You have all probably heard this familiar wail a hundred times before so I am going to make it a hundred and one, what is the best way to lose weight? I am 39, I weigh 13st and I am 5ft 1. I have been dieting on and off for the past 10 years and have had minor successes with weight watchers, Atkins and calorie counting but none of these seem to work for me long-term. I have quite a lot of weight to lose, 3 and a half stone at least, and I want to lose it by June next year as my husband and I will both be 40 and we want to be fabulous, not flabulous!!

My husband has double the weight to lose than I have and he has lost 2 stone already as opposed to my paultry half a stone. I am starting a lecturing course in a few weeks time and I had already hoped to lose at least a stone more than I have so I would feel a bit more confident but that is not going to happen now.

My husband does a very physical job and I am wondering if he has lost so much because he is quite active whereas I have been inactive for the best part of six months whilst I am waiting for this course to start.

I would really like to hear from people who have lost some weight so that they can tell me what has worked for them, I am so at a loss as to what to do as I hate counting calories or following a strict regime like Atkins. I have looked into Paul Mckenna and have read his book and listened to his cd which is all good stuff but doesn't seem to have that great effect on me, I also looked at the no diet diet book and altho what a lot of it says is good, I don't have the time to write lists every day of things I would never do which seems to be the book's message.

So, I would really like some advice from people out there who have tried and tested methods of dieting/losing weight as I am at my wits end. I don't want to be fat for the rest of my life and i have wasted my thirties being self conscious about my size and not being able to wear the clothes I want to wear.

Hope someone out there doesn't mind spending a few minutes of their time helping me out, I have no hair left!!

Cheers

dgt3