Ah. Those lovely words: You'll need to lose weight!

Being a woman, 'you'll need to lose weight' is NOT a phrase you really want to hear.

Still, I heard that last Monday when I went to see my specialist about my back. If you don't know what happened to cause me to have spinal surgery in January, you can read about it here!

Interestingly, it didn't upset me - I thought it would've. Perhaps if my best friend or partner had said that to me, I mightn't have reacted the way I did: BY AGREEING (!) with my doctor.

After being in continual pain and taking lots of medication, my awesome doctor decided it was time to have another MRI scan. From that, I'd have a spinal block and, depending on how that went, perhaps a fusion.

Now a fusion is really the very last option, and I'd rather not go down that path unless I really have to.

BUT, here's the clincher. Because there are two massive blood vessels which run down either side of the spine (or something like that), these very clever doctors don't operate from the back... As you would think. No! They go in through the STOMACH! How weird! And that's where the weight loss comment comes in.

Now, to be very open and honest, I've struggled with my weight since I hit 40 (which may or may not be an excuse!), but certainly ever since I finished farming and haven't been as physically active, there's been trouble around the hips. Except for the wonderful first year, after my marriage broke up and I lost 16kg. I was walking seven kilometres every day and going to the gym three times a week, with a personal trainer. Then I got glandular fever, lost my fitness, found everything too hard, and I didn't go back to it.

To keep my weight to a reasonable kilo-age is a constant struggle. And it's really annoying, because I don't necessarily eat badly. I don't eat chocolate, or take away food very often, but I do love pasta, bread, potatoes and... hot chips. Oh, and wine! At forty four, I've discovered I can't eat these any more. Which leaves me craving carbs when I don't!

And with the constant pain in my back, it does leave the gym out of the question (mostly).

So with those five words 'you'll need to lose weight,' I've decided that I must need to. I have lost six kilos in the last three months, but clearly need to lose more. I also have to point out here, for someone who has never really had a problem with my weight, it's awfully embarrassing and confronting.

What's a healthy weight for a forty four year old, who is slightly vertically challenged at 5 foot 6? Or is a better question, what is a sustainable weight?

I joined the IMPROMY community, which is basically two shakes a day and one high-protein meal - that was how I lost the six kilos recently. I've also been told great things about Isogentics. Of course, when you start eating three meals a day again, I found the weight went back on gradually.

So my question to you is: have you lost weight recently and how did you do it? How did you keep it off?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Because I really don't want to have the pain I've got every time I sit down to write a book!