Well the good news is that I am back on the dieting wagon after falling off it a few months ago. I’m eating healthily having cut out the naughty snacks like chocolate and sausage rolls and exercising daily.

At the moment I am only doing around 30 minutes a day most days as we have been spending all out spare time working on the house and I am sure that burns plenty of calories, more so than I usually do sitting around all day on the computer all day any way.

Today’s task is to fit the stainless steel kitchen sinks in the bathroom and kitchen. We took a long time picking out the sinks and faucets we wanted and finally settled on a lovely stainless steel kitchen sink set that fits both our tastes which is pretty rare, it was also a bargain as we picked it up in the sale.

It’s a good day to be stuck inside doing DIY as it’s cold, rainy and windy out there – brrr.

The 30 minutes of exercise I have been doing recently is the Jillian Michael’s 30 day shred, it’s an absolute killer which is why you can get away with only doing 30 minutes. So far I am only on level one (of three) so still have a way to go but so far I am enjoying it and hope to start seeing some benefits soon

In previous years at Christmas I would allow myself some treats and high calorie days and maybe gain a pound or two that would instantly fall back off as soon as I was back on the wagon – I feel sometimes it even helped me lose weight as it gave my body that jolt it sometimes needs.

This year that few days lasted a few weeks instead, I just couldn’t reign myself in – we were given so much chocolate and other goodies by my fiances family – in previous years I had been living at home and surrounded by my own family and friends who know not to go crazy with giving me naughty foods – this year I was surrounded by his family, one of whom actually works at Thorntons and gets a lot of cheap and even free chocolates.

We had 3 large boxes of Thorntons, a tin of Roses, 2 x boxes of After Eights, 3 Cheesecakes, 2 x chocolate logs, Foxes biscuits, after eight santas, tubs of pringles – and that’s not counting all the regular naughty food you have at Christmas like sausage rolls, Indian snacks, meat, gravy, potatoes, cheese etc

I even partook in a little drinking on New Years Eve, something I have not done in around 3 or 4 years. I was quickly reminded why I stopped drinking though, man hangovers suck!

One good thing about it though is that it has focused me again and I am now back to eating well and working out – I have been swimming, on the elliptical and running in the last week, all of which are things I hadn’t done in at least a few months previous to that

We were not planning on going as we can’t afford foreign holidays at the moment, we have not been outside the UK in years as it is so as much as we would love to go for his wedding it wasn’t even really an option. A few days ago we found out that his family (who are clearly quite well off!) are paying for the flights of all the UK guests that have been invited! This is really amazing news and we are so thrilled we will get to go after all.

We’ll definitely need to find Hong Kong hotels for a few night as that’s where the actual wedding is but we figure we may as well take advantage of the flights out there and stay on a little longer – there are several places I would love to be able to visit so we will also no doubt be looking for Xian hotels and Beijing hotels

I can’t wait to sample all the genuine and authentic Chinese food

Did you know that at the moment at Pizza Hut at the moment Kids Eat Free if they are under 12 years old and accompanied by a full paying adult – in terms of cheap ways to treat the kids this half term they don't come much better than that.

A post about Pizza on a weight loss related blog?

A little strange I hear you thinking, but it isn't really – one very important lesson I have learned over the last 3 years that I have been on this journey is that no food should ever be totally off limit and it can actually do you good to eat high calorie foods now and then, both mentally and physically.

Some people call them 'cheat days' but I don't like that term as it still sounds like you are doing something wrong, I prefer to call them 'treat days'. But the body is a clever thing and if you eat low calorie food every day and stick to the same amount it gets used to it and starts to rebel – trick it, shock it and jolt it now and then by enjoying a delicious cheese laden pizza or portion of deep fried and fish and chips and you might even find you lose a little weight.

Some people will do this once a week, I do it maybe once a month and I am due my next treat day next week so I am going to grab my niece who will be on school holiday and take her to Pizza Hut with me. When I order a main course she will get the choice of either a 2 course kids meal including a drink or a kids lunchtime buffet that includes pizza, pasta and salad – absolutely free!

With the offer running right through until January 2011 I am sure we will take it up at least a few more times as well.

For all the details on the great Kids Eat Free offer from Pizza Hut please follow this link and most importantly – enjoy your treats, you deserve them

http://bit.ly/a1DhgJ

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My mum, although she did her best to cook healthy for me, used a lot of salt and butter and oil in her cooking even though she told me she didn’t – so moving away from that to somewhere that I am in total and complete control over my own food I thought the weight would drop off.

It hasn’t happened. I did drop a few pounds at one point getting down to just under 9 stone, but that went back on along with a few extra pounds and as of right now I am exactly where I was 5 weeks ago when I set off. It’s not ideal, but at least it’s not a gain and I do have to admit I have not been doing quite as well with my diet.

Things were pretty strange the first few days and we did eat a lot of take away and general bad food but we quickly got back on track and I am pleased to say we are back to good healthy eating and I have even managed to lose a couple of pounds. I weight less than 9 stone for the first time in my entire life now

I have also got back into running, my knee plays up a little bit still sometimes but it’s not like it was – because of the gap in running I have gone backwards a bit and am having to build it back up again, but I hope to be back up to running for around 40 minutes soon enough.

Things are looking good.

It’s a long time since I actually counted calories in my staple foods – assuming that I already just know them.

So over the next few days I am digging out the scales, reading the labels and making sure I know exactly what’s going into my body

The weight gain was indeed not a ‘real’ weight gain and came straight back off and I picked up where I left off at Couch to 5k.

Today I completed week 6 day 3 – well I say completed, I didn’t follow it exactly to the letter. I was supposed to run for 25 minutes with no walking, but did 12.30 then walked for 1 minute and then ran for 14. I struggle so much to run without stopping at all – I feel like I can’t go on if I don’t just get that little break, and I don’t need long, just a minute or so and then I can run again – but at this stage I am apparently meant to be able to run for 25 minutes without stopping so that’s what I want to do!

Week 7 consists entirely of running 25 minutes each day so hopefully after 3 more attempts at it I will be able to master it. I am going to try run that little extra before taking a break each day.

A friend suggested Supplement News would be a good place to start looking so that is where I am headed right now.