Weighed in at 15st 5 yesterday afternoon. That's better than I expected, given that the diet didn't exactly go to plan last week. My target was 2500 per day but, while I came in under on some days, I was significantly over on others...and my average was almost 2700. Still, I have lost weight at 2700 before. All the same, I need to try to be stricter this week.

Into Week 3 of the diet, and I'm 15st 6. I reckon that's not too bad, considering.

I'm following exactly the same template as last year, so my calorie allowance last week was 2750 - which I met  quite comfortably - and this week it's down to 2500.

If things go like they did last year, I'm looking to drop a pound by this time next week. Let's see what happens.

2nd January. Time to start again.

Not certain what my weight is at the moment - I'm avoiding checking it...could be too depressing! I'm starting to gear up towards a diet again. This week my target is 3000 calories daily. Next week it will be 2700 and the week after 2500. That mirrors what I did last year.

Targets for this year are less ambitious than last year. Last year I basically lost 11 pounds (before the Christmas binge put a few back on). If I can lose 11 pounds again this year...and another 11 the year after...I'll take that. It's very slow progress but progress is progress. The ultimate goal is still 12 and a half to thirteen stone, but if it takes several years to get there, I'm not in a rush. Just so long as I get closer to that target year on year. 

Assuming I'm about 15st 7 or so now, that means my target weight is 14st 10 by the beginning of December. That certainly should be do-able. 

As for exercise, I'm going back to the 3 days cardio, 3 days weights per week model. I have a programme worked out with the aim of becoming a little bit fit, or at least not utterly unfit, by summer. I'll loosely define that as the ability to walk a few miles per day at a leisurely to moderate pace without being utterly knackered. Hardly an athletic goal but one that meets my minimum requirements. 

So beginneth 2018.

Still 15st 4. All right, that's it. I'm giving up for this year. It's nearly Christmas and not the right time to be trying to lose weight.

So, my total weight loss for 2017 is: 11 pounds off.

Not great.

But....not a dead loss. At least I've got a bit of weight off, and kept it off. Could have been worse. I could have kept gaining instead of losing. If I'd carried on as I was doing last year, I no doubt would have been 17 stone plus by now.

 Come January, I need to start again with the same mindset as I did at the beginning of this year. And if I get another 11 pounds off in 2018...well, right now I'd take that.

Slow progress is better than no progress....even very slow progress is better than none.

I have made some progress this year. I'm determined to make some more next year. Modest progress will do.

OK, time to stop screwing around and get back down to it. The year is getting towards its end.

I'm currently 15st 4. I've been there or thereabouts since the spring. Sometimes a little heavier, sometimes a little lighter, but mostly around 15st 4.

I want to end the year at 15st 1. That will be a stone lighter than the same time last year. OK, that's not a huge achievement given that I originally planned to get three stones off. I still plan to get three stones off, just that it's going to take a bit longer than I thought. Even if it takes three years. And one stone off would still be a significant step towards my final goal. It means the year won't have been a failure, just a more moderate success than I had originally hoped.

But I'll never get there unless I start losing again.

I just worked out a new eating plan from now until Christmas. Aim is to eat 2200 calories a day (average) from now until then.

This week is the buildup week, where I get back into the habit of counting (and restricting) calories so I don't expect to be hitting that target straightaway, but next week I should be hitting the 2200 per day target. 

Just checking in briefly. The last few days, weight has been fluctuating between 15st 2 and 15st 3 - it's currently 15st 2. It is coming off, by inches...just very, very slowly.

Well, this is the first post in two months. I haven't been posting because I wanted to hit that 15st 1 mark before I posted again.

I haven't managed it.

I hovered around the 15st 3 - 15st 4 mark for most of July and August. I just came back from holiday in Italy, hoping that all the walking I did would have shifted a little weight. Instead, I find I've gained...must be all that Italian food! Currently weighing in at 15st 5.

Progress over the course of this year hasn't been anywhere near my optimistic early goals. That much is pretty obvious. Still, I'm not about to quit.

Right now, I'm still ten pounds lighter than I was at the start of the year. While ten pounds in eight months isn't exactly amazing progress, it is still progress. I'm definitely somewhat fitter, too. Still pretty unfit, mind. Nonetheless, fitter than I was on 1 January - and for that matter fitter than I was at Midsummer - in fact, probably the fittest (or least unfit) I've been for at least a year. An uphill walk isn't such a struggle now. That's one thing I found out in Italy. Don't ask me to do any ten mile runs yet, but a walk of a few miles I can do.

My next target is to drop below 15st. Even if I don't achieve any more than that this year, I want to end the year feeling like I've made that much progress at least.

Six pounds to lose, four months to do it in. Sounds easy, but I've found losing anything but easy lately. Still, come on. I should be able to do this. I'm going to do it in a set of three phases. Each phase is made up of a two pound weight loss target. I start tomorrow.