Having had 4 children after each child I put on weight. But trying to lose weight is so difficult and i try so hard, however, I do enjoy nice food and I enjoy baking, which makes it so much more difficult.

From the 1980's I have been in a constant battle with my food, I have tried Calorie Counting, Slimming World (which I didn't get on with), Weightwatchers which I did get on with, my biggest problem with it is it does not include exercise it would work better 45 mins on diet and 45 as an exercise class, the one that suits me best was Rosemary Conley, as it incorporated diet and exercise, gave good support, but the local class was 15 miles away which became a bit of a problem fitting round the family, and I have heard even that has closed, I also tried the Atkins Diet, Cabbage Soup Diet, F Plan, GI Diet and 5:2 Diet.

One problem I discovered was during my pre menstrual time of the month I was addicted to chocolate, I just needed to eat chocolate, unfortunately it was several years before I noticed this pattern, otherwise I could have taken steps.

On the 5th January 2009 I weighed 18 stone,then on the 21st May 2009 I was prescribed the weightloss pill Orlistat (a brand name for Xenical) which I was on for about 5 months but I did not feel it was doing me much good and having to go to the doctors once a month was a bit of a bind.

I am now back where I began and reverted to Calorie Counting, which you cannot go too far wrong with, I am good at dieting and do stick to the diet rigidly.

No matter what diet I am on I always start off fine and losing weight steadily 1-2lbs a week, then I reach a plateau and become constipated, after several weeks on the plateau, I gradually lose interest, and then inevitably gradually the weight goes on once again. And the circle starts again, yo-yo dieting cannot be good for your physical and mental wellbeing.