My grandma gave the most effective weight loss tip. She recently lost about 15kg that had crept up on her over the years. I asked her what she did and she said "I bought smaller plates". When I moved, I made a point of buying the dinner set with the smaller dinner plates and that has really helped with my portion control.

OK, now I am writing this because I need someone here togive me a slap on the wrist(gentle please) and tell me to *stop* eating all the yummy treats that are somehow finding their way into my house. Case in point - Not one, but TWO boxes of truffles arrived today and have somehow made themselves at home in my pantry. (Not from me, mind you - I'm not THAT naughty!)

How do I know I have reached *that* point of over-excess, you ask? Because my gorgeous hubby just said "Katie, honey. Put down the truffle. It doesn't love you. Don't undo all your hard work. Please, just...... Put. It. Down." after I somehow managed to mindlessly eat my *5th* one in a row. Seriously. Oh, I have been such a bad girl. Eeeeeek!

Wow, looks like a lot more people have joined! I'm adding to the list Dottie, Michelle, Carole, Anne, Sarah, Joy, Kyle, Suzy Cue, An, and Fathenry. Welcome everyone!

Michelle - of course you are welcome. Please don't worry about being a downer, sometimes we all get discouraged and it can really help to talk about it.

Katiepea, I sympathize about being surrounded by sweets this time of year! It can be tricky. But please don't be too hard on yourself, OK? I think we need to be careful about using moral language to describe food choices, because it can become really judgmental. Rather than saying you're naughty or bad, I'd say you made a choice that doesn't reflect your goals and where you're trying to go. And eating 5 truffles isn't the end of the world.

It's the first week of January and we are officially started: This week's check-in thread is here: http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....heck-in-13

Oh, oh, count me in! I would love to loose the 15lbs that has crept up in the past year or so. I definetly need to work on the eating habits, I developed quite a sweet tooth and love of lattes. I also switched to a desk job with a short lunch which means no time to walk on lunch during the day. I have kept up my 5 day a week commitment for many years, but my routine's have gotten pretty lazy, I am more going through the motions than working out hard when at the gym.