Hi again fatfighter,
The not going out for the first few weeks was the kick start I needed. Although I have to say it wasn't that difficult - the weather was diabolical for much of the time and I had a load of programmes to watch on catch up! And no particularly wonderful invitations came my way during that time so I didn't feel I was missing out on anything.
I really find that thinking back to how I felt when asking for that extension belt on the plane hits the spot for me. It was a bit of a turning point in my life. Is there something you haven't been able to do very well - or would do better if you lost some weight that you could concentrate on? Or maybe pin up a particularly unflattering photo somewhere in the kitchen? As I said, a lot of it is in the mind. I keep hoping people will see me and remark about how much weight I've lost, but they haven't yet (and to be fair I've only lost a little over a stone now and have a LONG way to go) - but the old me would have got fed up with nobody noticing after all my struggling and I would have probably thought "why bother, no one notices" - but the new me is saying to myself "ok, keep going because one day soon someone WILL remark on my weight loss and won't I feel GOOD".
I haven't set myself any targets or goals - that won't work for me. But I'm very much looking forward to being able to buy something in the the next dress size down, so that keeps me motivated (any dress size without a 2 at the beginning will be wonderful) and I have made a deal with myself that when I get to 10% of my body weight off, I will be able to go swimming without having to do that "walk of fear" from the changing rooms to the pool. I think it's really important that YOU decide what works for YOU. I have resigned myself to the fact that I'm here for the long haul so looking at weight loss over, say, a two month period rather than week to week is the key for me. If your weight loss journey is going to be many months, or even years, then one week of that time is such a tiny proportion that we shouldn't be worrying about one bad week. I definitely haven't had a very good week, but it was my choice - you have to still allow yourself to have a life you enjoy and I'm not going to be beating myself up about it!