Originally entitled 'The Beginning'

This is day 11 of my Cambridge Weight Plan diet. I'll admit, I'm not exactly sticking rigorously to plan - I've been eating foods that are definitely not in the plan, but am so far 8lbs down so can't complain too much. The last time I did this diet with any measure of success, I was a meat eating station assistant back in 2008. I was on Sole Source, which meant that I'd replaced all of my meals with shakes, the total of which brought my calorie count to a little over 400 per day. I'd arrange for my colleagues to do any of the jobs that didn't involve standing stationary on a gate line and as I was always surrounded by colleagues, it didn't matter if my cottage cheese brain was unable to come up with the name of a street that I sent passengers down all of the time. This time, I am a vegan train driver. I can't afford to have (vegan) cottage cheese brain because if the unthinkable happens, I need to not be sitting there in a blind panic unable to remember the safety procedures. Plus my equipment bag is heavy and the walk from the depot with that bag is a killer when I've been eating - I dread to think how bad it would be if I were empty. The foods I've been eating vary from a Holland & Barrett vegan sausage roll I took to my nans place (so she wouldn't harass me to go make a sandwich with the very vegan unfriendly contents of her fridge) to the plain bread roll and Uncle Ben's Chilli snack pot I ate when I got home from work at 02.40 this morning. The picture at the top is what I currently look like (in my wonderful work uniform - I know; it's THAT sexy, but do try to not fall over yourselves). I knew I was big and lumpy, and that my breasts resemble great sacks attached to my chest, but I didn't realise just how truly awful it was until I asked a colleague to take these photos for me. Just the kick start I needed to keep myself focused.

I'm publishing this here because I figure that it's all very well creating a blog in the Cambridge weight plan forum, where I'm surrounded by like-minded people who are used to people falling off the wagon and disappearing into the nether. Having this here means that I can't hide. It also means that I don't have to go hunting for my personal journal thread in a forum filled with hundreds of journals. A friend of mine has a lot of weight to lose, and he very bravely asked people to sponsor him; when he reaches goal, his charity is going to be flooded because this chap has so many people behind him, willing him to succeed. I uploaded my original success picture and he's promised that he will donate £25 to the charity of my choice (St Clare Hospice in Hastingwood) when I reach my goal. I started at 198.6lbs and my preliminary goal is 126lbs (I'm planning on getting a stone under my eventual goal weight so I can use that as a cushion when I finally come off the plan). Well, I think that's all for now. Enjoy a picture of me from when I managed to get slim before.