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 48:The countdown is on Friends who know me, know I love any excuse for a bit of a sing-along or dance. So, it’s really no great shock that I love taking part in musicals. From the jazz-hands, boppy tunes and tapping heels of a character shoe – there’s few things that can rival the excitement of showtime. That is until you see the costumes. And you realise you have to get on stage with a few pounds too many clinging to your hips. Where spanx and spray tan can take you only so far, sometimes you need to take drastic action. Sometimes you need to quit the carbs… Sounds a little drastic right? Well picture this. A shiny blue leotard that could pass for a mermaid suit in any Disney film, complete with waist high slits and short shorts. If you gulped, I wouldn’t blame you. I wanted to cry. Dutifully taking the dress from the costume ladies, I stuffed it into my bag and promised I’d try it on later that night in the privacy of my home with the help of some spanx. I tried it on and contemplated wearing a mask on stage. Or a wig. So I decided to do a food shop and bought the aisles out of every fresh vegetable, fruit and tray of fish I could carry in two baskets. Preparation is key, and with this in mind, I snapped up two divided out lunch boxes so I could make my salad, keep the ‘wet’ vegetables separate and make up my dinners the night before each working day. Working my week of lates, the evening shift has been known to add 2lbs. This week I had no wiggle room. I was taking tips from the experts... I have three fitness fiend friends. I’ve asked them for the secret to abs and although they all admittedly didn’t have a quick-fix (sorry guys, I tried), they did tell me two things:

1. Abs are made in the kitchen
2. You can’t out-train a bad diet

So I took some solace that I probably shouldn’t feel guilty that I wasn’t trekking to the gym every night this week, once I kept up a daily walk and ate the foods now lying in my fridge. I won’t lie – the first day, I felt invincible. Day two, I was craving some sugar, and by the time I was the third day down, I was fighting the worst migraine I’ve had in months resisting a chunk of bread. I'm not going to lie. There were moments I felt the bread was surrounding me. But I got over it. With lots of water and the impending deadline approaching. So this week, I couldn’t make my class. It’s the week before the show, so I’m busy with rehearsals. So I pulled out my bathroom weighing scale (which is Weight Watchers and always has the same lbs reading anyway), and stepped on. And I was down. 4.5lbs. It’s not the healthiest method (I don’t condone dropping out whole food groups), but for one week, it did the job. And because I knew the importance of eating lean proteins and getting in my fruit and veg, I ate a diet of eggs, bacon, fish, peppers, mushooms, greens and nuts. With a show, barre ballet class and running after a two year old all ahead of me in the week ahead, here’s hope we can make it two weeks of big losses. Height: 5ft 8 Starting Weight: 174 lbs Current Weight: 155.5 lbs Weight Loss To Date: 19.5 lb Goal: 148 lbs Feeling: Happy with progress The Dress In Question.. NOW FITS!