Hi, I joined this site this morning. I am a 34 year old mum of two, my son is 4.5 years and my daughter is 7 months. I am soon due back to work following my maternity leave. I live in North Yorkshire.

Well, I have been on and off diets for as long as I can remember & you name it, I've tried it (except the diet pill route, which I am not entertaining). I have lost count of the number of times I have joined slimming clubs and then left, only to rejoin again.

The bottom line is I am sick of counting, whether it be a calorie, a point, a syn, fat, sat. fat. I just want to be able to make the right healthy choices and enjoy my food without have to think OMG how many XX are in that!!

I am also guilty of binging, and if it wasnt for this I would have the weight dropping off me. During the day I am good and generally eat a healthy balanced diet, but its the binging that keep the weight on me and also puts it on. My worst time is on an evening when the kids are in bed and my hubby is at work. I will eat anything and graze the cupboards for my next mouthful. I also find that unpacking the food shop also creates a binge, but only if I'm on my own when unpacking it.

I go to the gym and enjoy it. I did lose 1.5 stone before falling pregnant with my little girl, but am stuggling to get back to the mind set I had then.

Do any of you follow a plan or do you just eat healthy and make good food choices? Thanks for reading my waffle. xx

Hi Tashalizzie,

I'm new here too, and also from North Yorkshire, and will be returning there in April.

I think 'dieting' is the hardest thing in the world when you're not ready for the change. I've dieted on and off for 10 years, but like you always found binging to be my number one weakness, that along with excuses, sooooo many excuses.

This time though, I'm 5 weeks in and 8kg and 12cm on my waist down, and I feel SOOOOO good and determined to keep going until I'm fit and healthy. I no longer binge, in fact (apart from an incident with a family bag of sweets last Sunday, which I saw off in ten mins) I no longer eat sweets/choc/cookies/crisps/donuts/cakes and all the rest of it, unless I make a rational decision at the weekend that I deserve a portioned controlled treat.

I'm not following a plan, other than only eating three good meals a day and NOTHING else Mon-Fri, and then thinking about what I eat at the weekends. I've also been adding exercise slowly, and am now up to 4 workout dvd sessions a week, which are killing me and making me feel great all at the same time.

I don't calorie count or weigh or measure. I use the knowledge we all have about good and bad foods when I decide what and how much to eat, and it's really working.

I wish I could share my secret with you. But I've no idea why things are different this time, it just feels like it's right, so I'm embracing that.

Good luck, small steps will make massive differences in the long term

Hey ladies you both sound so upbeat and possitive its great

This site is great for bordoom in the evening when bubba's are sleep I spend alot of time on here just to stop me going into the kitchen and eating, I have been known to fight my husband for the sweets, but he has a new hiding place and for the 1st time I havent looked for it lol

Im not following a plan just cutting out the crap and exercising if i had to stick on a plan I would go mental, but I do advise you keep a food journal that way you can track what you eat and see where your going wrong

Good luck and I hope you all meet your goals and look fab.

Marie, it's evening for me here now, and I agree, surfing the boards here and finding so many inspirational stories and motivating posts is a brilliant way to stop me from losing track. I only found this board the other day, but am loving it!

I just set up a blog, and plan to do a daily food and exercise post in there, to see my progress over the next 8 weeks (til the UK) and then beyond.....

Thank you for your comments. I think coming on here to pass the time instead of raiding the cupboards is a great idea. So, I'll give it a go.

Well done to you both on the weight loss you have achieved so far. xx

How's your weekend going Tasha? I hope you're managing to stay on track. I drank wayyyyy too much last night and am suffering from it today, but really hard not to let my munchies get teh better of me too much, but it's hard!

Ouchy, hangover, not nice!! I didnt do too bad yesterday, thanks for asking. I didnt binge, or feel the need to, and I did have chance when hubby popped out for a little while.

I went to spinning in the morning, and was shattered when I got home! Hoping for another binge free day today and healthy eating. So far I've had a cup of coffee and fresh pineapple with low fat yoghurt. Hope you get through today without to much of a head ache! xxx

sounds like you had a great day yesterday, well done! I'm looking forward to getting back to the uk and joining a few classes, i can't wait for my exercise to be more sociable, but for now i'm getting the really unfit stage out of the way behind closed doors, which isn't really a bad thing!

I just battled through the second day of the couch to 5km plan, and exercising with a hangover, even only for 30 mins isn't cool, it nearly killed me! But, i persevered and got to the end of it, which is an improvement on the quitter I used to be.

Just gotta tidy my room and change my bedding and all that exciting stuff now before my housemate and I sit down and watch the king's speech, and hopefully I'll find the motivation to do some exercises/stretches with my new exercise ball. BUt that's the extent of my workout today!