Magic can I just say how great you’re looking in those over there ! It’s so exciting when things like that happen and more is yet to come! I think you’ve hit on how we all felt at the beginning, how impossible all those stones felt at the beginning, however determined we felt but that it is possible.
On that note a good time to say a warm welcome to all the new people. Great timing, you can make a good difference by Christmas then start 2019 with less to lose. Biggest thing I personally have learned is never underestimate the power of KOKO -Keep On Keeping On. If you’re here you’ve most likely got a history of a series of failed diets behind you. Forget that, it’s in the past and yo7 can’t change that but you can make the future different.
The most successful weeks are those where things go horribly pear shaped but you turn things around , draw your line and keep at it, you learn much more from doing that then one of the weeks where everything goes just fine and you lose a couple pounds. I was u see the illusion that thin people naturally regulate themselves without really thinking about it - having talked to a few about it turns out most f them have to work at it too, it’s just that it’s become a habit to them.
My other tips are get smaller plates and bowls, Asda do good white plates for £1.
Take measurements before you start, good to look back and helpful for weeks when the scales don’t move.
Your relationships with other people may change, some for the better and some for the worse. Be selfish for once and put yourself first. I lied my arse off about how much I’d lost at the start and halved it as couldn’t be doing with ither people’s reactions to hearing I’d lost loads when I clearly had loads to do.
Weight loss is not linear and we’re all different. I was a touch deflated at ‘only a pound’ on week 1 but that pound fpgained some friends over the weeks and then somemore and suddenly it all became substantial and then entered the life changing realm.
Never too early to think about maintenance, it’s the really hard bit so think about it in advance. This isn’t something with an end date, it’s changes we’ll all need to sustain for the rest of our lives. It’s hard but it’s hard for everyone- my super fit Pilates instructor, runner friend who is the same weight as she was when she left school 30 years ago was moaning about it the other day.
Plan in regular weeks of eating at maintenance. It’s good practice, a useful tool to handle life’s various curve balls and there is some evidence apparently that it helps reset leptin and grehlin which are hunger hormones.
Never underestimate how good walking can be for you. Leslie Sansone has a few videos on YouTube, cheesy but effective. I used the 5 minute one when boiling the kettle and the 15 minute one for rice cooking. Also downloaded some running music as the faster tempo made my legs go faster. As you get smaller gradually and have more energy try to fit in more activity as a social thing but gonsteadynat the start as it is tiring and Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Doesn’t matter which way of eating you go for, just needs to be one that strikes a chord with you and you can always change it along the way, don’t over think it at the start, just start! A lot of us have found that it’s been important to build in foods that prevent us feeling too deprived otherwise the fuck it button triggers and helpful to try and minimise this happening. However it will at times and see bit about KOKO for dealing with it.
Sorry to ramble on. Honeysuckle I had no idea there is a new Charge coming, thanks for that 
I too had a ropey couple of days so had to have a better day yesterday which went slightly pear shaped at one point but ended up fine after an evening walk.
Well done Strawberrypig, you’re averaging 2lbs a week at the moment and lost weight over a holiday, plus are nearly 30% of the way there.