After I stood on the scales in mid February and realised that I’d whacked on 10 kilos in the last 12 months or so I decided it was time to do something about my lifestyle. In short, I decided I needed to get organised. The peril of a desk job is that you sit on your behind all day. The lack of exercise in my life was a concern. So too was the fact that although I avoided junk food most of the time I had put on weight. So, to borrow Roy and HG’s beautiful parlance, I took a good hard look at myself in the mirror.

A few things had to change,

1. My love of all things carbohydrate – potato, rice, pasta, bread. No meal was complete without them.

2. My love of “seconds”. I was not good with the concept of leftovers and cooking for one person a lot of the time meant that I either cooked too much or just ate the extra even though I didn’t need it.

3. Portion size. I was clueless about portion size. So even though there was lots of fruit and veges, grains, etc etc in my diet there was simply too much of everything.

4. My complete lack of exercise routine. I used to have one until about 2010. Then work got busier, life got crazier and exercise was the first thing to disappear.

What did I do?

1. Joined Weight Watchers online. If I’m going to do something I am best if I think I’ve got a goal and deadlines. The difference was immediately noticeable. I was hungry for about a week and half until my stomach got used to eating smaller portions but then all was good.

2. The incentive to exercise was great. I started just by walking and then added an exercise bike and dragged out the Wii Fit from the cupboard for the days when it was raining. It took about 6 weeks until I actually looked forward to fitting some exercise into the day but now I get the guilts if I don’t do anything. I’ll never love exercise but I know it’s really important to keep it going.

3. Changed my diet. No stupid fad diets for me (yes I’m looking at you Dukan diet). I need food. I just had to make sure I was eating enough of the right things and less of the bad things. So I still eat bread but not with every meal.

4. And finally we come to stocking the freezer. I found it is far easier to stick to a healthy eating plan if the meals are ready to go. I was very bad about cooking after work. So now, every couple of weekends I spend the day cooking up a number of freezable dishes that can be divided into portions and frozen. I also cook muffins or other things to grab to take to work. It gives me a great sense of satisfaction to open the freezer and see all the containers of food neatly stacked. I feel so organised!

Have I lost weight? Yes indeed.

Is there still a little way to go? Yes there is.

Do I feel better, healthier, more energetic? Yes I do.

Hurrah for small, steady change. Like the tortoise I will triumph in the end!