Weight: 64Kg or 140lbs

Days until Summer Ball: 10

I’m planning on losing about 5lbs before the summer ball.  I realise that I will still look big, but I think this is the most weight I can healthily lose in the time period.  I had a great night last night, preparing for the next few months, and it made me really excited about the challenges to come.  Just after Christmas, my first real attempt to start losing weight, I bought two books from a discount bookshop.  They each have a different daily workout (which only takes 6 minutes) for two weeks.  One book concentrates on hips and thighs, the other one on the stomach.  I have written out each days exercise on a separate post-it note and stuck them on the wall in the room where I do my exercises.  On the 15th post-it note I have written £5 for holiday clothes- this one is my favourite .  I think it’s important to have a reward for extra motivation.  But I will only be putting aside the money if I have completed everything else for the previous two weeks.

Generally, each day will consist of the day’s workout from each book in the morning.  Then in the afternoon or evening I will do either a short run with crunches and push-ups afterwards, some weight training, or some yoga-inspired stretching.  It’s very important to not only concentrate on cardiovascular activities but to also incorporate some weight training and stretching to encourage the breakdown of fat cells and the build up of muscle.

So today is the first day.  I got up and weighed myself straight away.  I am thinking of taking my measurements down as well so that I can see where the weight is coming off.  I did the day’s workout from both books and felt great afterwards- it was the beginning of a new, slimmer me.

For breakfast I had a Slimfast shake.  It wasn’t as bad as I thought-it did actually taste of the flavour on the tub!  But there was a strange aftertaste, which my boyfriend identified as cardboard.  Also, if you are thinking of trying Slimfast make sure you drink the milkshake fast, as it begins to separate after a few minutes and looks far from appetising.  I had breakfast at 9am (GMT) and am still full at almost 2pm (GMT) which I certainly did not expect.  I will be having another shake when I am feeling hungry, probably in another hour.  It says on the tub to prepare a healthy 600 calorie meal for dinner.  I am planning on having Moroccan chicken with cous-cous, onion and peppers.