A new beginning

This is my first ever blog so I hope people will be gentle with me. To be honest I'm quite surprised that I even managed to create the thing to begin with. I really am not the most technologically minded person in the world so I hope this first foray will lead to bigger and better things.

Not that I expect many people to read this, it's really just a tool for me to motivate myself and keep track of what I'm doing. So, what am I doing? For the last four weeks I've thought of nothing but starting the Lighter Life programme and finally beginning to lose the extra weight I've been carrying for years.

Pretty much ever since I can remember I have been overweight and unhappy about it. Recently someone at work told me that they had started the LL programme and had lost over 2 stone in around 6 weeks. The more that she explained the concept of LL to me, the more convinced I became that this was for me. I have tried other diets in the past but nothing seems to work. I would always lose a bit of weight (maybe a stone) but then lose my motivation when I started to feel better about myself and end up putting it all back on again. I also find it really hard to pick and choose the healthy options when it comes to food so I have always found things like WW difficult. I guess that's quite a common story. What appealed to me about LL, is the idea that you remove yourself completely from conventional food for a time and start to address the reasons why you overeat to begin with. It's only after you have addressed these issues that you then gradually reintroduce conventional healthy foods.

So, tomorrow I have my first proper meeting with an LL group. After tomorrow evening I will be eating nothing but the standard soups and shakes provided by the programme for the next few months.

As a kind of last hurrah I had the most delicious evening tonight. There was divine food (asparagus, duck and chocolate dessert), wine (red, sumptuous ... - that's all I can tell you) and grand marnier (think that's the right spelling), and perfect company. It was one of the best nights out I've had in ages and definitely seemed a fitting last supper before I start on the programme. I also got the chance to meet my friends' partners' brother and his partner (complicated) who were both absolutely lovely.

Now I know that the big day is (almost) finally here, I can hardly wait. I'm so excited as this is the first time that I have anticipated going on a diet with a sense of enjoyment rather than trepidation. I think it is because, for once, I feel that I will actually succeed whereas everything I've embarked on in the past has always felt doomed to fail even from the outset. I also think that this will be the thing to really change my life for the better. Hence, I have titled this blog 'Life Begins at 28' as, even though I am only 28 for another few months, I think this will be the best year of my life.

Finally, I am starting this programme with my friend so I just wanted to write a quick note to her:
L - thank you so much for all the encouragement you have given me over the last few weeks as I was thinking of starting this. I know that we will find it hard at times but I think, with each others help and encouragement, we will succeed and be happier than ever.

That's all for now. Quite a long one to begin with but I'm sure they'll get shorter as time goes on. Will post an update once I've had my first session.