And so it all grinds to a halt …. One of the reasons I am as big as I am is that every time I diet I lose half a stone fairly easily but then get stuck. I get stuck for two or three weeks and then get frustrated, bored and fed up. I start eating normally again and then put on 10lbs – all the weight I lost plus some. And that has been the story of my life for the last 20 years – lose half a stone, put on ten pounds, lose half a stone, put on ten pounds – and my weight has crept up and up and up.

So last week I was celebrating losing 8lbs over four weeks and looking forward to doing some exercise with my daughter. This week I did the shopping, with recipes from the BBC’s health recipe section. We went to aquafit on Monday. Tuesday we walked round the local park. Wednesday we did swimming – I managed 30 lengths this time, 750m – and I walked to the pub and back. Friday evening and all day Saturday we were at Truck Festival and spent the whole time walking backwards and forwards between the main stage and 2nd stage. Yesterday we went swimming and, despite feeling knackered, I swam 20 lengths (500m). I’ve eaten within my calorie limit every day, even at truck, where I chose lentil curry rather than my usual burger and chips.

Today I got on the scales and I’ve lost … precisely nothing.

So annoyed. Makes me wonder what the point of doing exercise is if I’m not going to lose any weight. Maybe it’s turned to muscle because of the swimming – but that’s not what I want, I need to shift weight here! Seems I’m at that same old point again, where I lose half a stone and get stuck. Determined to get past it this time and not get fed up and put it all back on again, plus some. So it’s back to aquafit tonight, walking walking walking eating well and perhaps I won’t drink at all this week – or only the odd G&T in the pub, not wine at home, and see if that helps. Grrr!