Smoky bars and black polo neck sweaters were my natural habitat.  I was blessed with being naturally thin, so it didn't really mattered what I ate, I always weighed the same.  During my twenties I was a regular on the club scene and danced the night away two or three times a week.  Exercise with no pain.

After the birth of my first baby at twenty six,  I was always 7lbs heavier, but still an english size 10.  Very little exercise, but running around after a small child kept me reasonably fit for a few years.

Then I turned 35 and noticed that I was starting to put on a few pounds.  I wasn't unduly worried.  A little extra weight suited me, I thought.  The crunch came when I gave up smoking.  Instead of having ten cigarettes per day, I now ate something ten times a day.  Plus, I had lost the ability to know when I was full.  When I smoked, I looked forward to the meal being over, so I could have a cigarette.  With that gone, I just kept right on eating.  Within six months I had put on a stone.  I was now in a large 12-14 dress size.  Summer came and all my old clothes no longer fitted, but I couldn't stop eating.  

A year or so after stopping smoking, I found myself unexpectedly pregnant again.  This time I piled on weight.  By the time I was full term, I was huge.  I didn't weigh myself at all during the pregnancy, or afterwards, figuring that it would drop off the same way it had with my first baby.  I was wrong.  

Eight months after the baby was born I was still overweight and diagnosed with Breast Cancer.  Twelve gruelling months followed, with two lots of surgery, chemo and radiotherapy.  More weight everywhere.  There were days when I was so sick I couldn't even get up the stairs.  The chemo drugs and subsequent steroids made me puff up and all I could think about was my next meal.  Although I wasn't eating huge quantites, I was still eating too much and doing no exercise at all, not even walking.

The crunch came when I realised I was a solid size 16.  Size 14 clothes no longer fitted and even a sixteen was tight.  I had to do something and I had to do it fast.  

Next time I will tell you my plan of action.