Vanessa Pringle: Moment of truth arrives

This week Vanessa Pringle has her first weigh-in as part of her 12-week mission to get a bikini body. The exercise and cravings are hard but, as she describes, it's revealing how much she's lost that's the scariest.

First off I would like to say a huge thank-you for all the wonderful emails and messages of support I have received.
It is so motivating and makes this experience I'm sharing with you worthwhile knowing I've made a difference inspiring people to exercise and eat more healthy.
Week two down and I'm ecstatic I can finally feel my clothes become a little bit looser - that has been like a shot of caffeine for my motivation and drive. It is so exciting seeing the results of my hard work.
Today is the day that I tell you all my measurements so you can see the difference from two weeks ago. It's so hard to do this - just imagine being asked to sit on the scales in front of say all your work colleagues, where they can see how heavy you are. It's definitely not a pleasant experience I'm sure, so here it goes, my date with the dreaded tape and deeply honest scales: I have lost 2.3kg and 6cm around my waist.
When I saw the number I was so excited, I was jumping up and down. It sounds funny when I say this but losing the weight just makes me want to do it more. I just can't stop thinking, imagine what 10 weeks is going to do. I'm really excited.
My daily diary has been a great way to look back on my progress. Monday was cardio and abdominal work, which I was able to complete faster this week, so I'm improving.
Tuesday brought its own challenges of trying to get up early and do cardio and weights as you can burn more fat in the morning before breakfast. I must admit normally I am a night owl and late riser in the mornings but the rude awakening on Tuesday at 5.50am was earth shattering.
I ate my banana, drove to the gym and did what I feel is the hardest day of the week, lifting heavy weights. It's unreal seeing myself lifting these weights and doing it 10 times instead of 7 or 8 times, which shows my muscles are getting stronger.
Wednesday was circuit training, my favourite day of the week, and I felt quite tired and sore but after doing the 6.30am class I felt energised again. To be honest, the early mornings have turned out to be fantastic as I can get on with the rest of my day without having work, uni, kids and friends around my gym times.
Thursday is a late day as I had an exam in the morning and a sick child, so the gym was at 6pm.
I hope that you were able to have a go at the food diary and see what you were eating each day. I thought this week you could swap your morning and afternoon teas for my snacks.
Some options are:
Carrot sticks with cottage cheese
1 to 2 corn thins with cottage cheese or tuna
Mandarins and 8-10 almonds
The highlight of my week with food is getting half a kumara to eat with my lunch on a Tuesday and Thursday - it's so yummy with the baby spinach, broccoli, chicken or fish.
The horrendous part of my week is the cravings for bad food. You would think I was pregnant - the desire for toast, our home-made pizza nights, chocolate and mango chicken is driving me crazy.
My best friend told me to sniff the food I wanted as it would make the craving go away. I tried this experiment on chocolate and sadly it doesn't work. Don't try it as all you will want to do is eat it. You will be pleased to hear I didn't succumb to the food.
On a final note, my challenge for you this week is the beautiful Mount. I have been meeting my friends at Mauao's base track instead of a cafe.
It's not only a great way to catch up and chat but you will have also walked 3km without even knowing it.