I don't know about you, but in the past I've approached weight loss with a fair amount of superstition. Even though I'm the one doing the work and doing everything right, as I start to lose weight I cross my fingers and hold my breath and hope that it is going to keep happening, that some catastrophe of fate isn't going to bring the whole thing crashing down.

I've look at weight loss like investing on the stock market - relying on the up or downward swing from day to day. Lucky has played as much a part as any strategy or long term plan. So I've done things like getting weighed in only my knickers, stood on the edge of the scales with my feet turned out, gone to the toilet before getting weighed - all the tricks in the book. Because it has been what the scales say at a certain time that matters. That's the "sell, sell, sell" moment.

But I've been thinking about this analogy. Weight loss - long term anyway, is more like investing in the property market. You have to be in it long term to see results. And, as any astute investment advisor will tell you, you will always win if stick in for the long term. The good thing is that you win out in two ways when you invest in property - the immediate returns in rental income (or the rent that you aren't paying to someone else) and the capital growth. Which again is lot like long term weight loss - you get the day to day benefits - more energy, a better attitude to life and looser pants but you also get the long term thrills.

Just like getting a property evaluation done and finding out your house has doubled in value since you bought it, some things can only be measured over a long period of time. A few weeks ago I went to the doctor and had blood tests done. I'm a diabetic and need to get all that checked out regularly. I also had very, very, dangerously high cholestrol.

Yesterday I got the results of my tests - cholestrol normal, long term blood sugars (can't remember the proper name for the test) normal. The only thing that was abnormal was my vitamin B levels, a result of the diabetes medication.

Woohoo! This makes me so happy. This is the payoff, the jackpot. Lately I'd been feeling a bit uninspired. My life was feeling like just work and gym and fighting the urge to eat yummy things. I was focused on the short term, the immediate returns, the lower number on the scale.

After the visit to the doctor, I've re-realised why I'm doing this: not to look good in a pair of jeans (although I'd never knock that back) but to make sure I live a long and healthy life. A life with my eyesight and functioning kidneys and intact feet. I'm doing it. I'm really doing it. And I'm going to keep on doing it, regardless of any slip ups or stumbles along the way. I'm going to be thin and healthy.