We all do it don’t we…after the excesses of Christmas and a week or so of sprawling on the sofa watching TV and countless boxed sets we tell ourselves that from January we are going to stop eating rubbish and get off our ever-expanding backsides, dig out the trainers and maybe join a gym, buy a shed load of fitness DVD’s  or simply go for a walk. It’s a sure bet that there will be a queue snaking out of the local slimming clubs come early January and that copies of slimming magazines find their way into many a shopping trolley. I wonder how many mince pies, half eaten Christmas cakes or unopened boxes of chocolates are binned or better still, given to a neighbour? Do supermarkets need to stock more “low-fat” “healthy” “diet” “sugar-free” ranges  than normal to meet demand? Probably. And I wonder how many of us who made a resolution at the start of the year to go on a diet, lose a whole load of weight and become fit, find that by February they have failed? Don’t you think that the depth of winter is really the silliest time to decide to eat little and become active? When it’s cold we usually turn to stodge as it’s comforting, and who in their right mind would rather miss an episode of Broadchurch curled up on the sofa in a warm house and pop off to a gym instead? Surely a healthy eating and fitness campaign started in April or May would make better sense!

Am I doomed to failure if I said that I too have joined the bandwagon? Well, normally I would say yes, and that by January 5th or 6th I would give into the call of the biscuit tin at work, start to seek out the odd chocolate bar and slip back into my old  bad ways. Ultimately I would fail and then vow to start again soon and the trouble is, soon never happens.

It’s horrible to be like this (this isn’t me by the way, that would be a step too far!)

But it would be great to look like this, but now I’m just being silly! I’m 55 for goodness sake!

So what’s different this year? Am I writing this blog as I did last year vowing to lose weight in vain ? I certainly hope not. After a year of a bit of a health blip, I’ve come to realise that a rather annoying and painful condition could have been caused by being overweight and if it wasn’t the cause, it certainly didn’t help. Thankfully, things in that department are on the up and I now feel able to tackle my weight without the poorly leg issue getting in the way. I’m at that time in life when being heavy and unfit isn’t just about not looking good but that my health could, and probably will, in time be seriously affected. I would be fibbing big time if I said that I didn’t mind how I looked. I hate being fat. I don’t buy clothes because I don’t feel worthy of buying nice things. What’s the point! When I got married two years ago, I thought the only thing that spoilt my day was me! How sad is that!

Me a few years ago after losing 4st at Slimming World. See, I can do it!

But it all piled back on. Even getting married wasn’t a good enough incentive to lose weight. Something I really regret.

So…time to stop moaning and feeling sorry for myself, get off my fat backside and do something about it! I’m so motivated right now and my mindset is in the right place. I have a plan, but I have no goal. I don’t want to set myself weight loss targets, as that’s what you do when you diet. I am not dieting but making healthy changes to what I stick in my mouth and I know that I need to get moving more.

Anyway. enough for now. Tomorrow I will tell you about my plan. I think that it’s rather a good one and I’m just a little excited about it.

Until tomorrow

Brigitte xx

and pop off to the gym

gym!