Jeff, I trust there was no liquid loading ahead of Sunday's weigh in?

Well, the first of the 70 days didn't go so well for me. Breakfast an orange with a cup of fat-free yoghurt, morning tea an apple, lunch a lettuce-fetta-olive-tomato salad and an apple, and dinner grilled blackfish with vegetables. The problem was the three little bottles of James Squire Pilsener, a slice of my wife's orange cake and two of her Anzac biscuits. I did, though, refuse her repeated invitation to have a bowl of her self-saucing chocolate pudding. Today, no beer, no cake, no biscuits!

Keep that friend Jeff. He is an inspiration.

I had a shocker yesterday, Jeff. A brownie for morning tea, a gigantic bowl of pasta for dinner (about three size the recommended serve which I ate in about three minutes flat!) and a big glass of red. Must be work stress! As they used to say at Weight Watchers, tomorrow, ladies is another day!

Hi Jeff, Counting calories/kilojoules is the most successful way of losing weight (my experience). I set a target of no more than 1200 calories per day. I weighed in yesterday. I have lost 3 kilos. I was astounded by this result and asked my wife to double check. I am told that sometimes a person at the start of a diet will lose a lot of weight initially due to "fluid".Then a more steady loss will proceed. Most days I have kept below 1000 calories but never over 1200. Re "red wine". If a person does like the odd tipple I believe a dry red is quite beneficial, even a rough old claret.

Jeff, nothing wrong with one glass of wine, or one brownie, really, but in the scheme of things, they take the place of REAL FOOD required to keep the body going. So say I need 18 points a day on my Weight Watchers diet (a point being the equivalent of a piece of bread, a piece of fruit, an egg, a potato, or about 40g of meat), then if a glass of wine is 1.5 points (probably 3 the size of the buckets I have) and a brownie is 4 points, then I'm in strife. So for dinner, I could have a nice piece of fillet steak (120g), a couple of chat potatoes and a bucket of salad or steamed veg for "cheaper" than a brownie and a tiny glass of wine! I know there are days when the brownie and the wine are more appealing, but, well, if you want to lose weight, you cant have both!

The first of the challenge's 10 weeks has been for me, I'm embarrassed to tell you, an embarrassment. Drinking and eating have been barely constrained and so I've had to comfort myself with the plan to begin my 10-week challenge today. Yes, I'll be compressing the 10 weeks into nine. So far today I've had one cup of fatless yoghurt and an orange and, for morning tea, two apples, which should have been one apple but which means that I won't be eating an apple with my salad lunch. I'm much the same weight, 97kg, and I'm hoping to make up for lost time over the next two weeks.

Hi Jeff and dieting friends, I had a good week. The tummy is doing a lot of protesting, a burning feeling. Up till yesterdays weigh in I have lost three and a half kilos. That is the best I have ever seen when dieting previously. Being a chubby vegan it is easy to identify my transgressions of putting on weight. Bread, crumpets potato chips and my absolute favourite "FRIED CHIPS". (my wife cooks the best chips in the world) As mentioned earlier when my wife cooks the meals the calories are recorded and I have been able to stay below 1000 most days but never over 1200. An interesting piece of history regarding calorie counting. When Captain Bligh was cast adrift by the mutineers on the Bounty in a long boat; he calculated the rations for a long journey of thousands of miles. 400 calories was his bench mark. I believe one person died on this epic journey. That being said I do not regard Mrs old boy as Captain Bligh and I am not intending to mutiny before lunch today as Pea soup is on the lunch menu two bowls 90 calories per bowl with 5 plain rice and corn crackers and lettuce Total 296 cal for lunch. Yum!

Blimey, old boy, you'll disappear!

Wilma have you tried miso soup? My daughter told me this is a part of the diet that Japanese women eat. It is served with sea weed. Do not eat this meal unless you are staying home.