And so it begins

This is my first post. This isn't the first time I've decided to lose weight, nor is it the first time I've tried to keep a blog. It is, however, the first time I've tried to keep a blog about losing weight. Let's hope it gives some inspiration!

I was unpacking today after moving house and I found a body fat monitor in my old boxes of stuff. I switched it on. It asked my height, which I entered. It asked my weight, which I started to enter...

... and that's when I ran into my first problem (I say my first; actually, I mean my only): the machine started at 65.0kg. There wasn't an option to make the number magically jump up to my actual weight, which meant if I wanted to get a measure of my body fat, I was going to have to scroll up to my actual weight in 0.1kg increments. 65.1kg... 65.2kg... 65.3kg... 65.4kg....

Now, I'm not hugely overweight, but the last time I weighed myself I was 83kg, which means I needed to hit that button a good 180 times. I realised after a while that I could press and hold the button down, but it was still taking an age to climb up the digits.

In terms of height, I'm in the region of 170cm. And contrary to what I've been telling myself since high school, I'm not carrying a significant amount of muscle, which means most of that weight is just fat. So, while I could certainly be heavier, I'd definitely prefer being lighter. My doctor would probably agree.

Fortunately, I'm fairly well-versed in the worlds of both diet and exercise. I plan to use both to drop my weight and get myself fit and healthy again. This blog will document my experiences and include any thoughts, tips and lessons learned as I go. My aim is to share exercise plans, meal tips, recipes and anything I can think of that might help either myself or anyone else make good on that plan to lose that bit of weight that just needs to go.

For anyone who's following the process, enjoy the ride and good luck to you. And for anyone who is just reading along, for the sake of my health and happiness - please - wish me luck!