My story started just after Christmas 2012.

I reduced my food intake by a small amount to lose a few pounds put on over Christmas. I did not write anything down at this point. After the first week, my weight had dropped by 1.25 pounds. Now I did not cut down by much; I still drank my wine and had other goodies. I realized that I was enjoying my food, having treated myself, and losing weight. I decided that if I could lose weight by doing what I was doing. Instead of being a martyr to yet another oddball diet, I could continue this way, lose weight and enjoy this way of eating long term. I also really needed to lose more than a few pounds. Rather a lot of pounds needed to be removed from my body.

I decided that I would attempt to use this method of eating as a lifestyle choice. I would not drink gallons of wine or eat pounds of chocolate, but I was not going to give them up. My intention was once and for all to take control of my weight, eat goodies, drink wine and not shy away from going out for meals, etc. I could, have done as I had in the past. That is to go on a crash diet, lose the weight and then go back to normal eating and put weight on again. I was utterly sick to death of doing that. My whole life, was dieting to lose weight.

I wrote down what I remembered I had eaten during the previous week, so I could know my starting point. Over the following months, I kept records of my food intake. I had good weeks and bad weeks and adjusted my food to suit my weight loss or lack of it. As my weight reduced, I reduced my food intake as I needed less energy to carry me about, so needed less food. Sometimes I got it incorrect and felt a little hungry so had to adjust accordingly. Often I got it wrong and gained weight. Over the months, my weight slowly reduced, and I learned what worked for me. One thing I did learn was to not be in a hurry. If my weight loss slowed I did not reduce my food intake by a significant amount. I reduced it slightly and then waited a few days to see the result. I usually waited a week. What I eat today will not affect my weight tomorrow. My weight changes days after eating a lot extra or cutting out a lot of food.