At first my reasoning was that I didn’t want to be ‘the fat girl’ at the gym, looking all sweaty and out of breath and gross – once I got over that notion my reasoning was that I couldn’t afford it and it was too far away.

Now that I am a healthy weight, fit as a butchers dog, can afford the gym and have one a mere 5 minute walk away – maybe it’s time to bite the bullet and get myself signed up. I visit the leisure centre often as I go swimming there and often see signs and offers and promotions for classes that make me want to join but for some reason, something is still holding me back

If you are looking to join a gym but don’t know where to go then check out Gymdar.co.uk, it’s a UK based site that offers information and reviews on thousands of gyms across the country. We all know gyms can be expensive, so it makes sense to seek out reviews and the opinions of real users to make sure that we are getting the most ‘bang for our buck’. My local gym is listed on Gymdar but sadly has no reviews yet – perhaps if I finally pull my finger out and register with them I can be the first to add my personal review

It’s a 12 week work out program that has cardio, hiit, strength, toning, sculpting, core and every thing in between – you follow a schedule and I love it.

“When I say Turbo, you say FIRE – Turbo – FIRE – Turbo – Fire”
I don’t know what it is about it that makes me love it, I have followed many work out videos and regimes over the years and they have all been a chore, but I look forward to my Turbofire classes.

Except for ‘stretch 40′, that sucks.

I am about 7 weeks in to the 12 week program so far and although I have not lost any weight (when do I ever?) I have lost some inches and can physically see the difference in my body.

I had not been on a bike since I was a kid, but I am always up for a new challenge these days and as my other half has a nice bike I thought I would get one too. My brother was cleaning out his house as he is moving soon and found an old bike in the shed that had been there since before they even moved in and said I could have it, however when I went to try it out I realised it was too big – much too big, I am only 5ft tall.

So I thought well that’s that then, but then my lovely other half said he’d buy me one, a few days later off we went to the shops and picked one out. I don’t think any one has ever bought me something just like that before, I have had nice items as birthday and Christmas gifts of course but to just be taken to a shop and told to pick whatever I like for no apparent reason was new to me

I have only been out on it twice so far as things keep getting in the way, the weather, a broken light, a migraine etc – but yesterday we managed to do 8 miles around Sherwood Pines and it was brilliant. I loved it and I love my new bike

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

The scales hit 8.10 at one point before Christmas and that’s the lowest I have ever been – but I gained 3lbs over Christmas and it’s been up and down and every where in between since. I have been ‘ping ponging’ between 8.11 and 9.1 ever since! I am ready for an actual loss that sticks and to finally get to update the ‘amount lost to date’ to a new number.

I completed Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and I didn’t lose any weight. I have started doing dance games on the wii, been doing more strength/weights than usual, started running again, swimming, started eating more calories, tried eating less etc – I am changing it up and trying new things all the time and although I may see some loss (or gain) as mentioned, none of it seems to stick!

With a BMI of around 24 still I find it hard to believe that my body is just ‘done’ and at the weight it wants to be at, and so close to two big milestones – 3lb off 7 stone loss and 5lbs off 100lbs loss – so I am more than a little bit at a loss about the whole thing.

Of course it needs to be good quality and reliable as we don’t want the TV to come crashing down off the wall either but most important is that it be one of the good Value TV Brackets so we are getting the best we can at the lowest possible price. It is January after all and like most people around the country we are a little low on funds at the moment.

Since I am on a health kick at the moment though I would like to strike while the iron is hot and go see what plasma TV brackets are out there in our price range – the less excuses I have not to work out at home the better.

I spent a long afternoon at the swimming pool today, it's definitely my new favourite calorie burner and is great for the winter when it's hard to get outside to run. I came home with a plan to relax though as it was a tough 2 hour session.

I came across the Radisson Blue Quiz on my travels and have managed to while away an hour or so answering questions on Europe in order to try and win some pretty fantastic prizes for a travel nut like me. Up for grabs are 1000 giftcards that can be used at any Radisson Blu hotel as well as weekends away at some of the most desired cities in Europe including Madrid and Helsinki.

I spent so long playing because the questions are pretty easy and I feel like I stand a good chance at scooping one of the prizes if I stick at it, plus it's fun and I am learning a little something new a long the way.

All you have to do is answer three questions about Europe and Radisson Blu and if you get them all correct you will get the chance at an instant prize – spin the wheel and cross your fingers and hope it lands on one of the giftcards valued at €20 – €100. Then regardless of if you got all the answers correct or not you can enter the draw to win one of the weekend stays – drawn once per week between now and January 3rd.

If I won one of the giftcards I would definitely use it in one of the Radisson Blu hotels here in the UK. My fiance and I have been to York in December the last two years and keep saying we'd love to go in the summer as well – so it's not as cold and more things are open. When we were there a few weeks ago the river ouse was frozen and we couldn't walk the walls as they were closed due to ice.

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I ran my first four miler yesterday and I hope there will be many more to come. It was definitely hard, there was a point about 3 miles in when I wondered what on earth I was doing and just wanted to be home but I stuck at it and got my second wind and then felt like I could have carried on longer. I only stopped as I had not planned any further route.

I was due to do my first 5k (W9D1) on Monday but was struck with a really bad migraine on Sunday so there was just no chance. I had hoped I might get out today but I still don’t feel up to it – I know from experience then if I try push through a migraine it only makes it ten times worse and I am far better off just giving in to it and taking it easy for a few days.

The problem is I am going away for a week next Monday, so now won’t be able to complete the whole thing before I set off as I had planned to.

Very annoying, but hey ho that’s life.

It’s now been going on four weeks and I still can’t run on it. It’s OK in general but as soon as I run on it the pain comes back and I have to stop and then I can hardly walk on it again for a few days.

So my running career is currently on hold and I definitely miss it, I was really enjoying it and was already planning my next goals after completing couch to 5k.

I am actually moving house on the 23rd so am going to have another few weeks off then hopefully pick it up again in my new location