Five truths about eating that will help you be successful at losing weight

I've posted about losing weight in the past but suffice to say that the last year has not gone well for me. One thing threw me off track and it took me a very very long time to get my frame of mind back in the right place. But it is now, and a change of gym with the associated changes in routine that has created can only be a good thing and I feel I'm heading in the right direction. For me, I have gone back to basics and do things that I know work.

There are a lot of column inches written in newspapers and online about diets that is complete and utter baloney. So, today, I thought I would write down a few things I have learned over time that help me be successful and stay successful. I'm not promising diet miracles, but develop these as good habits and you will be on the way to success. And it takes time to develop good habits - at least 3 weeks.

1. Exercise alone will not help you lose weight if your diet is not right.

Ask any personal trainer, and they will tell you that you can never outrun or outpump your mouth. You can't hope to lose weight if your diet is not right, partly because exercising makes you hungry, which makes you eat more. Unless you are planning to exercise all day every day, and let's face it, who has time to do that unless you are an elite athlete? Pay closer attention to what you are eating, combine with exercise and you'll be much more successful.

Talking of which....

2. Tracking what you eat really helps you cut down.

However you do it, writing down everything you eat is a sobering experience. When it's written down in black and white, it will look a lot. Add in the calories and you have a powerful tool on your hands. Before smartphones, I used to sit there working it all out. Now, I use a site called My Fitness Pal to track it all as it has a lot of common foods in and you can add your own. It tells me how many calories I can have to achieve the progress I want and I can add exercise in to give me more calories to eat. I can add foods I've eaten from my smartphone, my iPad and my laptop so I can add it quickly anywhere. It's tough at first (see below) but after a while, it becomes a habit. It means weighing some things but that's not a bad thing. The minute you stop weighing and guessing portion sizes, you automatically eat more. Weigh and record. It's the way to go.

3. You will feel hungry. At first. 

You're trying to change habits, eat healthier, lose weight. Change is not always easy. Particularly if you are eating fewer calories, your body is used to getting more so you will, at first, feel hungry as your body demands the calories it's used to. But do not fear, this is not your life for evermore. If you tough it out for a week or two, sticking to roughly the same calorie level on most days, you'll suddenly find that you're not quite so hungry after all and that you are happily living on fewer calories. It's the initial hump you have to get over. The answer is to accept you will feel hungry, but also make sure you're drinking enough water - our brains can sometimes mistake thirst for hunger. And some very low calorie snack ideas if it becomes too much.

This fact is one of the reasons that the 5:2 diet doesn't work for me -  I never quite get over the hunger of the "fast days" and really, it's miserable being very hungry a whole day at a time. I managed for the first couple of weeks but then I started to dread fast days.

Which leads me to:

4. Learn what foods help to keep you filled up for longer.

There are a few types of food that do work to keep you feeling sated and warding off the hunger pangs which is useful in the early days in particular.

They are:

- protein, particularly lean ones (so lean meats, fish, low fat dairy, beans and pulses, etc)

- fibre (so beans, wholemeal bread or anything wholemeal, vegetables)

- soup of any sort; apparently the same meal pureed into soup stays in your stomach longer than the individual ingredients eaten as usual.

Out of that, you might be able to spot that things like beans on wholemeal toast, any soup with meat and beans, and a nice bowl of porridge are all good for hungry tummies and usually, quite diet friendly.

And finally...

5. Don't starve yourself totally.

You still need to eat enough, so your body gets nutrients and your metabolism stays as close to its current level as possible. If you go on one of these very low calorie diets, your body will adapt so that your metabolism drops (by losing muscle, which burns calories even when you're sleeping), so you need fewer calories and your weight loss slows down - and worse, if you go back to eating normally, you'll regain the weight quicker than you lost it in the first place.

It's also worth noting that if you have a few really strict days, the odd day off is not such a bad thing as it tricks the body into keeping your metabolism the same as before. Bodybuilders, on very strict diets pre competition to lose as much fat from their body as possible, still have one totally unrestricted treat meal each week.

Diets that promise massive weight loss in a short space of time are diets that should make you very suspicious. After an initial drop, you should really aim to lose no more than 1lb of fat per week, maybe two at a push. I've got MyFitnessPal set up to tell me what I need to eat to lose a pound a week. Anymore is just depressing.

Dieting is not all about eating certain foods in a particular order or whatever fad is in this week, it's about eating healthily in a way that you can sustain for a long time because, unless you are just losing a pound or two, it's for the long haul.

(This includes a personal recommendation for My Fitness Pal. I have not been paid for this post - I just think it's a fab tool.)

Can ready meals be healthy, and tasty?

Stock photo supplied by Sainsbury's

I will admit, I don't do ready meals. It's an expensive way of eating for families when you are on a budget too, especially when you have a child that eats like a horse and always wants more. (Step forward, Monkey.) And you know me, I enjoy cooking things now. Yes, I used to eat them when I lived alone - I know well the feeling that cooking for one doesn't seem worth it.

Of course, the time that ready meals can come into their own is when you're on a diet because they are a standard unit and you know how many calories are in that little tray. Healthy ready meals have got better over the years - I swear the first ones were scientifically designed to remove the flavour along with the fat, sugar and salt.

Sainsbury's contacted me and asked me if I'd like to try some of their Be Good To Yourself ready meals. They have put a lot of winter dishes into the range that they discovered people turn to in the winter months for comfort food, like shepherd's pie (preferred by older people), lasagne (top choice for 18-35 year olds) and curry, that are often perceived to be calorific.

I say "we" but this task was delegated to my husband. He volunteered to try them out as they were convenient for him to take to work and have for his lunch, now that he is working days and is subsequently always out at lunchtimes. We bought two of the larger dishes which cost £3 or are 2 for £5 and 3 of the smaller dishes, which cost £2 and are currently 3 for £5. All have a calorie count of between 300 and 400 calories.

The dishes we tried were:

- Chicken Jambalaya
- Chicken Chow Mein (these were the larger dishes )
- Shepherds Pie
- Beef Lasagne
- Chicken and Mushroom Pie

Of the dishes, the chow mein was his favourite. The bigger dishes were a hit anyway, and they were more filling for him. The jambalaya was just on the right side of being too spicy, which I suspect means I would have enjoyed as I can take more heat than him, but was

He was a little more disappointed in the smaller dishes. What he didn't tell me was that he is not really a huge fan of ready made shepherd's pie and although he thought it was a perfectly fine example, he didn't really like it and found it "processed". The chicken and mushroom pie threw him slightly as he didn't realise that the pie didn't have pastry (it's potato topped, much like a shepherd's pie) but all the same, he preferred it. And the lasagne? That was deemed "OK"; tasted nice but a bit watery, although he microwaved and felt it might be less watery if he had cooked it in an oven.

Our overall verdict, then, were that they were a mixed bag but that the bigger dish ones were better to eat. The cost of those when bought as a multibuy means that one ready meal would cost £2.50 which is comparable to buying sandwiches and so forth. This makes them a viable person for an office worker who have access to a microwave oven and is trying to watch their weight. The range is substantially wider than I have mentioned - you can see all the dishes here. There are several veggie options there, in case you're wondering. Something for everyone in other words, although we have not tried the other meals.

Back to the question in the title of this post- can ready meals be healthy and tasty? My answer is a qualified yes. There are some nice ones, but there will possibly always be some dishes that will always be nicer made from scratch.

(Sainsbury's kindly supplied gift cards to allow me to buy the dishes named above to try and review them. I have not received any other compensation, I have not been told what to write and all opinions are words are mine - or my husband's!)

My Fitness Story... - Dave

This week's story is a bit different. I put out a general plea on twitter last week for more posts and Dave got in touch. He outlined the nature of his story and I was intrigued. I wasn't disappointed when Dave emailed me this post. Y'see, Dave had a serious problem with an addiction - to crisps. In his post, he tells how giving them up changed his approach to healthy living. Over now to Dave...

My Fitness Story... - The story so far, and a plea for more posts

I'm writing this late in the evening when for the first time, I've had to admit defeat. This week, I have no lovely guest post to share with you. I'm quite sad about that because until now, I've always managed to convince someone to tell their story.

If truth be known, I didn't know if it would last more than a few weeks so to get this far is fairly impressive. I've had 23 posts so far and they've ranged from light-hearted to deadly serious, those making small changes to those transforming their lives and coming back from the brink. We've had life-saving surgery and
gastric band surgery - which, let it be said, is by no means the easy option for losing weight.
I admire the bravery of those who have chosen to tell a story of which others might not approve. The determination of those overcoming serious illness to become fit and healthy people again, and those who have had large amounts of weight to lose and achieved it.

My Fitness Story... - Sarah

My guest poster today is Sarah, who blogs at The World According to Sog. Since the start of 2011, Sarah has lost an incredible 50lb, or around 3.5 stone if you think in those terms and so today, Sarah is telling her story of how she lost her baby weight and reached her goal. Sarah has chosen to call this post...

Inspired to run

Ever since I gave birth to my daughter in 2007 I've been trying to lose the "baby weight" I gained while pregnant. My motivation received a kickstart after my son (then age 3) told me very innocently that I was fat. I started going to aerobics with a friend once a week, and 6 months after that I began a weekly circuit training class. I began to tone up in my arms and my stamina increased slightly, but I never lost any weight because I wasn't dieting and I was drinking a lot of alcohol too.

Around September 2010, I got hooked on The Biggest Loser. It's a TV show from the USA where very obese individuals are given the chance to turn their lives around, with professionals overseeing intensive exercise routines and giving excellent nutritional advice. I was inspired: seeing these people who could hardly walk become lean, fit, and diet-aware individuals was amazing. I was determined to make changes to my lifestyle and finally shift my excess weight. "If they can do it, so can I!"

A friend suggested I join the local running club. I was hesitant and postponed joining for several months. I "didn't think I could run", although actually I was kidding myself (I had run years previously and loved it). I worked freelance in the evenings so didn't think I could spare the time. Then, it was "too cold"! I was just scared of failure.

So, with New Year approaching I made my resolutions: to join the local running club and go every week; and to eat healthily. (I might as well make the pain of running count by dieting properly!). I weighed myself and was ashamed that I was over 13 stone, with a BMI that put me in the obese range.

My first ever run was 2.5 miles, a mix of 5 min running and 1 min walking. I was elated! The diet kicked in too: I cut out bread, cheese, alcohol, chocolate, and unhealthy snacks. That first week I lost 7 lb!

By the end of January, I was running (with short 1 min walks every 10 min) twice a week, just a couple of miles each time. The weight loss was continuing well, giving me much needed visual reward for my hard work: I was seeing losses of 2-4 lb every week. Finally, my resolutions were working!

By March, I had lost 21 lb and was running four times a week, distances of 3-5 miles (still with a walk every now and then). I felt confident in my body and with my abilities, so I made a big decision: I entered a 10K race! It was tough, and I admit now, I was terrified. But, I completed the race in under an hour and I was so pleased (and relieved!). I'd run 6.6 miles with no walking breaks and achieved a time I could only have dreamt of in January.

Where am I now? With respect to my weight, I've lost 50 lb and reached my goal (under 10 stone with a BMI in the healthy range). I'm very aware of what I eat, I try to keep portion sizes small and avoid eating carbohydrates such as pasta or potato in the evening. I do drink alcohol, but very infrequently, and I sometimes eat bread (although not too much).

And, I'm still running four times a week; I usually run 4-5 miles with the local club and then go for one long run (7-9 miles currently) on my own at the weekend. You see, I'm in training for another race: a half marathon at the end of August! I think I might be addicted to running!

Thanks go to Sarah for contributing to My Fitness Story... this week. It's certainly an amazing tale and demonstrates what can be achieved in a relatively short time. I'm glad that she has found the thing that works for her - running is not for everyone but finding the regime - whether it is exercise or diet - that works for you and your lifestyle - seems to be the key factor in success. There seems, to me anyway, little point in enduring a diet that doesn't work for your lifestyle and that you don't enjoy - because it's not sustainable in the longer term and you're more likely to go back to old habits. 

Feel free to share experiences, as always, in the comments below. My guest posters really do appreciate the messages of support they get from readers.

If you would like to share your fitness story, then please contact me on Twitter or email me on the address on the About Me page. All contributions are really appreciated so do get in touch, even if you feel yours is not a worthwhile story. If it's a personal experience, it is. I am particularly short of posts at the moment. Do please join in - or ask your friends if you know someone has a story to tell, even if they don't blog.

Thanks for supporting My Fitness Story... and do come back for another guest post next week.

My Fitness Story - Laura S

Hello and welcome back to My Fitness Story... , my weekly guest post slot where people share their stories about fitness, diet, weight gain, and weight loss. This week's story is about the last of those - but it's not just about one person's battle with weight loss, it's about two people. Laura, who blogs at cakeandteablog, has agreed to tell the story of how both her and her husband lost weight (over 15 stone between them), their slide back down the slippery slope when a baby came into their lives (when doesn't it?) and how they have overcome it by fitting a healthy lifestyle around a baby. It's a really inspiring story, so please do settle down to have a good read as Laura takes up the tale.

David and I met in 2001, when I was 18 and he was 21. We were both morbidly obese, and had been heavy right through our childhoods. Through the next few years, we talked a lot about losing weight. We started diets for a couple of weeks at a time before getting bored and even had a couple of lapsed gym memberships. But nothing ever really stuck- life got in the way, motivation faltered, and somehow we just couldn’t get the momentum going to make any real lasting changes.

We got engaged in 2005, and set a date for our wedding in 2008. Finally, in August 2007, something clicked. With just under a year to go until our wedding, we both joined a gym. Coincidentally, our jobs were both changing around the same time. David was a salesman, on the road every day and living on junk food from service stations, but he was becoming more office based. I was leaving my prestigious, high pressure graduate training scheme which had me staying in random hotels for weeks on end, to work locally in a job with much more sensible hours. Suddenly, we had the time and the motivation to really do something.

This is us the month before we started out:

Looking back, I think it’s fair to say that we were both blinkered to how big we actually were. I was a dress size 26, David was struggling with size XXXL. We had fooled ourselves for a long time that everything was fine. It wasn’t.

We started slowly at the gym, beginning with some gentle cardio sessions, and upping the intensity gradually. David found the weight fell off him to start with, I found it came off slowly and steadily, which was frustrating because it felt like I was lagging behind! But the more we did it, the more it became part of our routine. We didn’t do anything special with our diet to begin with, we just started making healthier choices, and these eventually became normal for us.

By the time our wedding came around, I had lost 4 stone and David had lost 6. We looked and felt like different people. And when we got back home, we kept going. We started to do WeightWatchers online, which gave our weight loss a boost, and we looked for new fitness challenges to keep us interested, and started to run together.

To start with, that little voice in my head that said I would never run. It told me that people as big as me didn’t run. Eventually, I told the voice to shove it. So, here we are the start line of the Silverstone half marathon in March 2009. 18 months after starting to lose weight, I am about 7 stone lighter than the first picture, and David is almost 8 stone lighter.

And this is us in May 2009. Just before I got pregnant, and it all went a bit wrong! This is the lowest weight that either of us have ever achieved (so far!) in our adult lives.

When I got pregnant, very little changed at first. We didn’t change our diets too much, and I kept an eye on my heart rate when I worked out. Then I started making excuses... oh, I’ll just have this one takeaway, this one packet of Maltesers, this bucket of crisps, because I’m pregnant. That had an effect on David, who would help me with said takeaway/Maltesers/crisps. Then, as I eased off the exercise, so did he, because we just weren’t pushing each other anymore. Then it got even worse- I spent the last 2 months of my pregnancy going in and out of hospital with gallstones. I couldn’t really eat anything during that period, but David was stress eating- going back to an empty house with a convenient kebab, and worrying.

Just after I gave birth, I weighed 3 ½ stone more than at my lowest weight, and David had put on about the same. But of course, the last thing you can cope with through the sleeplessness and mayhem is of the newborn period is thinking about diet and exercise- thinking about basic personal hygiene was enough of a challenge! Plus, I had to wait three months to have my gall bladder removed, then it took weeks to recover from surgery enough to exercise.

We each had a few goes at losing weight at different times, but parenthood brought a new set of challenges. Every time we got some momentum up, something would happen, usually teething or a bug, that would disrupt sleep to the point that healthy living went out of the window. And where we’d always taken so much strength from exercising together, we now had to do it separately, so that there was always someone at home looking after the little one. With so much more to juggle, it was just harder.

Finally, we made New Year’s resolutions to start again in 2011. This time, it’s working. I have lost 1st 8lb since 1st January, and have 12lb to go to get to my pre baby weight, then another 2 stone to reach my ideal weight. David has lost 1st 11lb so far, with a stone and a half to go to his target weight. It’s slow, and it’s hard, but we are determined to get to the goals that we didn’t quite reach the first time around!

We make time for exercise - and sometimes that involves planning our evenings with military precision so that we both get to do what we need to. It’s tiring, but we are both happier, more confident, and healthier for it. We have learnt to stop making excuses and make time for ourselves, even when life is hectic. We have learned that losing weight is a long and frustrating process, but success will always come, as long as you never give up. And we have learned that getting fit alone is a hard and lonely battle - we need each other. Even if we can’t exercise together much anymore, the support is still there, and we keep each other going.

We have our son to set an example for now  - and if he has good role models, enjoys a healthy, active lifestyle, and never has to battle with weight like mum and dad, then it’s all been worth it.

Thanks to Laura for telling their fitness story today. Both David and her should be really proud of their achievements, even with their slip ups along the way. They have learned that slip ups happen, but the key is not to let it destroy your progress but to get back into it as soon as possible. As ever, and this is a common theme with the successful dieters who've written for me, they have made their regimes work for them, and found a way to build healthy eating and exercise into the lifestyle they have. I wish Laura - and David - the very best of luck in achieving their ideal weights. I'm sure that will happen very soon. 

As usual, please do comment to show your support or share similar experiences in the comments below. If you would like to share your fitness story, then please contact me on Twitter or email me on the address on the About Me page. Posts can be partly or fully anonymous, or if you are happy to be named, I will link back to your blog. All contributions are really appreciated so do get in touch, even if you feel yours is not a worthwhile story. If it's a personal experience, it is. And I mean that even if you have failed at something, because it is still YOUR fitness story and you learned from it.

Thanks for supporting My Fitness Story... and do come back for another guest post next week.

My Fitness Story... - Garry

Welcome to the My Fitness Story... series, which has now become a regular Thursday feature on this blog. Today's contribution is by Garry AKA Him Up North, who is a good Twitter friend and blogs at The Blog Up North, which is always a fantastic read. Garry also designed the badge for this series as he has the ability I lack in design! I knew he had a fitness story to tell, so I asked him if he would write a post for this series. He took a bit of persuading that his story was worth telling but, as I have said before, this series encompasses the full range of experiences that people have with diet and fitness. The fact that he has a personal experience means he has a story to tell, so he wrote it, and as always, it's a great read. Garry had to lose weight for medical reasons, having never been on a diet in his life so he had to work out how to lose the weight. Here is his story. 

Two years ago, a doctor told me to lose weight. I had a health problem which was being exacerbated by carrying a bit too much timber. “A stone or a stone and a half,” he said.

Okay, I thought. Which limb do I cut off...? Seriously, I was at a complete loss.

I’d never tried to lose weight. I wasn’t a gym type. My story, like many men, was one of gradual middle-age spread (ie my age was spreading to my middle). But my choice was clear. Lose the weight or face surgery and quite possibly pain. Lots of pain.

So I assessed my lifestyle and realised I was doing many things wrong:

• I was eating the wrong things, often at the wrong times. Working shifts meant I was relying on convenience foods (so called because they belong in a convenience) and eating at odd times of the day.
• I was far too sedentary. I drove everywhere, even short journeys such as the school run, and got virtually no exercise. Because my job is a) desk based and b) has no long break that also reduced scope for activity.

As Gandhi would have it, I had to be the change I wanted to see. Pretty obvious, really.

So my plan was a simple one.

My diet became more virtuous. I cut out bread altogether because up to that point, what I ate had been something of a yeast feast. I reduced my calorific intake by cutting out snack foods and sweet things.

It was bloody hard – I was a grazer – and the lure of the biscuit barrel was great. But I had my motivation – threat of pain – and gradually “educated my appetite”. I could eat little without feeling hungry.

My lifestyle became more active. I left the car behind for any trips around town. Much to the kids’ chagrin, we started walking to and from school (which just happens to be up a steep hill – cue much redness and sucking of air in the early days).

Okay, I didn’t take up trampolining or orienteering. But I did start walking just for the exercise; a four and a half mile route with hills and stuff became my workout.

Because my target was a statistical one, I weighed myself regularly. To my astonished delight I found I was actually losing weight. It was slow and gradual. There were times when I lost nothing or actually went back up. I realised my metabolism meant it was a high wire act with very little margin for failure.

But I had my target and I knew my changed habits could work. I was down to my target weight in about ten months. My regime, such as it was, had become normal. By the time I saw my consultant, my weight was no longer a contributing factor and I avoided the surgeon’s scalpel. Phew.

However, with the threat went the motivation. I played fast and loose on that high wire, choosing to dive into the safety net too often (or the crisps stash as it’s known). Some of the weight is back and I’m verging on disliking it all again.

I realise getting fitter and losing weight was and is very much a journey without end. Just a series of signposts. It may be time to embark upon it again.

Many thanks to Garry for telling his story. I'm sure men can end up feeling a bit inadequate when they see magazines like Men's Fitness which show men with bulging six packs (in the right way!) that give the impression that you have to do lots of exercise in order to get and stay fit. It doesn't have to be that way if it's not for you - simple changes that you build into your lifestyle are more effective for many as they are easier to keep doing when they become part of your normal routine. 

Please share any experiences you have in the comments below. Alternatively, if you have a fitness story to tell, then get in touch with me on Twitter or via the email address on the About me page. I will link back to any blog you write if you wish, or you can remain either partly or fully anonymous.

A bit further along the road - still some way to go!

Six months ago, I wrote that I was halfway along the road on my weight loss journey. Being as that was six months since I started, that should mean I'm there by now, right? Right? Wrong! Is that a bad thing? No!

So what happened? I think the answer is that I have a life to lead. By no means have I not made any progress - I can tell that my clothes are looser, or fit better - I even wear a belt on my jeans now to keep them up and the belt doesn't cut in half so much as it used to. But I also know I still have a way to go to reach the goal that I've set myself, which is to be able to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes.

Big chunks of life have got in the way. In November, I went away to a family wedding. And there was Christmas too. Actually, I don't think I did too badly then as I was ill just after and I didn't eat properly for a few days. I overate on Christmas Day but hey, that's what you do on feast days, don't you? And I had a birthday with an amazing 10 course tasting menu experience. I'm not going to begrudge any of that because I enjoyed every minute of those times. And every time, I've got back into healthy eating afterwards.

Something slightly more crucial might have hampered my progress. I stopped being quite so careful about recording my food intake. I find, for me, that it's the best way of keeping things in check. I always used to use Food Focus for this but I've recently discovered My Fitness Pal which is very good, and it has phone apps so I can enter my food intake when out and about. So, for the last few weeks, I've got back into that again and because I find the site easier to use, I'm keeping on top of it again. It really helps to make good food choices too. But before that time, I hadn't regularly kept properly on top of things and it's so easy to have an extra few calories here and there which hamper your attempts to lose weight. And it's the food intake you need to be wary of - it has a much bigger effect on your success than anything other than the most punishing of exercise regimes.

Talking of which, my new exercise regime is probably the thing that has gone really well. In October, we got a family membership to the local sports centre and I started going to classes again. In particular, Body Pump which I really love - perhaps even more than I ever did before - as I noted in my post a few weeks after I started back. I go to 2 or 3 classes of that each week, coupled with maybe the odd Combat class. I've had problems with that class recently, in that I was getting backache afterwards which, on talking to the lovely Wendy, appeared to be related to not engaging my core muscles properly when doing lots of side kicks. So, I've had to ease up and that's made me enjoy Combat much less - which upsets me in a way, because when I exercised before, I loved Combat way more than Body Pump. When I've not felt up to that, I have gone back to my old favourite - an EA Sports Active workout on the Wii. My back's a lot better now, and I'm spending a lot more time working with the core muscles.

I probably need to turn my progress into numbers but I don't weigh myself; I'll perhaps cover why in another post. I always used to measure myself to record my progress. Occasionally, I check key measurements and I know that they still mostly equate to the measurements I took when I was six months pregnant with Monkey. I can't help feeling that's quite shocking - and that maybe, my starting point was further from my goal than I first thought.

My only other way to do this is to compare my picture from August to me today, wearing the same clothes and everything. Here we go...


What do you think? I think I can see a difference and I definitely have more "shape". Editing the photos and putting them side by side may change the proportions too! I am not where I want to be yet, but I'm definitely getting there. There's no going back now. Please comment and tell me what you think - I have a fairly distorted self-image sometimes and find it really hard to make comparisons.

And just to finish off, I'm going to post a pic I snapped with my phone yesterday. I like it because I think I look happy and healthy in it, even if you can't see the difference so much since August because of what I'm wearing. And looking healthy, that is what matters, isn't it? I'm never ever going to be stick thin. Thanks to why my shape has changed, I don't think I will ever wear some tops that I wore pre-pregnancy, but the rest of me can get there. If I have to drag it there kicking and screaming, I will. Expect further updates - at the very most, in another six months.

(I've not been paid to mention any of the sites I've linked to. I've mentioned them because I like them!)