I’ve had a good week. At the moment I have opted to go for a general reduction diet to ease me in gently and to see how the weight loss goes. I tend to find at the beginning of any weight loss programme that relatively simple changes to my diet start to show on the scales and as the weeks pass by I reach a plateau and need more drastic measures to maintain the weight loss. So I am following a basic low fat, reduced calorie diet.

Week 2 of my weight loss journey; All 12stone 4lbs (172lbs) of me!

I have also started walking for an hour each day, I am usually a runner but unfortunately a recent injury has stopped me in my tracks, literally! So again I am easing myself into more exercise gradually and plan to join a gym next week to step things up.

As ever, as soon as I tell myself I am on a diet, I start dreaming of chocolate, cream cakes and ice cream, all things that I wouldn’t eat on a daily basis anyway but all of a sudden they are forbidden so I crave them!! It’s amazing how our minds work. Even so I stayed on track throughout the week and knowing that I have to confess all here helped me to focus! The only blip on the horizon was that I was invited to a friends house for tea., now I can hardly say “yes I’d love to come for dinner but you have to cook me a delicious low fat, low calorie meal”, can I? So, I say nothing and willingly (!) devour the 3 course meal that on a rough estimate exceeds my entire daily calorie allowance. I go home feeling stuffed and guilty but hey, it’s only one day. Life’s too short, I had a great time with my friends and tomorrow is always another day. My philosophy is to try each day to do your best, if things don’t go entirely according to plan, don’t beat yourself up about it, just try harder tomorrow!

And the outcome of it all…jumped on the scales today and I’ve lost 3lbs! Woohoo! So I now weigh in at 12stone 4lbs. (172lbs). For me that’s all I need to see, a slight weight loss on the scales and I feel motivated to tackle another week and to just keep on going until I reach my weight loss goals.

I hope that you’re having a good week too and if you’ve got a weight loss or dieting story you’d like to share please post a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time,

The Wizard

Stay motivated by keeping track of your weight loss.

1. If you want to be successful in your weight loss then concentrate on developing your desire rather than battling with your will power. How much do you really want to lose weight? How much more do you want to lose weight than you want to eat that cream cake or have that take-away? My guess is much more! So think of all the reasons you want to lose weight and write them down. Type the list up; hey laminate it if you want to! Then pin it up somewhere you will see it each and every day, the bathroom mirror is perfect, or even better-put it on the door of the fridge!
2. Set yourself some short term goals and boost your weight loss motivation by rewarding yourself with a treat every time you reach them. Try to make the treat a non-food item, perhaps a new piece of clothing now that your old cloths are getting looser, a facial, a manicure or any pampering treatment, something that makes you feel good. If you’re reaching your weight loss goals then you are doing fantastic and there’s no harm in patting yourself on the back!
3. Read about other people’s weight loss success. I personally find nothing as inspirational and motivational as hearing other people’s stories of weight loss, I can’t get enough of it! So read them from our readers here, search for them online, buy slimming magazines or call a friend who has lost some weight recently. These people who have lost weight are just like you and me, if they can do it, we can too!
4. There is nothing more motivating for your weight loss than having a special occasion in your calendar. Be it a wedding, a Christmas party, your birthday, anything. You’ve got the date in mind, you’ve seen the outfit you want to squeeze into, you’re imagining the compliments everyone is giving you because you look amazing…think about this every day when you feel you’re drifting off target, it’ll steer you right on track.
5. Remind yourself how well you’re doing. I know it’s painful but be brave and take a picture of yourself in your underwear or swimwear at the start of your weight loss journey, that’s what self timers and digital cameras are for! No one has to see it, this is just for you. Every month take a new photo and see how far you’ve come, as the you lose more and more weight these photographs will become like milestones until you reach your final weight loss goal.

So there you have it, my top 5 weight loss motivation tips, I hope they help you on your journey. If you have any weight loss motivation tips you’d like to share, please post them using the comment box below, I’d love to hear from you!

My mission with www.thewizardofweightloss.com is to motivate and inspire people to achieve their weight loss goals and to lead a healthy, happy and fulfilled life. My hope is that my story will inspire others to realise that they can do it too. Read my story here. (This will open in a new window) I am busy trying to get together a collection of photos of me throughout the years of my weight loss journey but as you can imagine, I avoided having my picture taken as much as possible when I was at my heaviest, so these photos are few and far between. As soon as I have them organised I will share them in this weight loss success story section for you to see.

If you have overcome adversity and reached your weight loss goals, I and the other readers would love to hear from you. If you think your story is worth sharing please email me via the contact us form. (This will open in a new window) Your story needs to be between 500-700 words.

Unfortunately we are unable to offer any financial compensation for your story but if we decide to publish it you will be credited as the author and you can add a thumbnail image of yourself (only if you want to of course!).

Any story or article you submit must be original and 100% your own work.

I look forward to hearing from you…

All the best,

The Wizard

Well I can hardly believe it, 21 years after I first started dieting and trying to lose weight I am here again! Well I say I can hardly believe it but I can really, once a dieter always a dieter I think!

I stepped on the scales yesterday and nearly died when I saw the numbers 12 stone 7lbs! (Or 175lbs for my stateside readers).  I have not been this heavy for years, it is true that I have never quite reached my elusive weight loss target of 9 1/2 stone either but that’s another story. Things have just gradually started to slip recently, life has got in the way of my regular exercise and weight loss efforts but no more, things have got to change!

Weight loss success-here I come!

So shocked was I to fully realise how much my weight had crept up and up with out me realising that it has prompted me to start this blog and indeed this website. I hope that through sharing my story I can inspire others to achieve their weight loss goals but on a slightly less altruistic note…I hope that by keeping this blog of my weight loss antics it will keep me on the straight and narrow with my diet and exercise plan!

So, here we go again…I have been on every diet and weight loss programme known to man so I will have plenty to write about and if I come across anything that I haven’t tried before I’ll give that a go too, all in the name of research of course! I plan to share all my weight loss and dieting adventures here so if you want to follow me and share your experiences remember to come back soon and you can post your comments using the box below, I’d love to hear from you. Or if you sign up for my free eNewsletter at the top right of your screen I’ll keep you updated with weight loss tips and advice and of course how I’m getting on with my goals.

Until next time,

The Wizard