I'm new-ish here (been lurking pretty much forever!) and whilst I wanted to avoid posting on Jan 1st for fear of looking a little predictable, that *was* when I started trying to lose a bit of weight.

I'm not huge by any accounts at 147, but with a tiny frame and carrying all my weight on my stomach and back (I suffer with a serious lack of bum or hips, and wear size 10 on the bottom and 14-16 on top), I don't look amazing atm.

So. To hopefully melt the 27 lbs I have left to lose by April/May-ish, I'm basically watching what I eat. It sounds stupid but I *know* which foods are going to make me feel rubbish and fat, and which are going to give me energy, stop me feeling bloated and make me happier. So I'm going to eat less of one and more of the other, basically.

I'm also going to try out a little ab challenge with myself along with a few runs (which I love, but do to little of because of the crap weather), and eventually work up to doing the 30 Day Shred in February or March. I started it last year and it genuinely made me feel like I was going to die, so I'm hoping that running 3-5x a week might help me to prepare a bit!

Hi Claire and welcome!

Don't worry, even as an oldie I jumped back on the wagon for the millionth time on Jan 1st but like you didn't want to start reposting until a few days after!

Your plan sounds great, good luck with it!

Do share your ab challenge, I'm intrigued!

Also, join in on the UK Chicks Chat thread, it's normally where most of us 'hang out' although many of the oldies seem to have gone a bit awol, not that I can talk.....! Given that it's Jan though, there are bound to be plenty of new faces and then the few of us that are still around so we'll soon get to know each other and offer plenty of support I'm sure

Thanks TC! Well the pounds have, of course dropped off this week as my body has been shocked by having fruit and water and fibre LOL. I bet it doesn't know what's going on. So I've lost a few lbs, which is a lovely incentive.

My little geeky ab challenge is to up the number of crunches I can manage by about 5 a day, lengthen my plank by as much as possible (though getting anything other than two minutes without having jelly arms for about five hours would be lovely, haha) and also to start adding new ab exercises, like bicycle crunches, which I believe were invented by the devil to make chunkers like me feel bad. Ha.

Getting a bit food-phobic which happens to me during the first few weeks of a diet when I start trying to make good choices rather than eating nothing, but it should pass soon as I've remembered how lovely healthy food can actually taste. Frozen bananas mmmm . . .