Ta da! Welcome to the new look Diet Schmiet!

My blog has now been ‘migrated’ from wordpress.com to wordpress.org. I’ve taken the opportunity to do a bit of a redesign as well. Well, when I say I… I don’t actually mean ‘me’. Both my other blog and this one, are now hosted by Little Hero Hosting who also did the migrating for me, and resplendent with banners designed by Letts Design.

I suspect I will continue to play with the designs a bit, and hopefully I’ll actually learn something about the technical side of blogging now that I’m no longer just cutting and pasting my brilliant prose into a website. (Well, actually that’s all I am still doing, but I suspect I should be doing more! Although I did manage to stuff up the site before it even went live!)

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/Schmiet/status/178314670745194496″]

My banner for the other blog was done first (and it is gorgeous, so I’d encourage you to go to that site and have a look if you haven’t seen it!), which meant that migration took place quite quickly. So, as Michelle from Little Hero Hosting went about migrating my Diet Schmiet posts I checked the progress from time to time. And… it was useful to see how far I’ve come. On SO many levels. (Not just cos initially I didn’t know how to insert pictures!)

I started this blog in May 2010. I’d just re-commenced Weight Watchers and wanted to document my traumatic fun-filled journey. I told no one about the blog. None of my friends or family knew it existed. I didn’t promote it in any way. As a result, it essentially went unread by anyone other than myself for about 9 months (gestating… as such). But… it served its purpose. I love writing. I love the act of writing. So, my thoughts and feelings were able to pour from my fingertips with little concern about being judged.

My weight loss wasn’t particularly successful on Weight Watchers (even through the one-on-one consultancy program).  As usual it started well but petered out on the first opportunity. By the end of 2010 I was constantly restarting diets. By February 2011 I decided that weight loss surgery may have been my only option. I was grappling with the ‘I’m never gonna have kids’ news and wanted needed to make some changes in my life. In fact, I suspect some of the impetus for change I’ve been experiencing in the last six months started back then with a realisation that THIS is my life. Like it or not. I have to make the best of it.

I must say though, what surprised me the most while reading some of those early posts was, while much has changed, much has stayed the same.

I’m significantly lighter than I was early last year (about 25kg/55lb). I’m doing a mix of exercise (cardio and strength) at least five days a week, compared to those posts where I was struggling to go on a walk or get to pilates once a week. But… I still face issues with food and am starting to realise that they won’t be easily resolved (as per my recent Mad monkey mind post).

And, while I realise my posts now are still occasionally quite negative – particularly as my weightloss efforts have floundered over the past six months – there isn’t as much of a sense of helplessness and hopelessness that featured this time last year.

So, as my blogs are freshened up, it’s time I did so as well. I’ve come a long way but I cannot rest on my laurels. I want to lose (at least 15kg) more weight, I want to get fitter, and I want to be more at peace in/with my little existence.

Changes are afoot in my world and I can but hope I can continue to build on what I’ve achieved over this past year. Onward and upward… and all that.