January mission

I have my usual new year wish list, and right at the top is wanting to lose weight. However, wanting doesn't mean that it happens. This year instead of diving into the new year starvation diet I've decided to wait until spring before cutting back. I have several reasons for this:

• When I'm cold I feel hungry (it's winter at the moment)
• I find it hard to stay motivated when the days are short
• I'm still surrounded by left over Christmas temptations - I cannot afford to bin food
• I don't want to spread myself too thin (weight loss requires perseverance)
• I don't feel ready

I have successfully lost weight twice before. By successful I mean that the weight stayed off for several years and this was because I made lifestyle changes that I could maintain. The first time I was in my early twenties and had put on weight due to working in an office. The biggest change I made here was that I started to walk home from work, about 4 miles. This also helped me mentally as I was able to de-stress on my way and got home feeling refreshed and ready to do stuff rather than collapse on the sofa. My weight would fluctuate (I'm never going to be slim) but I felt healthy.

I put on a large amount of weight after having my first baby. This was eventually lost through walking, again. I walked everywhere, my pushchair went through 5 sets of wheels during this period! Things ground to a halt with my second baby which coincided with my first having to walk alongside us. Suddenly my 4-5 mile treks weren't very practical with a 3yr old walking too.

I have tried running in the past, and enjoyed it, but personally I feel that walking is what succeeds for me, but this takes up a lot of time. Building this into my life at the moment is hard especially as I don't want to be dragging my boys along with me. I like walking on my own, I don't like dealing with whining especially on a cold wet morning when I'd rather be staying in the house too.

My January mission is to get up early in the mornings 3 days a week to go for a short walk before my partner heads off to work. The walk is short because I don't enjoy being out in the dark. As the days get longer I anticipate being out for longer, I'm quite looking forward to it. But dieting is on the back burner until I feel stronger in myself.