A few of my favourite things...

I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for some time now.  I wanted a way of recording my weight loss journey, I suppose a tangible way of seeing my progress other than looking at my decreasing waistline!  More than that, however, I wanted to be able to share my passions about the things in life I love dearly - the things which despite my calorie counting I refuse to give up entirely - namely baking cakes!

Over the past four months I have been disciplining myself to be able to bake for the joy of baking and not simply the joy of licking the bowl, or scoffing all of the cakes secretly myself!  Baking is equally about seeing the reaction on people's faces when they sample your culinary masterpiece.

Then there is the flipside to the things I'm passionate about - walking - more specifically fell walking in the Lake District.  The latter of course aids my weight loss journey greatly!  As my family and I live in Essex, the best I can hope for is a once a year week's holiday in the Lakes - but many months are spent pouring over Alfred Wainwright's pictoral guides planning which fells will be attempted.  Like many of life's passions, this stems from my childhood.  I was raised in a very small town in southern Indiana, USA.  My parents had built a log home on 20 acres of dense woodland - so this was my 'playground'.  Later, my father wanted to try hiking the Appalachian Trail, so during school holidays we would travel to Tennessee/North Carolina and hike sections.  I loved this - blisters and all!

A view across Buttermere lake to Haystacks on the right

So now my goal is to reduce my weight by 80 pounds - but the journey officially started four months ago and I am already 31 pounds down!  I am no stranger to weight loss - having previously lost over 100 pounds, unfortunately most of it crept back on over a period of three-four years.  My goal now is not only to lose the weight for the final time, but to achieve a balance in finding an activity - such as walking - that will keep me active and motivated.  So, to this end I have taken the plunge and entered the Race for Life 5k at the end of May.  I will also be climbing Snowdon in June, followed by Scafell Pike in August (two out of three peaks ain't bad?!) - and the hope is that I can achieve all three of these goals without huffing and puffing and collapsing at the finish line!

My aim with this blog will be to share my trials and tribulations, share some fab recipes I've stumbled across for both weight loss and the occasional treat and to share my love of walking.  To end, I will share an excerpt from my favourite poem by Robert Frost:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.