Ok, it’s official, I have registered with Slimming World in a last ditch attempt to ease my breathing difficulties and have less strain on the old ticker. After all, the NHS has got much better things to do with their time than faff about with me just because I eat too much.

So, Slimming World, well, I signed up last Wednesday at my local group, which is run by a lovely lady called Maxine. I was powerfully nervous to start with but the group is so friendly that I soon began to feel comfortable and the fact that we were all there with one accord was reassuring.

I had to wait (or is it weight – see what I did there) until the end to step onto the scales and so that Maxine could give me her undivided attention. I won’t tell you what the score was out of pure embarrassment but what it did do was to raise a steely resolve within myself to damn well finally do something about it.

Talking to Maxine it all sounded rather easy really. There are loads of what they call free foods that you can eat an unlimited amount of such as fruit and veg and even skinless chicken and fish. Wahey! What’s not to love about that? And Ange has been making a lot of the Slimming World meals for months now since she started on the journey.

Actually, Ange has been doing fabulously. She’s been slimmer of the week twice and slimmer of the month once. She’s hit her original goals and is powering ahead. It may be stating the bleeding obvious but I’m as proud of her as anyone could be. She’s been my inspiration really.

Anyway, I came home armed with my Slimming World book and shiny new membership card and the first thing I did was to have afternoon cream tea. Now, before anyone suggests that I fell at the first hurdle, let me tell you that it had been planned for weeks with two of our friends and I didn’t not want to do it. Also, it was beyond delicious and I enjoyed every mouthful like it was ambrosia.

But since then, I’ve been a reformed character (rather than a reformed potato) and I’ve literally been doing it by the book. I’m listing everything that passes my lips (except my toothbrush) and recording them in the right section of my membership book.

Part of the whole Slimming World ethos is a thing called swips – Slimming World Individual Picks. These are what used to be known as Syns and they make up your allowance of the foods that aren’t free, such as fried food, alcohol, butter etc etc. So far, I’ve only gone over my swip allowance (5 – 30 a day) once and that was because I had a glass or two of wine at an event I attended on Sunday. I think I went over by about seven swips so it wasn’t a total catastrophe.

And, the good news is that at my weigh in yesterday it was revealed that I had lost six pounds in weight. Six pounds!!! In one week! Wow, that’s just shy of half a stone. It’s equivalent to three bags of sugar. I mean, if I can keep it up at that rate I’ll be four stone lighter by Christmas. Heck, my clothes won’t even fit me.

Of course, maintaining that level of weight loss in the long term is a nigh impossibility and the first week is always a big loss for everyone, but If I can shift at least two stone by the end of the year I shall be over the moon instead of being the same shape as it.

So, I’m into week two now and I can honestly say, hand on heart, that I’m not struggling with it at all. I don’t feel hungry; I’m not missing fried food or all the bread and carbs I used to eat and the foods I am eating are “keeping me fuller for longer” – something of a buzz phrase among slimmers these days.

Like I said at the start, I’ve been having a lot of breathing issues and have been told by an eminent cardiologist to damn well lose weight. It’s no good getting breathless, hot and sweaty just walking to the convenience store at the end of the road, is it? And besides, having FMS it’s got to be good for my muscles and joints if I can shift a ton of the unsightly flab I’m carrying.

Do you know what? I’ve got a real good feeling about Slimming World. I’ve tried other weight loss programmes, such as NOOM, with very little success, but there’s something different about this whole Slimming World lark. Maybe it’s group accountability or maybe it’s the food optimising that stops you being hungry that’s working for me. Whatever it is, it’s working.

I’ll let you know when I’ve lopped my first stone off, I think you get a certificate or something when you do, and I look forward to being able to report on that and sticking it onto the fridge door with a magnet.