Hi ladies - am joining in on this great challenge and hoping to work on completing my weight loss journey. I used to weigh 146 kg, i am currently 94kg and aiming to get down to 73 kg which would be half my body weight. I WAS down to 79kg for my wedding last october but with blisfull honeymoon phase,stopping smoking and christmas blowouts have put back on 15 kg in less than 3 months I have also used TTC as a bit of an excuse, feel a bit paranoid about v.low calorie diet when TTC, but realise at 94kg i am still so overweight it will prolly have worse affect on TTC chances than the diet if i am sensible about it, so no more excuses!!!!!!! Only just found out about this challenge today, but i did weigh in at 94kg on new years day.....

tk1999 - nice to see you here (we are TTC 1-6mths buds!) Congrats on the carrot choice- i actually find carrots a great snack, crunchy and a bit sweet- well done!!

Lilias - dont worry about the one hour walk time - i actually quite like that first walk of a new exercise regime, i think of it as my "baseline" time i am setting so i almost WANT it to be bad - it is so exciting to see the time improving and usually quite quickly! I hear you both on the emotional eating thing and the portion sizes. Portion size is a huge one and you honestly get used to eating way less and it can be done very slowly. For example when i weighed 146 kg i would eat TWO FOOT LONG SUBWAYS EASILY!! Now i will have a six inch and if i want something with it just a piece of fruit. I also have my phases on and off using lite'n'easy dinners and i was SOOO hungry at the start but got to a point where i sometimes struggled to finish it.....

Laranna - YUM, love a choc paddle pop, i love it best with a banana paddle pop chaser unfortunately!!! But still a paddle pop is a good lower cal snack - cant remember as i dont really count cals, but 120-ish cals?? I also like just having water icypoles in the freezer sometimes, something yummy and bright looking like the lifesaver icypoles and they feel like a real treat i think around 50 cals? Also re running i believe the couch to 5 km is a great program. I have done running and went from barely being able to walk up and down my street to running a 10 km fun run non stop - this prolly took me 6 months or more but what a great feeling....i would love to run again but have a few hesitations re injuries and also personal phobias of pounding the pavements while TTC even though i know its unfounded i have a mental block on it and think i will stick to walking for the mo.- still i did find for me that nothing dropped the weight like running. The effects on mental health were awesome too. I would just measure a 5km course from your home, time yourself walking it a few times the first week and then each time just try to jog small sections with walk breaks and build it up till you can do it non stop, you will be surprised how quickly you can do it!!!

Also, re when sick or anytime when having take away its more the choice you make - i reckon subway is the best. Also to keep a couple of frozen diet dinners in the freezer and some of those steam fresh vegies that you chuck in the micowave and buy a bbq chook (skin off) or grilled piece of fish to go with it.....

HPsmum - congrats on the BFP!!!, i will interested to see how you go as i am worried how i will deal with weight control when UTD (currently TTC #1). I thought of seeing a dietician for advice on this.

je$$84 - i am quite anti shakes and pills but just personal opinion/experience. Weight loss is such an individual thing its a matter of working out what suits you, your lifestyle, motivation style and personality. For me the shake and pill thing seems unnatural and also a shake to me is depriving me of food. I am not a believer in consuming many if any calories in liquid form. I have one small juice most mornings and other than that drink diet coke or water.

Overall guys i firmly belive that there is no real mystery to the mechanics of weight loss- it is an input versus output thing. If u burn more than you eat you lose weight-up to you if you eat better, exercise more or both. The mystery i believe is more in the psychology of weight loss and that is EXTREMELY complex. I really think we all know HOW to lose weight but unlocking the mystery as to WHY we don't do what we know is best for ourselves is the key. Do we not think we are worthy of such health and happiness?, do we believe we are putting our kids first and forgetting giving our kids a healthy and happy mum is one of the greatest gifts? (should point out i am not a mum, but try and encourage my mum friends that they need to be looked after too). Do we eat to console and congratulate rather than to sustain? Do we eat to protect ourselves? Most of us if we have a good look at it can identify some personal issues that should be given some thought and that if we can reframe some of the negative forces/feelings in our lives would better succeed with our weight loss.

Sorry i have been so long winded ladies, but this is a topic i am pretty passionate about as you can see! - i have done well with weight loss but still find it a constant battle - even though i have figured a lot of the head stuff out, living it on a daily basis is still a struggle. It is just so awesome to see all you lovely ladies supporting each other and i look forward to being a part of it all with you!!! (Promise not to post so long in future!!!)