New Start 39

First up - thanks for all your positive posts about my fears regarding keeping the weight off. it's obviously a common concern but we won't know until we try and I'd rather be trying to maintain my weight at 10 or 11 stone something than 19 stone plus!!!

Guinea - you are spot on - I'd LOVE to see a survey showing who keeps the weight off after what diet etc but you NEVER see that information....

Secondly, I've been meaning to answer your question Mrs, about the running, so here goes: I generally run 3 times a week for between 50 minutes and an hour and 15/20 minutes. How long and how far I go depends on how I feel, how much time I have and how hilly the route is. I'm not really one for marking out distances and times etc as I prefer enjoying the scenery and freedom/challenge of running new routes etc. I reckon I usually run a minimum of 5 miles though and often up to 7/8, maybe more. I stopped wearing a pedometer ages ago because it had been set to a very old step length (when I was slower and fatter - tee hee!!) so was very inaccurate. So, all guesswork.

I think because of living where I live, I appreciate getting out and seeing new places and even old places from different angles or at different seasons. The open moors or quiet, hidden country paths are my favourites. Hving said that, I can do urban running too as I've recently taken up a once a week lunchtime run round Rotherham! It's not quite as pretty (!!) but you get to nose round some interesting spots and see a lot more of the town than usual. I tend to incorporate some running along the canal in Roth which is incredibly industrial and somewhat seedy but fascinating.

Anyway - Thursday was a very good diet day - spotless in fact. I repeated the poem mantra to myself whenever I felt tempted to go down to the kitchen for some nameless reason (ie. to nose around the cupboards or fridge!!) - "Walk round the hole, Lesley, walk around it!!". And it works! Thanks for that poem Mrs, it's been a lifesaver recently.

The lovely Huw is back from his holidays so I had personal training again. He's still lovely and toned and tanned so that was nice! He said I had shrunk in the time he'd been away (nearly 3 weeks since he saw me last) and I talked him through some of my recent runs. It was good - I don't seem to have lost any strength and feel great about working out the muscles as well as the aerobic stuff. His workout is very Pilates/Core based and I can really feel my core strength increasing - my abs and back muscles are more defined than they have ever been.

D is off fishing in Anglesey this morning for the weekend and says he's going to be pining for me (and the dog)!! Sap! I'll be alright though as I have my parents coming to stay and a party to go to tonight. We women are much tougher than them there blokes....