One good thing about being sick (in fact the only good thing about being sick when you are a mum and can't lounge around in bed all day) is the fact that one morning you wake up, having had a wonderful refreshing night's sleep for the first time in days, and you get the truly fantastic feeling that the sickness has lifted and you're on the mend.

This was me this morning. I woke at 5.50 am (body still on summertime)but I felt fresh and fantastic. I could have got up and started my day quite happily. But I chose the luxurious lie in option - at least until 6.10 when the first of my offspring (also on summertime) woke up demanding entertainment and a nappy change. And I went to him happily and the day has gone fine from then on in.

I've still got a cough - in fact it now sounds worse than it did before because it is productive. But the brain fog has cleared, and better still I've got my voice back and can sing again. And that's all it takes to keep me happy.

Today is the last day of nursery half term so I'm back to normal routines tomorrow. Bout time too, says I.

I am a fully-fledged gym instructor. Something I never imagined could be said about me, but there you are.

The examiner said I was very good and did way more than the minimum required to pass. If anything I said too much.

When I came to my dreaded barbell clean and heave press (think olympic weightlifter and you probably have some idea why I have trouble doing this without laughing) the examiner said that my technique was faultless, and my coaching was pretty good too. When I pointed out that neither me nor my volunteer had ever handled a barbell until four weeks ago he was doubly impressed.

So GO ME! I say. And a very big thank - you to Angela for her help and unflappable support on the day.

Now I'm going to settle down and work on my own fitness until the next segment of study after Christmas.

Weight was up 1 lb this morning. But after a week of sickness (with comfort food) and very little exercise, it could have been a lot worse. Back on the straight and narrow tomorrow.

I think I feel a little better this morning, but I don't want to tempt fate. I just want to get tomorrow out of the way.

I went to the gym with my hubby this morning and we put the children in the creche. I decided not to exercise, but to spend some time in the jacuzzi and the steam room followed by a blistering hot shower to try and smoke the bugs out of my chest.

When I was finished I had some time before the children were due out, so I went up to the club room and had a bottle of water and a banana and read the paper.

One of the instructors came up to me and asked me how my training was going. I told him that I hadn't done anything today as I was conserving my energy.

"I heard you were training to become an instructor" he said (I had told my trainer about this, so she didn't think I was nuts when I started barking instructions at my friend).

I told him I had my gym instructor exam tomorrow. "Oh good luck", he said " I've seen you practice instructing your friend and you seem very confident and natural at it. I'm sure you'll do fine"

Then he asked me what I was planning to do with the qualification and I told him that once I had the Personal Trainer bit done I was going to set up on my own. He said that he was in charge of the Personal Trainers that run out of my gym and that if I was interested in working there I should come and see him.

You've no idea how much of a confidence boost this has given me. Someone who is doing the job already has recognised my potential. I'm not just the fat lass with a daft dream - I really could make a go at this. I know my husband and friends will always support me, but this from a total stranger has just made my day.

Bring on the exam tomorrow!

....but at least I know what's been bugging me now.

Since my blobby day on Wednesday I've had a 24 hour stomach flu, which resolved itself quite violently over Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

I've established that I really did have PMT, which has now resolved itslef into good old MT, with attendant cramps & headaches (seems like I'm only nice for about seven days in each month - the rest of the time I'm a hormonal wreck)

And I've got a nice little chesty cold which has settled in today leaving me light-headed with a horrid cough.

None of them on their own are too bad - none of them will kill me and I should be back to fighting form in a few days. But with three little symptoms all at the same time, its no wonder I felt cruddy.

So limiting my time online again. A hot bath, another dose of paracetamol & caffeine, and off to bed early.

Tomorrow's heavy gym session is cancelled in favour of a sit in the steam room. And I hope that I will be getting better in time for my gym exam on Sunday. Wish me luck!

Today is the ten year anniversary of the day that I woke up and realised that I had finally plucked up the courage to ask out a work colleague that I really fancied, at dinner the night before. We'd been out to dinner a few times after work, but I just wanted to see whether he thought it was a serious thing or just friends.

He was very shy and nervous, and when I had asked him out he had blushed to his roots. I think he had said yes, but it was a little bit garbled, and I'm not sure I completely understood what he meant (I'm not sure he even knew what he meant). Then he walked me to my car, pecked me on the cheek and ran like hell.

So this day 10 years ago (a Saturday), I was feeling a little bit confused. Did I score? Or had I just made my job untenable by making a fool of myself in front of a very close colleague that I shared a very small office with.

I was on the phone to mum, telling her about the previous night (I'd been filling her in all through my attempts to flirt with the guy so she knew I'd been planning to ask him.) I'd just got to the point of describing how he'd run away when a giant bunch of flowers on legs walked up my driveway......

And so began my relationship with my gorgeous and wonderful husband...

Feeling really grotty today. Can't decide whether its PMT, autumn related lethargy or whether I'm going down with some bug or other. Could of course be all three, plus the extra stress of half term child overload.

My husband is away on business tonight. I've had the children at a friend's house all day so I could blob on the sofa and have a pair of extra hands to help me. I usually look forward to these nights alone - I can come up here and surf to my heart's content without feeling guilty.

But not tonight. The children went to bed 5 minutes ago - I'm here to say a quick hello and account for myself and then I'm off under the covers too. See you soon everyone

Weigh in this morning and there's another pound gone. Well to be honest it's probably more like a quarter of a pound, but I'm not counting fractions. I've trickled into the next pound bracket and that's good enough for me.

I suppose I have to thank the extra weekend workout. Well that will certianly become a regular feature from now on. And I have to ask myself what would I be feeling today if I had not pigged out on Saturday night. Answer - I would probably have lost an additional pound or so and be feeling over the moon. One of these days I might just learn the lesson that is staring me inthe face here.....

Maybe now hubby dearest has decided to join me on the trail again we might be able to keep each other away from the Thai food. I really am going to try I promise....

I have just put some before and current pictures on my website. I have tucked them away as they are not particularly pretty and no-one should have to stumble across them by accident. I've taken the picture in swimwear on purpose as I hope I will be able to see the improvements more clearly. Clearly I won't be facing a beach in this garment any day soon - but hopefully someday........

Looking at this I can see I have definitely made some progress, although things have been a bit slow just recently.

I'm hoping that this public airing will inspire me to get off my fat lardy a**e and make things better. I hope to be able to post an update with visible differences very soon.

This was going to be a reply to Sussie's comment on my last post, but as I got into it I realised I had quite a lot to say on the subject so decided to make it a full post.

I find the gym is a great place to exercise when you're shy. Once you know your way around you can just be in your own space and you don't have to talk or interact with anyone if you don't want to.

In my gym, most of the other people have their IPods on, or they are plugged in and watching the telly. Everyone is tuned into their own personal experience, working at their own speed. No-one is bothering to watch you. I find that a lot less intimidating than classes, where you're supposed to be doing the same as everyone else, and look like a complete twit if you do it wrong or fail to keep up.

Also when you do classes everyone finishes together so there's always that post-class banter, that bonding over a shared torture experience. I find that quite intimidating, especially as I'm usually the one who has fluffed up and bumped into someone, had to stop because I've turned into a breathless beetroot, or let out a fart during the floor work. If you do classes at the gym and everyone is showering and changing together that can be even worse - apart from with my hubby I find conversation quite difficult when both parties are naked........

For people who are unco-ordinated and self conscious like me, it has to be the relative anonymity of the gym. I can do my own thing at my own pace and there's nobody to tell me I have to keep up with them or look silly. Plus if I really can't do a particular thing one time, I can skip it and move onto the next, or if, like this morning on the elliptical, it all comes together, I can do a bit longer of the thing that is good.

My gym gave out a special offer last week. They're quite bright on the marketing front, I'm finding. Bring a friend for one month for free.

So I asked my hubby if he wanted to come at the weekend - they have a creche there even on a Saturday so a good chance for us both to escape the children for a bit and perhaps do ourselves some good.

I booked him in for an induction session and did my workout. I was motivated too, cos I didn't want him to see me slouching about. I beat my best on the elliptical trainer again, and he said to me that he thought I looked really great while I was doing it (aww, thanks sweetie!)

The best thing is, he really enjoyed himself too, and thought it was much better than anything else we might have done on a wet Saturday morning. After we finished in the gym we took the children swimming and that was great fun. So all in all a good day out for all the family.

The second part of the marketing deal was that if I got the person to join, I would get two free bottles of wine and a free massage in the spa. I didn't really expect anything from that, but he's now saying he does want to join, and that we should do this most Saturdays, and he wants to go evenings after work too.

So I may end up getting my prizes after all. And, who knows I may even end up with a super-fit hunk of a husband! And it's just one more boost in my own health campaign.

I had to take my little girl to nursery out of hours today. Her school is recording a CD of Christmas songs. The nursery class are doing "Twimkle Twinkle little star" Ok I know that's not strictly a Christmas song but I think its the only song that they all knew and it was a bit short notice to teach them a carol.

The mums weren't allowed in the "recording studio" (school music room) while they sang, but we were able to stand by and listen. I dare say it sounds pretty indifferent when it's not your child, but I'll freely admit I welled up a bit, cos to me it sounded just lovely. She's my little baby and she's grown up enough to do this.....

I can't wait to get the CD now. I love children's voices singing carols at the best of times, and having a recording of childen I know is better still.

I spent several hours last night finishing the portfolio that I have to submit as part of my gym instructor exam next week. Nearly 70 pages of stuff. Ive been putting it off and putting it off - not going near the computer out of guilt. That's why I haven't been talking to you guys -don't worry it's not you.

Then last night I bit the bullet and went for it. Got it all finished and printed out. Took me nearly four hours and I was boggle eyed by the time it was finished, but at least its done.

So now hopefully this weekend I can return, in full voice. Maybe I might even make vox's top bloggers list next week!

I've got an apple tree and a pear tree in my new garden. Don't know what kind they are but they are just fruiting now. Typically my children turn their nose up at them - they much prefer their fruit round, shiny and wax-polished from Sainsburys and shun the home-grown beautifully organic ones (apart from my son who has a real taste for the rotting ones that fall off the tree onto the ground.

Up till now I didn't really know what to do with the fruit as there's more than I can eat, and the pears are a bit knobbly even for my taste.

And then I had a brainwave - juice. So I got out my rusty old juicer, which hardly ever sees the light of day. Yesterday we all shared two pints of home made organic apple juice and today it was pear juice. All fresh and delicious and for free.

I dare say there are some who would know how to make some kind of exotic alcohol out of this juice, but we just enjoyed it as it was. My friend who was visiting suggested putting some fresh ginger in with the next batch of pear juice which I will certainly try.

A really lovely Autumn weekend - warm, dry. It's no good, I really have to get out in the garden and sort it out.

Ever since I've been working I've always had a garden of sorts. Even my first bedsit in central London had a small strip of concrete garden with a very small bed in which I managed to grow a few geraniums. And the next four flats after that had steadily increasing patches of green and brown stuff.

For the last few years we moved to Jersey and lived in a large block of flats. But I lived on the ground floor and managed to take over and cultivate a small patch of the communal garden. I just enjoy watching things grow. I'm lazy as heck, and concentrate on the very easy stuff but I love seeing my flowers in the summer, and tasting a few home grown fruits, veggies and herbs.

But this year we've moved back from Jersey and moved into what I hope will be our main family home for at least the next 20 years or so. And with my enthusiasm I chose one with a huge garden for the kids to run about in. Hubby dearest doesn't have much gardening experience but he's keen to have a go so we went for it.

And now I come to my worst time of year in the garden - the Autumn clear down. Up till now in the gardens I have had this has been one afternoon's work at worst - always dreaded but never so bad when you get down to it.

But this year the task is colossal. The garden was a bit untidy when we took it over as the previous owner had become disabled. And we didn't quite get on top of all of it over the summer. Added to that the warm wet autumn where everything is still growing and I can't believe the volume of stuff that needs cutting down, pulling out and raking away. Add to that the help (or otherwise) of two very small children, and a hubby who has decided he doesn't like the smell of "piles of decomposing crap" as he put it, and I can see I've got a task on my hands.

Oh well, I made a good start this afternoon, clearing out the flowerbed nearest the house and getting some spring bulbs in. That's the bit I simply must do - I have to have my daffodils in the spring. I planted some snowdrops in the lawn and crocuses around the pond and gave some of the nearest bushes a good haircut.

I've got a decomposing pile of crap almost as tall as me already and I reckon I'm less than a fifth through what I'd like to do. But it's a start, it does look better already, and hopefully I'll get a few more reasonable days before the cold sets in.

And I certainly earned my hot bath this evening!

Following on from yesterday, I did leek and postato soup, with some onions and some celery and some garlic.

And it was absolutely yummy.

blog is going to be very short this weekend as I have some serious work to do. Will miss you guys, but needs must.

Something very weird is going on in my psyche.

Some of you may have noticed that the food diary has been a bit absent the last couple of days. And there's a good reason - I've been eating crap again.

I ran out of fresh fruit and veg in the house and couldn't be bothered to go to the supermarket. So I started randomly eating the contents of the kitchen cupboards. This would normally be the end of any diet and fitness regime. This usually happens at about this stage in any diet I do and bang goes another set of good intentions.

But yesterday I can honestly say I was craving vegetables. I don't think this has ever happened to me - I generally force them down because I know they are good for me. And when I am going through a crap food stage, I just erase their memory from my databank.

Thankfully I've set up my weekly delivery of organic veg now, so another huge box of fruit and veg arrived this morning. And I'm so excited I don't know which bits to mash up for soup first.

I had a lovely chicken salad wrap for lunch, and this evening I just had a smoothie (mango and banana with soya milk) because I wasn't particularly hungry. But tomorrow will definitely be soup. Yum, yum.

As part of the new fitness regime, I decided to walk to toddler group. About a mile, I suppose. Normally at this time of year I would take the car that distance - but this is the new me.

While I was there the heavens closed in and the thunder and lightning started. That was when I realised I had detached the hood from my jacket and left it at home.

I had to set off on the journey back at 11.15, as I had to pick my daughter up from nursery on the way. So I had no choice but to go out in the worst of it. And I got drowned.

Normally, the very sight of rain, repels me and I scurry off indoors. But since I was forced to be out in it and soaked through within 2 minutes, I started to look at it differently. It certainly got me walking briskly - no bad thing. And once you are wet through, which happens pretty quickly, and you get used to that, it doesn't actually get any worse. As long as you keep moving and stay warm, it's not really that bad.

I can't believe this is me saying this, but I actually quite enjoyed the walk home in a crazy kind of a way. I laughed when my daughter and I stepped in a puddle up to our ankles and wrote off both our shoes. She saw me laughing and laughed too. And the whole thing was fun.

Maybe this fitness lark is starting to have an effect on me. Maybe I'm mellowing in my old age. Or maybe the rain soaked through my hair into my brain and is driving me nuts.

I have overdosed on broccoli today. I made some soup at lunchtime with broccoli and cauliflower plus some garlic and some cheese, and it was lovely.

And I've just had some more with my tea. And I'm starting to realise that you can have just too much of a good thing

I have overdosed on broccoli today. I made some soup at lunchtime with broccoli and cauliflower plus some garlic and some cheese, and it was lovely.

And I've just had some more with my tea. And I'm starting to realise that you can have just too much of a good thing

I had a Body Stat test at the gym today. They connect up electrodes to you and the machine tells you how much fat, lean tissue and water you have in your body, plus also gives an estimate of your metabolic rate - ie. how many calories you can eat in a day to maintain weight.

Can't say there were any surprises. It showed up about 37% fat, whereas I should be aiming for about 25%. Well I think anyone in their right minds could see the excess fat as it is hanging off me.

Water % was 45% whereas I should be aiming for over 50%. I thought that might have been a bit better as I have been doing my damnedest to drink water on this campaign and I thought I was doing quite well. If I am still dehydrated at the moment, I must have been a positive prune before. Still I will try to keep at it.

But the really good news for me is that my resting metabolic rate was over 1500 calories per day, which is very high. If I did nothing all day but laid in bed, I would still burn 1500 calories - how cool is that? And my normal level of daily activity burns around 2350 calories.

What that does for me, is shows me why I don't get on with diets that are printed in newspapers and magazines, or even Weight watchers. They reckon that a normal woman burns 2000 calories a day and so suggests 1500 calories a day for sustained weight loss.

Now I know that I shouldn't get out of bed for 1500 calories a day - literally. No wonder these diets leave me starving, and I lose motivation very very quickly. I could lose weight on 1800-2000 calories a day, and if I increase my daily exercise and activity level then I will lose even faster. Also regular exercise will speed my metabolism up even further so I could be an eating machine and still maintain weight.

This is good news indeed and very motivating. The main reason I had the test done was so I could do it again in several months and compare the results, so that I would have something to be happy about. But the results have made me happy already.

Not the best, not the worst today - a bit of a halfway house.

Breakfast was cereal and milk as usual.

Mid morning - bottle of water and a pannettone from Costa Coffee (this would usually have been a latte and a huge muffin so I feel like I'm making an improvement)

Lunch Half a ham and cheese toastie. This was really disgusting. I shared it with the kids and even they wouldn't eat it. I knew I should have chosen the salad option.

Mid afternoon. Soya milk and vitamins, protein bar

Dinner. Minced up the remains of last nights roast beef and cooked it with finely diced onions, mushrooms and some cleverly disguised carrots (have to get them into my children somehow). Served to all three of us with sweet potato mash (my hubby is away on business tonight)

I thought it was delicious and quite healthy as it was a very lean cut of beef and I didn't add any more fat. Kids weren't so keen but they did eat some so that's OK.

Some people really love walking. Just for the heck of it. They just love to be outside to go and find somewhere to walk, because it feels good.

I really wish I could be one of those people. I understand that walking is really good for you. I have been on a few walks with friends where I have come back really exhilarated and glowing with health. And yet it's still hard to persuade me to go out. (And that's just walking - I won't even venture onto the subject of running yet!)

But, I am determined to get fit. And somedays I just can't get to the gym. And walking is about the only thing I can think of doing with a toddler in tow. So walking it is for the moment.

so I treated myself to a new pair of trainers at the weekend and decided to set off after dropping my elder daughter at nursery. But despite there being a very picturesque river walk no distance away from my house, I just couldn't walk just for the sake of it. So I went into town instead and did some shopping. Takes about 15 mins to get in and 15 mins back again. So that still counts, doesn't it?

Think I need to get back to the gym - I'm better able to define what I need to do there.

Yee hah! 12 stone 8!

That's three pounds off for the week, and I'm finally down on my starting weight for this blog. I think I'm finally getting there.
I'm also back out of obese territory - yippee corioboria is overweight!

Let's see if I can keep it up.

The main focus of today has been one great big enormous Sunday roast with all the trimmings.

I think I've burnt off as many calories preparing the thing as I did from eating it. That's my excuse anyway (though I may go on my cross trainer for a while tonight just to stack the odds in my favour for weigh in day tomorrow).

I went to the farm shop for meat, and all the veggies were organic, from my new weekly organic vegbox (from Riverford Organic Vegetables - www.riverford.co.uk).

I spent absolutely ages washing the veg - not prepared to risk a repeat of my salad disaster - then cut it all into child bite-sized chunks and boiled/roasted/microwaved as appropriate. Everything still had its dirt on from the field. It's probably just an illusion but I like the idea that it was pulled from the field, thrown straight onto a lorry and brought directly to me and has not been graded/washed/wrapped and stuck in warehouses and holding areas for days or weeks on end.

So we had roast beef with leeks, carrots, parsnips, spinach, onions and mushrooms. And it was absolutley delicious. Fiinished it off with apple and apricot pie and a small dollop of custard. This was probably unnecessary and I will like as not pay for it on the scales tomorrow. But I think you still have to live a bit, even when you are trying to get fit.

I've run around after the little ones all afternoon and am now enjoying a well-earned rest. Gym is booked for Tuesday - tomorrow I may do some walking.

My hubby was working today, so I decided to take the children out for the day. I had to pick up an ebay purchase from Brighton so decided to make a day trip to the seaside.

I haven't been to Brighton in years. I grew up a little way along the South Coast so never bothered visiting any other seaside towns when growing up as I already lived in one. I'd been a few times on day trips from London when I was a stressed singleton. But not since I've been married. And not with children.

Id forgotten just how awfully bad the traffic in and out of town can be. Of course, it's a fine day in October - a rarity - and maybe the last time we'll see the sunshine till Spring - who knows. So the whole population of London went down to Brighton this afternoon to soak up the sun.

But despite the road rage and the very small parking space which I had to shoehorn my family bus into as it was the only space left in the whole city, as soon as I got out of the car I felt great. I always forget just how much the sea invigorates me, how essential it is to my continued well-being. I always used to go out alone, when I was growing up - find a quiet bit of beach and stare out at the horizon in order to lose my stress and reground myself. And even though the beach today was heaving, it still works.

I gave the children a great big fun day - Burger King at the motorway service station, ice creams on the beach, candy floss at the fair, plus a few little toys and naughty treats here and there. Hence the abridged food diary. But despite it all, plus a little bit of sunburn on my face (in October?) I have to say I feel great!!!

I had a day off. And that's all I'm prepard to say about what I've eaten and drunk today.

Bit early to be writing this I suppose as the day is only half over. But I'm going to try and keep of the blog tonight as I have got work to do, so thought I'd get it out of the way.

Breakfast - sultana bran - bit predictable, but I like it.

Morning snack after gym - muesli bar, banana and coffee

Lunch - Home made pumpkin and potato soup with cheese sprinkled on

Afternoon snack - protein bar. Soya milk and vits

Tonight I'm planning to have some chicken and/or prawns with some salad.

Hopefully the weight is starting to melt away.......

Went back to the gym today for an unusual third session in a week. I was very conscious that after having such a fantastic day yesterday I was setting myself up to be a bit disappointed. So I decided to take it really steady - just being there was enough to get credit.

I also decided to use all the equipment that I don't normally go on - that way I couldn't compare myself with yesterdays fantastic performance - also I figure I might use some different muscles.

So for aerobic workout - that meant the bike and the rower. The bike I find very hard to get excited about - I can burn more calories on the cross trainer and enjoy it much more. But I did it to the tune of some very seedy rock anthems from the 80s and got through with no problems.

And then the rower. I quite enjoy this once in a while, so I set it up for 2000m (about 15 minutes worth) and off I went. The main problem with the rower is your hands are not at all free, so you can't readjust your glasses, drink water or worse still change the tunes on your MP3 player. As I had set it to random tunes from my whole collection rather than my workout playlist, I was treated to some obscure movement of a cello concerto (I think), two random chapters from my Linguaphone Learn Italian course plus a relaxation exercise from my Hypnobirthing course (I had to stop and turn that one over - I think falling into a trance on the rower would not be a good move).

After that, I practised the silly barbell lifts that I have to do for my exam (the bit I'm dreading), did a huge long stretching session, and called it a day.

Considerably less than yesterday, but I give myself brownie points for just being there. Little and often, that's the key.

My three-year old Anne-Sophie is starting to learn her alphabet and how to spell her name. She's absolutely fascinated by the hyphen in the middle of it, as so far she has not come across any other hyphens in any other names or words, so she reckons she must be pretty special to have one.

She's also cottoned on to the fact that her name is longer than most of her friends' - that makes it quite complicated and special.

So here for all of you who ever wondered is her grammatical definition of a hyphen - "it's a long line that you put in the middle of a word to stop the letters getting muddled up!"

I wish my English teacher could have defined things so well - then I might have paid attention!

Most of this has been covered in my earlier post,

So (succinctly) 2 slices of toast and a banana for breakfast. Soya milk & vits.

Fantastic gym session with plenty of water, followed by cup of strong coffee and a bag of peanuts.

lunch - omelette with onion, mixed peppers and cheese (yummy)
cup of water

The gym high lasted till about 3pm and was followed by the most intense sugar cravings I have felt on this diet. I picked up my daughter from nursery and they were having a cake sale inthe school hall. Temptation at it's most acute.

Thankfully I was extremely short of cash. I bought a cake each for my two dearest darlings and nothing for myself. I went home to a large glass of water and a muesli bar, and despite big nagging, desperate cravings I made it through till tea time.

Tea was a toasted sandwich made with chicken and prawns (no butter)and a large side salad. Followed by more coffee - I'm afraid it's my last vice and will take some kicking.

All in all I'm satisfied with the day. When the cravings hit I imagined that my body was burning fat at a fantastic rate, crying out desperately for more fuel. I told it that there was plenty of spare fuel around my middle, so it should go look there as there wouldn't be any more good stuff going in my mouth today.

I'm pumped today! I believe the technical term for it is getting "In The Zone". Whatever it is I have to admit it feels great.

I woke up this morning feeling a bit lousy, but determined to get back to healthy eating after my lapse yesterday. Got to the gym , full of determination. Tuesday's workout wasn't great, so I was hoping for a bit better.

And I was amazed. I only just posted this as advice yesterday, that when you start training the gains can come quickly. I think I'll add to that that if you have a rotten session, maybe it's a premonition that you are about to make a breakthrough.

I got on the cross trainer, did my warm up - started pumping along to the wonderful sound of "I will survive" (I know it was ruined by the karaoke trend, but it's still an all-time classic for me).

I became aware that I was not at all breathless, in fact I had quite a bit of go left in me. So I put the resistance up a bit. And again, and again. On Level 4 (when I normally do level 1) and I still felt fine. Carried on for 30 minutes instead of my normal 20 and could probaly have done more.

Did my weights - had to increase some of the weights that I lift as well - felt like I had boundless energy this morning. Loads of stretches, some relaxation and a steaming hot shower. Looked at my heart rate monitor and I had smashed my record for numbers of calories burned in a single session. Go me!

Finished it off with a cup of strong coffee in the cafe and floated out feeling like I was walking on air - literally. I guess athletes feel like this all the time - this must be why people exercise!

I still feel high nearly 3 hours later. I ate a very healthy omelette and just feel so very smug, virtuous, and at home in my skin. I probably look a whole inch thinner - bet I do!

Ok this isn't the first time I've felt like this, but it's certainly the first time in the current campaign. Just had to share - if my enthusiasm infects any one of you out there then I will have done my job.

I want some more of this! i've booked my lad into the creche and I'm going back tomorrow. Not to do weights, as I understand the need to rest between sessions. But maybe some more cross trainer, or a swim, or maybe even a class. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!

I can't really believe this is me talking. But for now, I'm going with the flow.....