In a new weekly feature, Her.ie newbie Liz is going to share her weight loss journey. She’ll be filling you in on fighting temptation, her willpower struggles with the cocktail menu and taking painfully slow steps towards regular exercise. All in the name of a dress. _____________________________________ Hanging on the wall at the end of my bed is the constant reminder I plan on shedding nearly two stone this year. I also plan on marking the trials and tribulations of ‘trying to be good’ – the favourite saying we all tout, and quickly replace when a cake is put in front of us. Week 49: Sweating it out Following on from last week’s no carbs diet, I was feeling like I had a fighting chance of two weeks of losses. I was coming into the week of a show, which meant a lot of dancing, plenty of water and little sleep. Cue the cravings of sugar and comfort seeking I could manage from a chocolate bar. By day three I was exhausted, and hunting out both a jar of Nutella and my bed. Bed barely happened, and the Nutella remains safely nestled on the supermarket shelf. I kicked off my week of self-imposed exercise fun last Saturday. I was invited to try out some barre ballet by Sure Maximum Protection to test their Stress Control and Sport Strength deoderants with some bends and stretches. I’d heard all about the new craze, and was eager to give it a try. In a room full of eagerly anticipating women, we were guided to a bar and asked to warm up. I naively assumed the warm-up would save my muscles from an angry soreness protest. I was wrong. Very wrong. After standing on our tippy-toes, we were asked to start squats, keeping our ballet posture at all times. Squeezing our cores, or the flab where you would hope core exercises might start sculpting some abs, we then tried different stretches, holds and weight baring exercises. By the end of it, I was just about ready to lie on my side and hope the time would pass quickly. I lasted the class though, and even managed to smile long enough to get a show although you’ll see for yourself that despite the strain, there were no massive sweat patches. Always a good sign…

Our @lizmcq took part in a barre ballet class with Sure#sportstrength this morning! She's off to die now full review next wk!

A photo posted by Her.ie (@herdotie) on Apr 18, 2015 at 4:59am PDT

My legs felt a little shaky afterwards, and it was definitely a lot harder than I had given it credit for… Saying that, I had a new challenge ahead of me. Show week was up and running and after a long dress rehearsal, we started into the run. From bopping along in flapper dresses, to a questionable 1920s bathing suit and moving into that aforementioned mermaid dress, there were more costume changes and foot tapping than I could shake a jazz hand at. Unfortunately my diet wasn't as restricted as I had promised myself I would be. Out went the steamed fish, and in snuck the bread… and McDonalds. Don’t judge – going straight from work to the show meant eating on the run and I wasn’t home until midnight most days this week. So how did I fare on the scales? Well I wasn’t giving myself much hope. I hadn’t exactly been watching what I ate, but I had been put through my paces, dance routines and costume runs. So stepping onto the scales, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. Taking a deep breath, I stepped up on the pad and counted down with the timer. 3,2,1… and no change. I hadn’t lost anything, but I hadn’t gained anything either, and after a week of late night eating and early morning starts (and sausage rolls), I’m glad there wasn’t a spare tyre nestled on my waistline. Especially considering I’m contemplating giving up sugar. Completely. No I haven’t lost my mind… yet. Height: 5ft 8 Starting Weight: 174 lbs Current Weight: 155.5 lbs Weight Loss To Date: 19.5 lb Goal: 148 lbs Feeling: Relieved The Dress In Question.. NOW FITS!