I have realised that I have been gaining and losing the same 5lbs for almost 8 months now, it’s getting a little silly.

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.

I have just been looking for TV Brackets so we can mount ours on the wall, at the moment it’s just on a stand in the living room but it was a cheap stand and it tends to shake about when I am exercising in front of it – makes me paranoid to jump about too much because I think it’s going to fall off and smash which would just be completely mortifying. Imagine having to explain that one to people haha.

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.

They just got one of the new T6 water dispensers at the gym and it’s pretty awesome. I never thought I would get excited about a water cooler but I guess that’s the highlight of my week these days.

I think that it’s very important for gyms to have the best water supply as we are always told how important it is to hydrate during exercise, the instructors are always drumming it in to us and telling us to drink more so it makes sense for them to offer it for free and via a fancy machine that idiots like me love to use

So the festive period has not been a good time for me in terms of weight loss – it’s the first time in over 3 years I have gained a little weight that has not instantly shifted again. 4lbs to be exact – doesn’t sound like a lot I know but 4lbs is about as much as I had lost in total in the last 6 months so it’s a pretty big deal. I am now back up to 9.1 from 8.11 and am again teetering on that edge of being in the overweight BMI category.

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

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.

You need to be 18 to enter and can read the full terms and conditions on the website.

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At the moment you can Win £40000 thanks to Paypal. That's the equivalent of a years salary – can you imagine that, winning an entire years earnings in one fell swoop? Would you be sensible and invest or save it so that you could enjoy the rest of the year knowing your are financially set – or would you splurge and blow the lot on a fancy new car or holiday of  a lifetime? Personally I'd do a bit of both, I would be sensible with half of the money and go wild with the rest – £20k would certainly be enough to pay for the small wedding and long honeymoon in Australia we have planned for January 2012. We have worked out it would cost around £10k but that's on a budget, that's staying in the cheapest hotels and only inviting a handful of guests, with double the budget it really would be a wedding to remember

It's really straight forward to enter too, you don't have to do anything you wouldn't already do – just use Paypal the same way you do every day and each time you purchase something you'll gain an entry to the sweepstake that gets drawn each week. So if you buy 15 items at £1 each throughout the week that's 15 chances you have at scooping the big prize. The competition runs until December 5th so you have plenty of chances to win.

I personally made 3 separate order on Asos.com via paypal a few days ago before I even knew about the competition and am now excited that these small purchases may win me a smooth £40k. I ordered two swimming costumes, two pairs of swimming shorts and a gorgeous necklace and earring set.

So many UK retailers accept paypal as a payment method that it should be really easy to gain entries. Why not head on over to Boots.com and grab yourself some vitamins to keep your body in tip top condition or even pop on over to Superdrug and get some Slim Fast products. I am going to order a new heart rate monitor from Lloyds Pharmacy tomorrow for myself as my current one has been playing up for a while and I have kept saying I am going to treat myself to a new one

Find out more by following the link to your left and be sure to read the full terms and conditions here:

https://www.paypal-marketing.co.uk/win/terms/

Why not Enter now for your chance to win? You'd be mad not to

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I may be going to China in the new year. My fiance works in a Chinese restaurant and one of his friends and co-workers is getting married in China in March.

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

I just updated my statistics in the sidebar for the first time in what seems like forever. I have not seen much movement either way since moving in with my boyfriend just over 2 months ago now.

I am quite happy to be maintaining for now though. I fully admit I have taken my foot off the gas somewhat – I still eat well but I also allow myself treats a lot more often and I am not working out nearly as much as I was before. Mainly because I have been suffering badly with my migraines but also because the weather has turned nasty and it’s getting dark by 4pm now so it’s near impossible to get out for a run.

I think I will continue on as I am now for a while longer and then get myself to the gym (can you believe I have never actually been to a gym?) and get back on the wagon food wise in the new year. It’s just nice to have a little break from it all after almost 4 years of counting every calorie and working out daily

Have you seen the HP- Be A Star interactive video? I came across it a few days ago now and it's a lot of fun. You basically create a video where you are the star and get a taste of what it must be like to live a celebrity lifestyle. Take a look at the one I created myself to get an idea of what it's all about

Isn't it funny? That's a picture of me in the video! It was really simple to create as well, I just connected it to my Facebook account and it gave me the choice of which of my already uploaded photos to use and filled in the details such as my name. But even if you don't have a Facebook account it's still really simple as all you do is upload a photo of yourself, enter your name and select the lovely HP laptop that most represents your personal style.

If you create a video for yourself be sure to share it with all your friends via Facebook and Twitter and once you have grab the provided bit.ly URL and send it my way – there's a competition going on where the person who sends in the most can win a HP laptop and I would love that prize to be mine. Can you believe I have never actually owned a laptop before?

And keep up to date with all the latest HP news by liking them on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/HPUK

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