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For most of my adult years, my dress size yo-yoed between a UK size 8 and 16.迷你倉沙田I hid my body in loose fitting clothes that looked like tents, like many women who get to a certain dress size do.I have had issues with my body since I was 15, but weight loss fads of all sorts have done nothing for me over the years. I went on a crazy diet when I was 16. I drank only lime juice with honey and warm water for nearly a month and woke up one day in hospital with a drip attached to my arm.My grandmother said I was a teenager but looked 40. She was right. I was a shrunken prune with dry, limp hair, zero energy and vacant eyes. It was the first and last time I went on a diet.At 1.6m tall, I was 48kg and a svelte size 8 when I became pregnant with my first child in late 1998. I managed to shed the post-baby weight fairly quickly.Things were tougher when I had my second child. Having to juggle a full-time job as a television journalist and raising two young children meant I found it hard to stick to an exercise routine. In 2009, I tipped the scales at 68kg, the heaviest I'd ever been in a non-pregnant state.Each time I tried on clothes, the dresses would get stuck on my hips. I wore pants with elastic waistbands. Feeling depressed over my size, I sought solace in junk food and wine.I got my wake-up call when I turned 40 in 2010.While visiting my family in Chandigarh in India, I shopped at one of my favourites stores, FabIndia, and found myself needing a kurta in size XXL, equivalent to a UK size 16. I decided I had to do something about my weight.I chanced upon a free yoga class run by a group of retirees in a park in Chandigarh. That marked the start of a journey that has changed my life. I loved what yoga did for the mind. It helped me to focus even as it relaxed my body completely.I've been attending yoga迷你倉價錢classes since then. In June, I drew up a seven-day "do everything right" plan which entailed eating right, exercising right and abstaining from alcohol for seven days.I topped this off with a 40-day fitness plan during a recent sabbatical which ended earlier this month. I spent three hours every day doing a mix of simple exercises in the morning and evening.I would practise yoga for an hour and swim for 30 minutes in the morning. In the evening, I played cricket with my son and his friends, then walked and exercised in a neighbourhood park near our home. The evening exercises took 11/2 hours.I also had dinner before 8pm every day and drank wine only on Saturdays.I still don't know if I look good - I've always been the darkest, the fattest and the shortest member in my family. But I've never felt better in my life.At 43, with two children aged 13 and 10, I feel fully fit for the first time in years and and am now a comfortable size 10.I recently started wearing saris and realised I can now flaunt my toned arms and newly re-discovered waist in slinky chiffons and fitted sari blouses I would never have dreamt of slipping into three years ago.My weight has dropped into the 50kg range after years of hovering between 63 and 65kg. The last time I had this much energy was when I was on my secondary school basketball team.What I have learnt over the last three years is this: There are no easy fixes. Besides good sense, you also need perseverance and self-control.Since I finally have a waist and some killer curves to boot, I can now swan around in saris complete with what a friend calls "bling sting" blouses, which reveal just as much as they hide.After all my hard work, surely I'm entitled to flaunt the results just a little.deepikas@sph.com.sgShare your weight loss battles. Write to suntimes@sph.com.sg迷你倉