Welcome to the weekly Friday Feature - The Skinny Dip at Shrink to Fit! This week we have some great stuff from Peg at What's New Peg!

Enjoy - and please stop by to show her blog some love if you get the chance!

Take it away Peg!

"Like many people, I have had a love hate relationship with food. Most of the time I used to only eat because I had too, this is the hate side of the relationship. The other was because I was feeling so miserable that I would eat as much as possible, but then after a few minutes I would feel awful about what I had just done. I think it will be one of those things that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Before I left college my size didn’t bother me, I mean I have always been the big one out of all my friends and I used to make jokes about it and I sort of accepted that , I mean I wasn’t happy but I accepted it. However, this changed drastically when I was bought the Wii fit for my 20th birthday, and I thought I needed to face up to what I weigh. I was horrified by the numbers that came up 18st 8 or 260lbs. That figure still horrifies me today and that was almost 3 years ago. How had I allowed myself to get into this state? Therefore, I knew that was the time to change. Now the hard part was about to begin and I knew it was not going to be easy.

It’s very difficult to break a habit of a lifetime and I knew it wouldn’t be an overnight thing. The early weeks were not too hard as it was summer and salad season, as well as having the Wii to exercise on. In just over a month, I had lost 14lbs and I was quite pleased with myself. The only down side to that was my motivation, it was not focused on myself it was focused on suiting other people, well my family in this instance. Unfortunately, I was set to go to university and once again, this would shape my motivation, I was worried that when I got there was that they would think about my size and make fun of me. So I had my motivation, to not let people think ‘oh look at the fat girl eating again.’

I can see that some people would take this to the extreme, not let people see them eat, eat very little or even do some other bad things medically, please don’t do this, doing something like losing weight this way can only harm yourself and those around you, so please please don’t do it. I quickly found a better way to lose this fear I had about eating around people and that was to make all meals from scratch and actually eating with people as it makes you eat slower as you have conversations with people.

A unexpected plus was that it forced me to dives meals that were healthy and balanced. I made sure that all my meals were mainly made up from alot of veg with a little protein and carbs. For instance I love chicken stir fry and the only change I made was substitute the noodles for a small cup of rice. I always have a glass of water with me at meal times, except breakfast. I know that chocolate is a big thing in most women’s lives, well it’s like a comfort blanket to me, and so I needed to find an alternative, which I found in dried fruit.

I know we all worry about exercise and sometimes the gym isn’t an option , but before uni I never appreciated walking from place to place, from walking that little extra too and from the bus to simply taking the stairs. Slowly the weight began to melt away and I realised how big I used to be when I couldn’t wear my jeans without a belt. It is such a great feeling; I only wished it lasted longer.

I’ve had quite a few ups and downs in the last 12 months and have used food to feel better about the situation,which only made matter worse. My lowest weight I had got to was 14st 12 or 208lbs and then I threw it away because emotionally I was incapable of looking after myself let alone following my goals, I didn’t want to go anywhere do anything, I just wanted to hide and that meant comfort eating. This had a bad impact on my weight as it has crept back to 16st or 224 , which devastated me. I had worked so hard and I just gave up on myself.

But, my friends have brought me back to a good place where I can refocus on my goals and what I want in my life. So now I am off to the gym over the summer and hope that the motivation of going into my final year at uni and I want to be the best I can be, which is myself but at a weight I am happy with.

So what are my tips to try to keep the weight off?

1. Swap your favourite things for alternatives. In my case I love cheesecake and the way I replaced it was a rich tea with a teaspoon of soft cheese and a bit of fresh fruit.

2. You can’t go wrong with veg at lunch/dinner. Its a great filler and it’s good for you.

3. Enjoy your exercise. You don’t have to join a gym. At least twice a day I put my headphones in and dance around my room, or I spend a day looking after my cousin, lots of energy burnt I assure you."

Thank you Peg!

The Skinny Dip was originally made to feature you, the Shrink To Fit readers - and allow you to share YOUR stories and tips. I am SO appreciative of the stories you have been sending in and sharing with my readers. Please keep them coming!

In addition to that - and so I have a Friday Feature to post when I have no stories sent in for the week - I'm introducing...

The Skinny Dip Weekly Blog-O-Sphere Round-up!

Each week I will post some of my favorite finds from around the web. They may be health related links, fashion, food, fun, anything that catches my eye! I hope you all enjoy them as much as I did! Here's this week's round-up: