The background: 1984-1992

I don't remember being particularly aware of my appearance when I was in my twenties; I just thought of myself as sort of plump, nothing out of the ordinary, neither ugly nor beautiful, neither fat nor slim.

I married for the first time in 1987 (here I am with my lovely dad, heading for the church), and I know I lost about a stone, getting down from 10-7 to 9-7 for the wedding. Exercise didn't come into it - this was all done by undereating. I remember it partly involved a fruit diet which cut out everything but fruit for the first week. Not surprisingly, the weight all went back on the minute we returned from honeymoon.