite sized goals as well, just so that the long journey isn’t so daunting. Everyone needs rewarding now and again. A manicure, outing, or best of all…a dress in a smaller size. So reach a goal, get a reward…simples!

You may have noticed that I haven’t used the word “diet”. That’s because I feel that diets are doomed to fail, especially those that are too perscriptive or faddy. What I aim to do is make changes for the better in my life style. Small changes that can make a big difference. I don’t intend to ban anything, but my mantra will be in moderation, in moderation, in moderation!

So, what do I plan to do from now on? What are those changes going to be? What stategies will I use to stay on the straight and narrow?

This is my plan. Here goes….

1. Keep a food diary

2. Make sure I eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day

3. Change the size of my plate. Our current dinner plates are the size of a dustbin lid!

4. Swap white foods for brown.ie rice, pasta, bread

5. Eat a healthy snack between meals instead of reaching for the biscuit tin or crisp packet

6. Drink more water and keep hydrated. Stop making a cup of coffee last half a day!

7.Substitute green tea for coffee a few times a day

8. Always eat breakfast

9.Eat earlier rather than at our usual 9pm

10.Still eat the occasional biscuit, cake etc, but make it a treat rather than the norm

11.Keep moving. Walk to work unless there’s a hurricane, blizzard or I’ve overslept!

12. Carry on enjoying my food. Savour every mouthful. Remember less is more!

I really believe that being supported and supporting others when trying to lose the pounds is crucial. The likes of Slimming World and Weight Watchers work for many because their members support and motivate each other.Getting to a club is difficult for me as I don’t have a car at the moment (a great reason for having to walk more) and I’m not too keen to follow a plan that pushes you to buy their products. I’ve joined the Hairy Bikers Diet Club ( http://www.hairybikersdietclub.com ) because I like the idea of the forums, the tools available, lots of scrummy recipes and because I rather like the Hairy Bikers themselves!

The best support of all though comes from those nearest to me who are my friends and family. Social media comes into its own when you need a little motivating and I have fabulous Twitter and Facebook friends who will spur me on, and likewise I will do the same for them. One of my fabulous Twitter friends came up with the very apt hash tag #youcandoit when tweeting about losing a few pounds. A great idea and maybe one that will help others feel supported within the Twitter community.

So, that’s about it for now, but there is one more thing that I’m going to divulge. I showed you my god awful photo yesterday, so I may as well go the whole hog and in for a penny in for a pound and tell you that I am starting out as a whopping 14st 10lbs. I am only 5ft tall so you can work out for yourself that that is way too much. I am a size 18 to 20 which means that trying to buy clothes to fit this short arse is almost impossible.

Time to go and prepare my supper so Ill say toodleoo and hope you tune in again soon. xx