Absolutely, knowing I am going to be writing down everything that I eat / drink, AND knowing that I am going to be weighed each week means I am going to have to stick to my goal. Not that I am complaining you understand, but if you are not kept accountable or if you don't have a proper timeline to work towards it can be sooo easy to slack off, you know - "i'll just have a day off and then I'll get back on track" well for me that has never worked in the past - i've ended up back where I started and then some. And it's always so much harder to start again when you know you've made a stuff up in the past.

How much did you eat over the Christmas period? You do realise that I am just going to have to work you even harder when you get back to the gym don't you :-) Seriously, if you want to make a life long commitment to yourself and your good health and weight loss program, you are going to have to eating and drinking in moderation, and increasing your exercise - otherwise you will plateau. And we don't want that now do we!

If you would like to make a commitment to a new year's resolution to a new you - then now really is the time to do it.

I must admit to having put on a couple of kilos over Christmas, don't know how really - didn't buy very much different from my normal weekly shopping - and I must have tripled the exercise I did during the break, so can only put it down to the booze... I know booze is laden with calories but goodness me I didn't realise by just how much. Anyway, according to my scales (not Hils - always weigh in at night) I am down 4.5 kilos since Christmas. I have kept up and in fact increased my exercise during Jan and Feb, but I have also cut down on both alcohol and food. I chase the protein first, then go for the salad and veggies and if I need anything after that, then maybe some carbs. I've cut out fruit again completely and my all time favourite - yoghurt - it's had to go during this phase of the diet. I've also upped the vitamins and green tea... Something has got to work :-)

Update, update - I am now officially back into my size 14's ... well not all of them you understand, but enough for me to retire all my size 16 business cut skirts, my fitted shirts are no longer fitted and I would like to retire those too, but the size smaller ones are still a little gapey over the boobs... think they've grown a bit :-/ not sure if that's a good or a bad thing you understand. Now into week 11 of the diet, and down (on my scales) by 8 kilos - but the last 2 weeks I've been "crook"... to be honest I don't think I've been eating enough and what I am eating is moving through my body at a rapid pace of knots (sorry for those who didn't need to know that)... but keeping up with the fluid when I'm feeling sick all the time is a bit of a problem, so have also been experiencing cramps and headaches. Anyway, will try and correct that over the next week or so - and yes, then I am going to have a couple of days off the diet. Hopefully feel well enough to exercise because I've not done very much - and then start the push to drop the last 8 or so kilos.

And people have started to notice, which is absolutely fantastic - mind you when you can get into and wear bright reds and oranges where before you wallowed in basic black I suppose it is a little OBVIOUS something has changed.

Hope you are all keeping up with your health changes, diets and exercise plans. It's quite exciting seeing the changes finally happen.

Cheers

Elle