Ok, so I’ve done it! I started my diet to achieve my 2008 New Year’s Resolution of “12 by 8/12″ (Size 12 by August 12…my birthday).

I happen to be a proponent of the YOU On A Diet, diet. I did it last year in February and lost an astonishing 18 pounds in 3 weeks…EFFORTLESSLY. I can’t stress that enough! I’m not a spokesperson for the authors, the diet, or RealAge.com but I have to admit that I am so pleased with the diet in the past that I will gladly talk of it here.

My thought is that if I tell the world about my goals and plans to reach those goals, I will stick to it because I have to be accountable to YOU! That’s a lot of people to let down. I’m used to letting myself down, but you? I can’t do that!

So on Wednesday past, I went through my refrigerator and pantry and got rid of all those excuses for not starting the diet yet. On Thursday I went to the grocery store and got what I DID need to do my first week of the YOU diet. Friday I binged a little (not on purpose) and had friends over for dinner. Today I started! Honestly, I’m THRILLED to be doing this now.

My only complaint I have about the YOU diet is that the menu choices can get a little boring…that’s the “reason” I stopped the diet the last time. My then-husband and daughter were bored with it. Instead of finding good solutions for that, I quit the diet. I kept the majority of weight off for the majority of the year, but recently I’ve put a little over half of it back on. BUMMER! All that hard work gone to pot!

With my exercise going strong (3 times a week doing BodyPump) and walking my dogs as many days as I can without falling into the mud and having to give Lily a very cold bath outside (it’s our rainy season), I’m ready to take on the diet again…and stay on it until I reach my goal. So I’ll be passing along some wonderful tips from the diet to you guys.

If you’re needing to start a great diet, find one that suits you and join me! I can’t even count the number of diets I’ve started and not finished. When I read the YOU On A Diet book, it just clicked for me. I also love the RealAge.com site. You can go through a rather lengthy test to determine what your body’s age is in reality. It takes into account some of your genetics, your hygiene habits, what you eat, how you exercise…or don’t exercise…and gives you a realistic look at your body’s age. I was older than I am but not by a lot. My biggest problem is my weight.

Anyway, I’ll share with you what I’m doing, my successes and my failures. If it helps you to follow along, all the better! I have been very inspired by various articles about people who have lost weight after a life-long struggle, so I’m hoping something in my dieting journal will help you, too!

The great thing about the YOU diet is that you can go online to the RealAge.com site and set up your menu for the whole week. I found that to be a huge help to me. I didn’t have to think. I didn’t have to decide what to eat from my “approved foods”…I just looked at today’s menu and made the food for that moment. The recipes are all fast and YUMMY! I eat all the time! About 6 times a day AND I get CHOCOLATE for dessert whenever I want it…which happens to be every day! The other dessert recipes are good, but I crave chocolate and with it every night…I don’t cheat at other times. I suppose one of these days I’ll wean off of it and try have something else, but that won’t be for awhile. :O)

Let me know if you’re going to join me on my quest this year to finally take care of my weight! I’ll check in with you tomorrow!