Hi there,

My name is Victoria Blackman - I'm 27 and engaged to my wonderful fiance Tim! Our wedding is in 9 months on 5 January 2013 and my aim is to trim and tone up before the wedding on my new Concept 2 indoor rowing machine. I have chosen my wedding dress and it is being made to measure. My dress measurements are being taken in July so this will be the true test to see if I have shed any inches off my hips!

Current measurements: Hips: 40 inches Stomach (muffin top!): 34 inches Waist: 30 inches Bust: 37 inches

Now this is the largest I have ever been, when I came to London in June 2006 from New Zealand I was a size 8 and a few years earlier I won a bikini competition! I now buy a size 12 for the bottom and a size 10 on the top. Not that it is large by any means; it's just larger than I am used to. I'm happy with how I look in clothes but I'm not happy with how I feel and look naked or in a bikini. At Christmas I tore my white size 10 jeans trying to pour my bottom and hips into them so if I can fit into a new size 10 pair of white jeans, I will be happy!

So I have a few goals, look good in white jeans, tone up my arms and lose some inches off my hips, waist and stomach for the wedding, tone up (especially on the thighs and bottom) and look good naked. If, throughout this process, I get fitter and healthier, then I don't think there is any harm in that!

Sport used to be all I did when I was at school and university. I played hockey for three different teams each week, trained for hockey about three times per week, coached hockey and in between trained for 100m, 200m, triple jump and long jump for athletics, you could say I lived and breathed sport, it was my life. However, towards the end of university my sport dwindled off and replaced with study, partying and boyfriends! Before I knew it I was playing hockey for just the one team, then when I left New Zealand to move to London, nothing; and I was introduced to the UK pub scene and cheap scrummy food such as British fish and chips with mushy peas (my favourite now!). The big move to the other side of the world ended all sport, as I was working full time in front of my computer and therefore eating more to keep happy during the cold winter months.

Throughout my time in London, I have joined various gyms, and in the end I was simply donating money to them, as I never had the time to go after work.

I am loving having the Concept2 in the comfort of my own home but I won't lie, I am finding it a challenge to fit in rowing after work or before work. However this evening I decided to push myself and figured I could cook and row at the same time.

I also moved the rowing machine from our hallway into our lounge so I could try rowing in front of the television. Tonight I got rather excited as I turned on the TV to see New Zealand Master Chief (being a Kiwi, little things like this in the UK make me happy).

So I prepared the meal by chopping up all the vegetables and chicken... as I was rowing my chicken was cooking BUT I had to put the veggies in the oven half way through so they would not be over cooked, so I decided to do two 10 minute rows so I wouldn't ruin the meal.

Rowing in front of the TV was a bit of a distraction, I'm not sure if it's going to be my rowing method moving forward but I will try it again - I think I miss the music from my iPod which gets me a bit more pumped! Dinner turned out fine but I did find the second 10 minute row hard, I didn't even complete 10 minutes for row two - FAIL. The benefit of the two 10 minute rows was the last few minutes I rowed as fast as I could, really building up my heart rate and a sweat, which in turn completely tired me out.

I have no idea how indoor rowers are able to compete at BIRC! Maybe one day I will be ready to set myself a BIRC 2km challenge at home and see how I get on - I need to actually look up my age category, I reckon it will be tough though.