I lost 1.1kg this week.

I'm doing aqua-fitness twice a week and I haven't been drinking alcohol.

Last time I went drinking I had way to many beers and started drinking Smirnoffs and Bundy & Coke. I have an incredible ability to rationalise this high sugar intake. I think "oh but I never go out in Sydney any more, its just one night, its a treat". That would be ok if it was one treat. But I don't have one drink. I have twenty drinks. And I haven't really done anything to deserve twenty treats.

I know beer and alco-pops contain carbs, but they also encourage you to eat greasy take-away food in the wee small hours of the night, and more greasy takeaway the next day as hangover cure. It is more the behaviour that the loose-inhibitions produce.

Maccas is hangover cure, and Yeeros (Oxford St) is Sydney tradition, and Oasis Kebabs (Beaumont St) is a Newcastle tradition.

So there is the dilemma: do you try to break the habits associated with the activity, or avoid the activity altogether?

I went to pub trivia without drinking. I made myself designated driver and sat on the lime and soda all night.

I guess a benefit of drinking less is spending less.

*shrug*

Boring food, boring life.

Well Mardi Gras will be an opportunity to let loose. Something to get excited about. My wig came in the post today, I am extremely excited. I hope the day's not too hot.

I am back on Tony Ferguson.

I lost 1.4kg this week, my first week back.

I mostly miss eating bread, I love bread. There are plenty of sweet sugar substitutes but nothing can replace soft white bread.

I had chinese food, garlic chicken, without the rice (well, I snuck a couple of tablespoons of rice) one night, and a few bottles of passion pop another night, but I have largely stuck to keeping off the carbs.

I've been having tinned fruit with a scoop of the "no added sugar" icecream, or a Skinny Cow sundae, plus oodles of low joule jelly. I also snack on cashews and Sugarless chocolate. For drinks I have low joule cordial, Coke Zero, Waterfords pink grapefruit soda, or plain soda water.

I bought the "Restart" package that included the multi-vitamin, fibre, chromium (yes, I think of Erin Brockovich every time I see that word), cookbook, magazines, and new shaker etc.

I am going to water aerobics tomorrow night with one of my super-fit friends. It has been recommended to me for so long as a way of managing chronic back pain, so when I heard someone I knew was doing it I jumped at the opportunity.

Ive got a few things going on with study and work opportunities, which I will go into more detail about later, but I hope I dont use them as an excuse to fall off the Tony Ferguson wagon again.

I have a little joke between myself and my friends that I am a Giant.

Some variations of this are that Im an amazon, or a tranny, and I respond by referring to my smaller stature acquaintances as miniature, midgets, shrunken, or something of that nature. I also refer to small homosexual men as "pocket-gays" ever since Jack from Will & Grace coined the term and it spread through-out the queer community.

There is no malice or spite in these little terms of endearment, and they serve the purpose of acknowledging the elephant in the room (excuse the pun): Im a 6ft tall woman.

I have friends of all shapes and sizes, but more often than not I am the tallest person in the room.

I further accentuate this with my choice of footwear sometimes, because as a woman most of our "dressy" shoes presume we are seeking an extra inch or two . . . or three . . . or five.

Being the "Giant" had become part of my identity, and since I was already a Giant size by default it made no difference to me whether I was a size 18 or 20 because I knew I was shopping in the "fat lady" stores anyway.

To be honest, my weight used to regulate itself with my busy lifestyle, but a car accident, two ruptured lumbar disks, some depression, a move in with my parents, unemployment, the isolation of a rural property, and mums home-cooking, have thrown my metabolism out of whack and I finally realised I was giving new meaning to the nickname "Giant".

I started the Tony Ferguson diet three weeks ago. Its a meal replacement, shakes and low-carb type dealio, and Ive lost 4.1kg so far.

Im going to use this blog to discuss the program, and dieting in general, and give updates on my progress.

Theres a difference between being able to change a light-bulb without a ladder, or reaching the top shelf at the supermarket because of your long arms and height, and being wedged in a supermarket aisle or snapping the rungs off a ladder due to your weight.

I couldnt see that for awhile, but I think I just want to stick to being Giant in one direction.