Introduction

So, I thought I'd write a little journal of my progress. Mainly for my own benefit but also to help others if they are also trying to lose weight.


It's so difficult to know where to begin with hundreds of websites and magazines telling you different things. I've spent a lot of time reading up, and in the past (when I had lost weight and succeeded before) I have experimented with many different diets, quick fixes and exercise plans. I can review what I have tried: what works and what doesn't.


At the moment I am 211 lbs. This is 15 stone and 1 lb. 
I am 5' 7" So this makes my BMI* 32.9 which is obese. This scares me. Alot.

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/tools/bmi_calculator/bmi.shtml


Now, I don't actually mind carrying some extra pounds. I have been painfully skinny before and I looked ill. But somehow in seven years, I've piled on nearly six stone. My doctor wants me to lose weight and genetics have placed me in a high-risk of heart disease and stroke - both parents having had heart attacks before 65 and one having had a stroke. 


I'm depressed about it now. I already have high blood pressure, aches and pains and trouble breathing at night. I am terribly unfit and I really, really enjoy my food. 


I've not mentioned much about it before as I get fed up myself of reading about people on diets and saying how fat they are. No-one I know is happy with themselves the way they are, and if they could wave a magic wand and change something, they would. 


I also find that people tell you what they think you want to hear. When I say I need to lose weight, I get told I don't and usually offered more food. I then get shown women who are morbidly obese and told that they are fat and I have nothing to worry about. Although I find it a little comforting that there will always be someone worse off than me, it doesn't motivate me to do anything about it.


Surely, this is just a case of people moaning on about something they can easily change because they just eat too much. Eat less and exercise more, right? Simple. No, no. Not so simple. It's breaking a habit and a lifestyle. If it was easy, everyone would be healthy and stay that way. 


The reason I'm doing this is to be healthier, to be fitter and to feel better about myself. I have no desire to be skinny. I also don't believe in diets. Diets only work as long as you stay on them. As soon as you lose your weight and come off them, it'll all go back on. I'm working towards a new lifestyle that I can stick to permanently. Who is joining me?