I have discovered this week that losing weight and exercise are not always good. Over the past few days they have certainly not been good for our bank balance.

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Although we managed to get our broken six-week-old cross trainer replaced free of charge, the replacement is minus some crucial nuts and bolts. So we now have to ring up and ask them to post those on. Until then, I'm stuck with jogging, swimming and belly dancing - and the costs that go with them!

Swimming isn't too bad, just the session cost and new costumes when I lose too much weight or the chlorine causes them to fall apart embarrassingly.

However, I got a shock when buying my proper running shoes. I had my feet properly measured and was filmed while using a treadmill to work out my running needs. Fortunately, my feet/legs only curve very slightly so I don't need any extra support for the smallish distances I'm running. However, the running trainers still set me back £80, plus £8 for the running socks to go with them. (Not much point having them fitted properly if I'm wearing different thickness socks every time I wear them!) Still, at least I can justify this in health terms ( I don't want to end up damaging my joints), unlike my belly dancing purchases...

The problem with losing weight is that for the first time trying on clothes is not the most depressing thing in this world. So when I saw the beautiful costumes on sale at my class last week, it was inevitable I would end up buying one. I got a stunning burgundy skirt (well, it looks like a beautiful bunch of roses when folded up) and a proper belt (the noise the metal coins make is so much more beautiful than on the cheap plastic sounding versions!). At risky of sounding like a hopeless shopaholic, I couldn't just leave them sitting there alone on the rail, could?;-)

P.S I am now, of course, sworn to best non-shopping behaviour this week...but I'm sure a pair of smart new shoes won't count, as I really need something other than trainers for when I help out at my son's school! ;-)