Thanks Ann - I guess I've suffered....lets just say, a nice cool bath would be fantastic

Well the food poisoning paid off - 5lbs this week....

Well, I'll say "well done you" - food poisoning or not - I could do with a dose of that 5lbs is a great boost regardless ....

Congratulations - 5lbs is GREAT!

Thank you for all the praise....I do wonder what is happening though. My friend who is doing it too....she apparently does the Natalie Cassidy workout every day and goes to aquatone twice a week, is on her feet all day in a school kitchen, yet she lost nothing this week.

I asked her yesterday about her points and she says she is allowed 22 but most days only eats around 16...ish.

I said that I wondered if she was eating enough?....especially for the extra expenditure of exercise she was doing now and to boost her food intake up to at least 18 - 20.

She is diabetic but has her insulin well under control and in fact only has a very low dose.

I feel really sorry for her as in all this time she has never lost more than a 1lb or 2 at a time...and has still not yet reached the 1 stone milestone yet in the 7 weeks.

The weight side of things she is 14 stone, medium build, the only other thing I can think of is that she is doing so much exercise that she has never done before is that the muscle tone is developing and that is counteracting any weight loss she is making. She does look less bloated and her stomach is definitely flatter - after 4 children (twins) flat is a relative concept....so something is happening but why is she not loosing any weight. She is getting so disheartened.

OMG - I've just done my first DVD (now feeling like I should do some work towards the loss) and have now raised a moderate sweat....feeling good and just gone to the web to log my loss and looked at the little chart they do....and there it was....I've only got 1 more pound and I've reached my 10%.....I was stunned, shocked and well, frankly inspired....

I would like to get back to Canadian shores much smaller that when I was last there.....and I'm heading the right way, so determined to keep going.

Question....some of my clothes are starting to feel baggy - what does anyone think....keep the baggies a bit longer....a) make sure I stick with it, b) makes the good feeling last...I know it is better when you can get smaller clothes but shape hasn't changed that dramatically yet - even with 23lb...its coming off top down...c) clean sweep get rid of them because I ain't never going back there again?

Thank you in anticipation

wait till you get to the 2 stone and then treat yourself to some new clothes as you still have a bit to loose limit it to a few well chosen pieces or go to Peacocks and get some cheap stuff,

Well done HPM keep up the good work

Sorry I meant to add - short of the things I have already said to her, I don't know how else to help her and motivate her. Her daughter is very selfish and doesn't give her 5 mins - thinks she's her personal taxi and slave....(she is 18) and only thinks of herself so she will be no help and I don't want to feel guilty about me loosing, but don't want her to feel bad either....

What can I do to help her?

Okay my first weigh in - 3lb loss this week! Only another 26lbs to go.

Good going....did you do much to help?

Not really! Just doing the WW core plan and doing my usual walking around. I kept meaning to get on my bike but that never seemed to happen...!!

See I keep shying away from the core because I think it is too much like hard work especially with children on the go and being busy to try to do the 3 meals a day thing and not eat in between meals. I think that is what I like about the points....if I'm hungry at that time, I just eat and count it up.

Have I got the core plan wrong?

I like it because I am crappy with the points - I use them all on choccy! To be honest I do eat between meals if I am starving but I only have fruit - either a banana or a whole tin of fruit (in water) and it never seems to make any difference.

So should I just put down my early successes to the fact there is a bit of me to go and stick with the points and not worry too much?

I also wish I knew how to counsel my friend and give her a boost