BEGINNINGS . . .

So the main reason I'm trying this is because I feel like if I commit my goals to the internet, then perhaps I might actually have the motivation to lose something.

Some background info: I'm 28 (29 in less than a month - eek!) and I usually blog over here. About seven years ago I weighed just under ten and a half stone (approximately 145 pounds) and I managed by some miracle to get down to just under eight (about 110 pounds). The first 20 pounds or so was diet and sheer force of will, the next five or so was more down to working in a shop where I never stopped moving about, and the last few pounds was down to me getting a little depressed and not being able to eat.

I probably stayed at the eight stone mark for a few months and then gradually the weight has crept on me again . . . first to eight and a half stone when I first moved out of my parents, then to nine as the years went by and my willpower dwindled. It's hovered at nine for a few years now, making the occasional plunge downwards by several pounds on the few occasions when I've lost my appetite - which is virtually only ever down to me being dumped, weirdly enough! Over the last couple of months its started to creep up further now and I'm getting closer and closer to the nine and a half stone mark.

I realise this isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things. When I say I'm going to go on a diet people tend to look at me like I'm mental. But let's face it, dieting is a personal thing. A person who is heavier than me may have nine and a half stone as the goal they are slimming down to . . . but for my body, this is heavy. I'm barely five foot three and small boned. I should be at the lower end of the weight scale for my height, not getting rapidly closer to the higher end. The fact of the matter is that I am not comfortable in my own body. I don't want my favourite clothes to be too tight on me. I want to be able to walk down a beach in Fuerteventura next month feeling confident in my bikini. And the way things are going at the moment with the weight creeping back on, I need to do something about it before I end up back where I started.

So my goal is to get back down to the weight I think is ideal for me. This is the weight I was before I got depressed and lost my appetite first time around . . . eight stone three pounds. I am realistic enough to realise I'm not going to manage that for my holiday - five weeks to lose over a stone is probably not do-able unless I crash diet . . . and I don't really want to do that, I have no desire to put the weight back on and then some.

I'm not going to cut carbs, or do some faddy thing that I can't stick to. I'm just going to limit my calories and fat intake, try not to drink as much booze, and exercise. This is what worked for me first time around and I'm hoping it can work for me again. Only time will tell, I guess . . .