Ok my lovely chocolate cakes. What a funny old couple of weeks it has been. I think the luscious Devil card from the Housewives Tarot deck which I have selected to represent the theme of this post just about sums it up for many of us at the moment.
I have gone completely to pot and lost the plot. And I haven't been alone. Loads of solid Tubby Towners have had the same problem, including some of the really strong-willed girlies.
I think it must be something in the Planets. Even the Sleepy Sunnies, our opposing team in our weight loss competition, struggled a bit this last week although they still beat us Foxy Flowers.
So - what is going on?
Maybe the cards can tell us. Today's guest deck is the Tarot of Pagan Cats, a very cute deck with some beautiful feline images that capture the essence of each card very well. Lots of the Tubby Towners are animal lovers, so thought this deck for this purpose might lift us all and get us back on track.
So today's question is about understanding what the obstacle is at the moment and what can we do about it? I asked the cards while I shuffled the deck thoroughly and drew three cards at random.
Where we are now: The 9 of Pentacles
This card is a card of opulence, and about comfort and feeling secure. In a dieting sense this can suggest that perhaps many of us have reached a point where we are beginning to feel better about our weight and our figures, we are perhaps feeling comfortable with ourselves and so it gets easy to think "I don't look so bad now.....so that bottle of wine won't hurt." Perhaps a slight sense of complacency and diet fatigue even settles in. We then forgot to track and point everything, perhaps being a bit lax because - the initial desperation to lose some weight has slightly worn off, even though we're not where we finally want to be yet.
A dress fits, trousers do up. And rather than spur us on to do even more, doesn't it often have the opposite effect? We take the foot off the pedal a little bit, and before we know it - 2 tubbies back on and we feel like we're going two steps forwards and one step back.
The obstacle or challenge facing us: The Tower
How appropriate - The Tower. See - my cards never lie to me. I couldn't have drawn a more appropriate card if I had searched through the deck and chosen it. The Tower is the card of destruction, where things are suddenly and unexpectedly torn down (and often not very welcomed).
The Tower is a major card in the deck, indicating an influence that has a major impact on us. How very true! It also corresponds with the planet Mars, and who was also the God of War.
Tubby Towners - this is our self destruct button. This is where those 2 tubbies on doesn't become the 'wake-up' call we need. This is the one where the "what the hell" button that we all have kicks in. We lose our complete sense of what we're doing; we put on more weight and we know we are but we can't stop.
Every day we get up and start off planning and counting those Fat Pills but by the evening the resolve has gone and we are a packet of biscuits, a sharing bag of crisps, an Indian takeaway or a bottle of wine down (or most likely all four!). And before we know it 2 tubbies have crept up to 10 tubbies and rising.
And there is a dieter's rule that we all know and don't love - the weight goes on quicker than it goes off! 10 tubbies on in 3 weeks = 6 weeks to lose them again (more often than not).
So what can we do?
The solution to that obstacle: Strength
Oh my, oh my, oh my. My cards are singing today.
Strength is absolutely the card for this. But my fellow chocolate cakes - this isn't going to tell you anything you don't already know I'm afraid.
Strength is another major card, indicating something that will have a big impact on us. It corresponds with the astrological sign of Leo, which is associated with leadership and someone who takes control of situations.
Strength is the mind over matter card. It is the card of Strength of Will card. Mr Will Power's card in fact. It says to us that we can do anything we want if we apply ourselves and focus fully on it. We can overcome the self-destruct button that The Tower offers to us, but the Strength to do so has to come from within ourselves. We have to attune and stay focused. Only we can do this ourselves.
And - my fellow Tubbies - I think we sort of knew that, didn't we?
So - sorry there was nothing new here in terms of diet advice. But all good stuff, and the cards are really singing to us today.
But the cats are very pretty aren't they?
Well, after a big diet wobble last weekend I managed to retrieve a 'stay the same' vote on the scales. Today I am seeking a bit of inspiration to up my motivation levels. 
