Many people crash onto a diet which makes them lose a ton of weight and then as soon as they eat normally again their body puts its foot down on the hunger pedal and they tend to regain all their loss + a little bit more. THis is part of the famine, recovery, overcompensation cycle and it will continue (with the weight always creeping a little higher after each diet) as long as one diets in that way. By switching to a realistically sustainable lifestyle you are doing the BEST POSSIBLE thing. The weightloss might be slower to start and take longer but it will be permanent weightloss, not just a starvation phase in a yo-yo cycle lifestyle.

For most people exercise is the biggest key. Your body is designed to want enough calories to do stuff and it doesn't know if you're going to do stuff or not, so it is actually possible to gain on a relatively sensible diet. Most celebs you see eat very little AND work out all the time. I saw a programme once on a underwear model. Her body WAS really beautiful but you should have seen her lifestlye! SHe ate 1000-1300 calories a day, did 2 hours of yoga, 1 hour of cardio and 1 hour of weights 6 times a week, and starved (water only) for 36hours before every underwear shoot (usually 1 a week but sometimes 3, she said she fainted if she worked more than that) so she'd have a flat stomach. Not worth it IMO. I'd rather have my wee belly and be able to eat!

I eat 2300 calories (ish, i only counted for 3 days in one week a few months ago, but it is a guesstimate of my average) and for me exercise makes the biggest difference. If i don't exercise i need to eat more like 1700-1800 and as a 181cm person that spells hunger! Equally before i exercised much i imagined a walk every day would be a lot of exercise and for my body it isn't enough. I run for 40-60 mins 3 times a week and swim for 30mins then do a 60min bodypump class once a week. THat is not training for anything, just maintaining. To train i would be running 60-90 minutes three times/week and swimming probably 40-60mins + a 60 min bodypump.

Anyway, a big ramble from bec as usual, but basically i think your idea is a great one. If you want to see change get a stopwatch (or an assistant) and go and time as you run up and down your stairs as fast as you can 5 times (5 up and 5 down) then take your pulse as soon as you stop and 5 minutes later. Write down how long it took and your heartrate right after and 5 mins after. Then do it again every 2 weeks. Will tell you so much more about how your body is than the scales or the tape measure.

Bec