Summer of change?

Wow, it has been 10 months since I last posted. So where did I disappear to? My last Silent Sunday post pretty much explains what happened. I started a 'part-time' course in childcare. Combine that course with my day job, my night shifts at a supermarket and my work placement for my course, and I barely had time to come up for air.
I am out the other side of it now though, the course has finished (and yes, I passed!), the day job was in a nursery, so I am now done for the summer. The night shifts will have to continue a while longer, but hopefully only for a couple of months.
Now that's all in order, I am dedicating the summer to getting ME in order. My 'baby' is coming up for 6 years (!), so I have decided to use the summer holidays to shift the baby blubber and more. It won't be easy, I love food and I hate exercise; combined with a bad back it seems an almost impossible task. However, being a few years away from 40, i'm figuring I need to do it now.
So this morning, I started the 30 day shred. Oh my! Torture is not the word for it. Obviously the glamorous helpers do not perspire one little bit. I sweated so much, the kids moved to the other side of the room. They were keen to do it with me, but even with their seemingly endless energy, they struggled to keep up. It wasn't easy and I suppose it's not meant to be. Her encouraging words of 'You will glide through it by Day 7' seem a little far fetched, but who knows, I may just have the body of a goddess by the end of summer - **cough cough**
Alongside this dvd, I am going to 'loosely' follow the slimming world plan. (other plans available!) Hubby lost 6.5 stones in just over a year on this plan, so I know it well and I know it works when followed properly.
I'm not going to humiliate myself by publicly declaring my weight and measurements and I won't get too hung up on the scales. As a guide, I have to lose 2 stones to get to where I was before children and the weight I was when I got married. 5 stones will get me back to where I was when I first met hubby. 6 stones is where I am ultimately aiming and 7-8 stones will take me to where the medical charts say I should be. Ultimately though, I just want to be comfortable and be able to find something to wear when I have an occasion to go to, unlike last Friday when I spent two hours frantically searching for something to wear to a works meal and having to settle on jeans as nothing else fitted.
So what has made me bite the bullet? I suddenly realised that I had always surrounded myself with friends of a similar size. I hadn't noticed until they all started losing weight and I found myself being the 'big' one. I have also seen some photos recently where I have wondered who it is in the picture and realised it is me - and not in a good sense.
There's 5 and a half weeks of the summer holidays and I have set myself a goal. First things first though, I have to make it to Day 2 of the 30 day shred!
I would love to hear from anyone else who is doing or has done the shred, or who is doing slimming world.
This is not a promotional post, I have chosen to follow the diet and exercise plan that I feel will benefit me most.