With my wedding just around the corner, I have taken action to look my best for my big day.

Since January 2010, I have lost just over 6 stone and I now really want to tone up and generally get fit. In order to achieve this I have joined the Village Hotel and Leisure Club in Walsall. Over the next few months, I will be blogging about my experiences and progress at the Leisure Club and hopefully inspiring others to get into shape too.

I have to admit, I have never been a huge fan of exercise (which probably explains why I was 6 stone overweight!) however I have always loved to swim and it is the swimming pool, spa, sauna and steam room that first attracted me to join the Village.

I really enjoyed my first visit, even in the gym! I eased in gently with 20 minutes on the cross trainer and used a selection of weights for my arms, stomach, legs and thighs. The machinery is really easy to use with diagrams to show the areas of the body the weights target. There is a whole host of other equipment including toning machines however thought I would take it one step at a time.

Not being particular experienced on gym equipment, I did have fears that I would be stared at or frowned upon by other members but this was not the case. All the members in the gym just seemed focused on their own work out and the atmosphere was casual, relaxed and very friendly. It is a place you can just ‘be yourself’.

The Leisure Club has a team of dedicated trainers that can help you to design an individual fitness plan. I noticed a few people in the gym were reading from what must be their personal schedule which I think is a great idea. I am going to book in for a session with one of the trainers so will be able to provide an update on this in one of my next blogs. The Leisure Club also holds a series of fitness classes including the popular Spin Classes so I looking forward to trying out some of them soon.

After hitting the gym I decided to finish off in the pool. It was just as nice as I had hoped, good sized pool with dedicated lanes for serious swimmers. I managed a fair few lengths but then got seduced by the bubbles and spent the rest of the time in the Jacuzzi, steam room and sauna. Very relaxing!

I was so pleased with my session that I decided to treat myself to a meal from The Victory Pub! I was good and had a tasty Chicken Caesar Salad although I must admit the burgers looked fantastic. The pub show all live sports games and my partner was impressed with their new Red Card, where you can get 2 for 1 drinks during all matches. All you need to do is fill out a short form to get the card so definitely worth it.

All in all, my first impressions of the Leisure Club were very good. Staff were friendly, it was a straight forward process to become a member and changing rooms/facilities were clean and modern.

Looking forward to my next session already so watch this space!

A sort of 'before and after' picture below, I do have some better ones so will try and find them out ... (when you are overweight you don't tend to have many full body pictures!)