On 6/1/14 I was 20st 3lb and very unfit. I went for a check up and my cholesterol was too high, my blood sugar results indicated I was a candidate for type 2 diabetes and was told to change my lifestyle if I wanted to avoid the possibility of any early death and illness as I got older. I did nowt for a month or two and went diving, only to have to be helped out of the water and helped off with my kit, I was knackered.

In May I decided to do something about it and spoke to the dietician at the doctors, I chose not to 'fad' diet but change my eating habits. I cut out rubbish, chocolate, bread etc and ate more healthily (fish, chicken, salads etc) and had smaller portions. I began walking on a night and set myself a target of a three mile walk, which I achieved quite quickly and began swimming again.

This morning I weighed in at 16st 12lb, I swim a mile three times a week, walk the three miles at least thre times a week (same distance just quicker) and bike a couple of times a week (about three miles). I have dropped from a 44" waist to a 40", but can just get into 38" but its not too comfortable yet. One drawback is I go on holiday to France in two weeks and NONE of my holiday clothes fit me, so that is going to cost.

My cholesterol is now in the 'normal' range and my blood sugars are normal as well. I feel a lot better, fitter and look better.

Hard bit will be maintaining it once I have got to my desired weight and sizes.

Steve, unless you are 7' tall, even you must admit you are overweight.

No matter what exercise you are engaging in, you need to adjust your intake/expenditure further.

I was surprised how easy I found making the changes in my lifestyle that led to me dropping 10kg this year.

BTW, I made money on replacing my wardrobe

A few inches off 7 feet Dave (about 12 in fact). I have engaged in portion control and eating healthier, instead of stopping off at lunch and buying a Mars bar and a packet of crisps, I have some fruit and raw carrot in a cool bag and take a dish of home made soup to warm up on site. My problem always was eating rubbish on a regular basis and very inactive. I do feel a lot better, but am aiming to gradually get to 15 stone.

How did you manage to make money, my wife just puts everything into charity bags and shoves in the Air Ambulance bin at Co-op.

Taking clothes out of Air Ambulance bins and flogging them on ebay

Seriously I buy from charity shops, car boots and ebay auctions. I then sell on ebay on a buy it now, make an offer basis. You need to know what makes money and either have some patience or list a lot of items

I have been doing a bit of e-baying recently, for my own use. Got rid of a lot of dive kit I no longer use and flogged some older lenses and bought newer ones. So far so good, not had any disappointments. I am suprised that I got as much as I did for some of the dive kit, bought a 15l cylinder 10 years ago for £99 and flogged it for £126 a week or two ago (they are now over £200 new), well chuffed.

I've rarely failed to make a good profit with dive gear when I've found it, even old and uncertified stuff still fetches good money.

I found three bespoke-tailored suits yesterday (it would've been four but one had some tiny holes in the back of the knee), got the lot for £50, should fetch at least £200 each. Even if they don't sell immediately I ain't bothered, they fit me like they were tailored for me and I've also got two regular customers who should fit into them with no problem.

Back on the diet theme: this weekend will mainly be taken up with preparing cabbage and other vegetables and starting the fermentation process for the GAPS diet

Do you declare you profits to HMRC?

does he, legally, need to?

are you a tax lawyer now?

He implied he does buy and then sell stuff regularly, which could constitute trading. HMRC do review eBay traders.

Hellish operation to try and claw back some scraps of revenue, are eBay UK an actual UK based company, do they have to respond to information requests on registered members, are Paypal a UK registered company and do they have to respond too, if not then good luck in trying to find hundreds of thousands of UK individuals who sell regularly on eBay under pseudonyms AND then try and prove that they weren't just emptying their wardrobes on a regular basis.

FWIW, I sell goods online (not eBay) as "additional income" and declare it via an online submission each year (I've been a case for "special interest" in the past and don't want them sniffing around my door again), you'd be surprised to learn that I haven't make a profit from my sales, not once, no tax to pay.