Weighed in this morning - down another 0.4kg . I'll take that because I wouldn't say this was a *great* week in terms of reaching all my goals, but it was enough to keep me on track.

Gen I will get a ticker going when I get home from work today - promise!

So… Week Three begins and I am hoping to do a little better with food and water this week. My plans for today are to:

• Eat no more than 1750 calories;
• Drink 2L of water; and
• Walk 10,000 steps.

I am working 9-1pm today, so meal times will be far more regular than last week. And that should help me in the areas I fell down in last week. I was working 6.30am - 10.30am, eating breakfast at 5am, was starving by 11am, again at 3pm… totally confusing!

Hey Vonni, good to hear from you. Was the 'time out' your idea or his?

Gen good luck today. Let us know how it all goes!

Lindor are you going back to work tomorrow? How are you travelling?

Must go and get ready for work - even though it's a public holiday today over here, the Bunnings show must go on…

Hmmmm...done Gen! And I gotta say I am disgusted in myself!!!

Not only am I well over the 100kg mark again, I am less than 7kg from my original start weight!! What the **** happened to the 30kg I lost??? Hopefully this is the wake up call I needed!!

To those on regular medications, how do you work with them when a common side effect is "increased apetite and weight gain"? And no, at this point, I can't change them.

I won't know if I am back at work until this afternoon Ani. Part of me wants that routine back, another part of me does not want to see the inside of that office again! Ugh!

Well done Ani!

Lindor, one of my medications lists increased appetite and weight gain as a side effect, but that's only if you eat more..! And depends on what you eat too.. maybe keep some celery and carrot sticks around to snack on if you're hungry? Are you tracking your food? I know it's a cliche but it really does help to watch what you're actually eating in a day.

Lindor, you're still less than me if that cheers you up! Heh.

Of course it doesn't cheer me up any that I still weigh less than you Gen. Weight loss is such an individual thing I can't see how one person can compare themselves to another. I sympathise with you because I understand the long journey we have ahead of ourselves though.

And, I agree with you about the medications. I know when I first read it I immediately challenged it by saying "Ha! That's what you think!"

I think it was an impulsive grab at something to blame after the results of my weigh in!

From today I am recording what I eat and what exercise I do. I have just bought a new battery for my pedometer. I have just bought a heap of food to prepare proper meals with (and I even had to kill a cockroach that was crawling across the checkout at coles!). And I have put a massive warning sign on my fridge door reminding me that snacking is bad!! I cannot open the fridge door unless I physically move that sign first!

Desperate messures!

Why won't my ticker work?

Oh oops! It did…

I am as frustrated as you are that we lost all this weight, then we gained it again. But we can't change what's happened, we just have to move forward and find better ways around things this time. At the moment I am not thinking about anything too deep - I just want to get into the habit of making good decisions every day, and to do that for a few weeks more.

Then once I am confident that I can sustain this I will start to reflect on what happened, why I gained the weight, and what I can do to prevent it from happening again…

I am off work for another two weeks!

Hi Guys. today I drank 600mls of water WOO GO ME! and ate a mini sausage roll for breakfast, nothing for lunch and a t-bone steak and postato bake (made with lite cream and cheese), carrots and corn for dinner. about 5 cuppas. just didnt even THINK about lunch.

Ani it was my idea. long story, pretty depressing really but sometimes love just aint enough. The thing I told him was you can't take back the stone after it's been thrown (nasty words and behaviour). So offerred him 6 mths time out for counselling etc... to see what we both want out of life. Seems to be going in completely different directions atm.

Hate hate HATE packing and moving. Good thing is though I dont have to do it all in one hit. taking most stuff on Wednesday then the bits and pieces over the next couple of weeks but first night new house wednesday for sure cause beds are going then lol.

Work is going great. Love my job and thinking of continuing study next year for my RN's (proud of me Gen?) Anyhow must go. got massive migraine, abcess on face and sinus troubles grrrrr. Supposed to be on a night duty tonight but called it in early in the day when 6 ibobrufen and 4 panadol hadnt touched it. Having 2 more and a phenergan now so i can go off to noddy land blissfully.

Tomorrows plan is to drink a litre of water

WOW Vonni, that's brave of you - but good on you for making such a tough call. Hope it works out for you, and that you get some clarity around things.

I've had another good day. Even better because I got some antibiotics for a rather painful and annoying bout of cystistis last night. Of course it had to happen on a long weekend, and after putting up with the pain for a couple of days I ended up going to an after-hours doctor last night.

This week I am working 1-5pm, so my routine shouldn't be too disrupted. Hopefully I will reach all my goals, and be able to really start to see some benefits of my healthier decisions. I really hate being fat, and I hate it that my clothes don't fit me anymore. But the worst thing, by far, is how my body feels. There is no doubt that I am feeling a lot more conscious of the effects of this extra weight than I ever did before.

My housemate is going on two weeks holiday this Saturday - WOO HOO for some solitude!!!

Anyway, today's plan is to reach my goals. My motivation is fairly high and I see no barriers in my way - not yet anyway .

Aw Vonni big hugs to you breaking up sucks even if it is for the best. Glad to hear that your work is going well. Studying for your RN would be awesome!

Congrats Ani, you're on form as per usual Great to see it!

Lindor that's good that you've got some more time off work. Hope you're starting to feel a little better about things and that having more time will take the pressure off a bit

I haven't done any exercise in days but have been mostly sticking to my points. Didn't track ever day in the weekend but have been careful. Today one of the girls brought lovely cupcakes in to work but yay me, I managed to resist! Had a weight watchers toffee bar instead

I was meant to be going to the gym today but it's FREEZING here in Christchurch and I've got a headache and just couldn't get there. It's now just after 5:30pm and I'm at home in bed already just so I can get some warmth.

Hope you're all a little warmer across the ditch there!

Well doneen, a 2kg loss is awesome! Shame about the surgery date, fingers crossed they have a cancellation and can fit you in sooner.

I've had a bit of a disaster in that I've lost 2 toenails! When I did the half marathon I had 2 toenails that went black from all the impact and last night they both came off. It wasn't sore at the time but my god, it is now

I've done a 1.5km walk already this morning and it is just 8.30am! Ok, I had to drop my car off for a service and I decided to walk back home rather than get a lift! Although I did half-heartedly ask for a lift (which was rejected) as I have woken up this morning with a throbbing headache, sore ear and sore throat! Yuck!

The plan is to walk back this afternoon to collect the car and call that my 3km walk for today. That is assuming I feel no worse than what I do now! I am about to take a couple of panadiene and go back to bed.

I find with my walks I actually do a lot of thinking.

Yesterday afternoon I had a meeting with the new manager at work. I felt quite anxious about that, but wound up sitting there chatting to him for over an hour and a half and came out feeling a whole lot better about the work situation! He needs me back there and is willing to support me in anyway that he can. And he reassured me that despite the fact that I was made to take this time off because of my 'behaviour', he (nor the previous manager) can fault my work. I got home after that meeting feeling the best I have in weeks - and celebrated with a binge!!! What's with that? Binge when I am happy, binge when I am down? Where is the happy medium??

Anyway, while walking this morning I thought more about how I am going to beat this thing! And I got to thinking about what I did to lose the weight before. So it is back to basics for me!

Although it is going to financially have an impact, I am going back to the prepacked microwave dinners. That seems to be the only way I can instill portion control...and I have said it a thousand times, portion control is my problem! I will keep fresh veges on hand for lunchtime salads and sandwiches etc, but it will be a dinner every evening.

I am going to start fixing regular times - wake up at the same time, go to bed at about the same time, meals at the same time etc! And I am going to follow those times everyday, weekdays and weekends, at work or home!

I am going to drink 2lt of water a day!

I also thought about my walking. I am not going to pressure myself into exercise for weight loss, but from a mental/emotional point of view, I am going to encourage myself to walk daily if possible.

I have also set a mini-goal!! Depending on $$$, when I get below 95kg, I am going to buy a pushbike! As much as I enjoy my walking, I am already getting bored of the views. And I was harrassed by a couple of drunks on my walk on Sunday, which I didn't enjoy! I want to explore further without the need to get in my car. And I want to go to places where the risk of bumping into annoying drunks is less. I think a pushbike will allow that!

That is my plan for now! And I feel somewhat confident that I can work with that!

Ouch! Julia - that would be very painful. I must say you're a lot better at exercising than I am, but hopefully I can take some inspiration from you and be a little more disciplined.

Gen that might seem like a long way away (for surgery) but it will go pretty fast. WOO HOO on the weight loss too - no doubt in my mind that you are on the road to something really life-changing.

Lindor I am happy to hear you sounding so positive. There's nothing wrong with using frozen dinners as part of your weight loss. I do it - and I do it for similar reasons to you: portion control and balance. It's also great to know that your new manager is so supportive!

Everything is on track here. I'm meeting my goals every day and keeping a positive frame of mind. Hopefully the scales will reflect that when I weigh in on Monday morning.

Stupid I know, but just using smaller plates is good for portion control too. Also I have found that weighing the food and entering into online food diary gives me idea since obviously I have no idea on portions. But I must say, as long as I eat, say, a stirfry with lean chicken breast, I can have 250g meat and a whole frypan of chopped up veggies with chilli and soy sauce, and it's only 450 calories and so filling.

Vonni, sorry I missed your earlier bit about nursing - that would be awesome!

Lindor, sound like you've got a plan, which is the hardest part.

Lindor I'm so pleased to hear you sounding a bit more positive It sounds like you've set yourself some good goals and I'm sure you can achieve them. Just remember, don't try to do too much at once, take it one step at a time and you'll be sweet.

I've got weight watchers tonight and am very scared of what the scales will say as I've done NO exercise in the last week!

Gen I find that too - it depends on what you eat as to how big a plate you use. One of the meals I regularly make is full of legumes and vegetables, and I can pile a plate up full and it's less than 400 calories. Not only is it healthy, but it keeps me feeling full for hours.

Julia good luck with weigh-in tonight.

I was bad with water yesterday - absolutely no idea why, but I just couldn't make myself drink much. I've been pretty good lately, so yesterday was a bit of a let down… But I intend to fix that today.

Tomorrow and Saturday are my days off, and I find that I need to be a lot more careful when I am not at work. I will make sure I have plenty of good food, and that I keep myself busy. Sometimes it helps to have distractions.

Anyway I'm off to do some domestics before work today. I hate spending my days off cleaning the house, and I prefer to do it during my working week. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, but my weekend seems to last longer when I don't spend it cleaning the house .