After the Silly Season
Well I have no excuses anymore. The festivities are over. I have spent a lot of the last week flat on my back recovering straining my lower back. I now weigh 82 kg and I must lose at least 12 kg by the middle of July. This means 100g a day so there can be no backsliding. However I have learnt my lesson from my bad back not to overdo it. No more heavy gardening, and no more advanced exercises just because I am feeling fit. Certainly bending at the lower back and flailing my arms around like a rabid windmill wasn't a good idea following over doing it lifting very heavy and large pot plants. I was fortunate to have a phone call from my medical insurer. They have a prevention and get fitter service. The consultant was quite horrified by the amount of exercise I was trying to do and the severity of my diet. No wonder I was backsliding and overdoing things she thought. I have now promised to only do 15 minutes of exercise before each meal - nothing violent at all, and to add snacks, more diary and fruit to my diet. I will get to my goal slower but I am much more likely to get there in the end, and not need hospital treatment, if I take it easy. Nice advice and this time I am taking it. Of course having a small margin between losing weight and putting it on, means that any straying off the straight and narrow will have a great impact. No straying allowed.
Week Twenty three - I think
I feel really bad. I have spent weeks preparing for Christmas including licking helps of food preparation bowls, I have given up exercising and over the last two weeks I have eaten mountains of food, a lot of it not very good for me. I have indulged in lots of cream and custard and ice cream and cheese and all those delightful fatty foods you eat at Christmas, not to mention all the sweets, lollies, pies, puddings, tortes and lots of chocolate and not very much in the way of fruit and vegetables, although there were plenty to choose from. Which brings me back to the fact that I could easily have eaten healthily even at Christmas if I had chosen to do so. I could have done all this without even been seen to be a party popper. Just choosing to eat more vegetables than meat, and have a sliver of cake with lots of the fruit that usually goes with it, and eschewing the nibbles and sweets would have been a good idea to stay healthy. I always use special occasions as an excuse to binge on food that is best taken in small doses. So now I have resolved to put my body before my mouth. The strange thing is that I weighed myself this morning, twice because I couldn't believe what the scales said, and I only weighed 80.6kg - only 600g short of my goal for 1 January 2013. I really can't understand how this miracle happened but it sure was a relief.
Week Nineteen
I give up, it is the silly season and the silly season centres on eating yourself to death - so any chance of actually losing weight in December seems very faint indeed. I am not really giving up with my diet but I am aiming for maintenance rather than a loss. In theory you should be able to lose weight by treating each special occasion as no more than another healthy meal. Instead of seeing it as an opportunity to indulge you could see it as an opportunity to demonstrate your self-discipline by having small portions, not eating any nibbles or after dinner treats, forgoing dessert and only eating the healthy food that you are served and leaving the rest. You would seem to be a bit of a party popper however. I am going to give it a go and will let you know how I go. So far this month my weight has varied from 81.7kg to 80.4kg. I am 80.8kg today so I feel on the average my weight is still going down - and will continue to do so as long as I can resist the rocky road, Christmas pudding, Christmas cake, palovas, trifles, icecream, salted nuts, crisps, dips, crackers, cheese, chocolate, icing, chocolate logs, roast meats, sweets, fully cooked breakfasts, pretzels, corn chips, glace fruit, toffees, panaforte, barbequed sausages, potato salad doused with mayonnaise, brandy butter, custard, profiteroles Oh DEAR!!!!
Week Eighteen
Yesterday I weighed 80.5kg, today I weigh 81,7kg!!! Do the scales lie - unfortunately not. Yesterday I went to a wedding and had a fantastic time and ate some fantastic food, and ate some more and some more. I broke my rule of not eating unless sitting down and ate 8 delicious canapes. Then I had a bowl of gnocchi, followed that with a large meal of salmon and vegetables including my husband's mashed potato, which he offered me (knowing it is my most favourite food in the whole world) and I didn't refuse. Then I had a tiramusu loaded in cream and alcohol. Sublime. I also had eaten during the day 3 thick slices of rustic Italian bread with margarine and vegiemite. Not exactly a balanced diet. Where did I go wrong?
Well apart from eating too much food, and fattening food at that, I don't think that food was the main reason for my weight gain. It was a very hot day and I worked in the garden. Unloading 5 small trailer loads of mulch. Perspiration was pouring off me so I drank about 2 litres of water in one hit, and more afterwards. At the reception I must have drank 5 more litres of water. If my theory is correct I should weigh a lot less tomorrow - here's hoping.
Week Seventeen
This week was a good one as I actually managed to get down to 80.4kg. My weight bounced back up to 81.2kg by the end of the week but I am still happy as that is a loss of 500g over the week, my average weight loss and goal. I have now lost 7kg or 1/3 of my planned weight loss in 1/3 (4 months) of the time I have allowed for it. I have also lost 1/3 of my goal for my waist measurement having lost 15cm off my girth. I started at 88kg in mid-July and now weigh 81kg. If I lose another 7kg I will be 74kg and no longer overweight but back in the normal range. Which means shopping in normal shops for clothes. Another 7kg after that and I will reach my ideal weight of 67kg.
So far so good, but I am getting a bit slack in keeping track of what I am eating and doing my exercise.s. I need to become disciplined again in sticking to my diet, exercise plan and daily routine. It would be great if I could get out of bed before 9am. I love sitting in bed in the mornings doing puzzles, reading and guzzling coffee as I gradually wake up but it skews the routine of the day. And apparently going for a walk before breakfast burns more kilojoules than leaving it until after breakfast. And a cup of coffee, black of course, before exercise helps to crank up the body's metabolism up a bit.
I am going to try sticking post-it notes around the place tonight saying 'get up and stay up' and 'don't go back to bed go for a walk instead'.
With any luck it will be raining and I can ignore them all.
Week Sixteen
This week I was delighted that my weight stayed down at 81.7kg despite not doing an lot of exercise due to a neck problem and going out to a very indulgence dinner. I am not quite sure why this should be the case except to say that although I didn't do a lot of formal exercise I did do a lot of incidental exercise such as walking around the place and carrying stuff. I did eat quite a lot of delicious French cheese last night but I don't drink alcohol so that keeps the calories down. Also, although I didn't stick strickly to my diet plan, I didn't eat as much as I could have done given my allowance.
Going away or going out for dinner or lunch is still a danger point for me as shown by my Queensland experience. I feel I have permission to eat what I like. I have strategies in place to deal with the temptation (see weight tips on latest post) and when I follow them I can eat out without guilt.
I have now realised that while I can stray off the straight and narrow on occasionally I can't do it every time I go out as it is too frequently. I am lucky that my friends are fantastic cooks and always have healthy choices available. I have to just make sure I eat them.
Week Fifteen
I have been away in tropical northern Queensland for a week attending a family celebration and so I have missed my regular entry in my diary. In fact, I would have been ashamed to have written what I had eaten in my dairy last week as I was very very bad. I simply ate what I fancied and that was a lot of delicious cup cakes, pizzas and even one bag of Twisties and not a lot of vegetables or fruit. All very yummy but not good for the tummy. In fact my weight soared to 83.7kg. An increase of 1.6kg from my last weigh in. Not surprising considering the high fat and sugary foods I consumed.
The last time I went off the rails so badly was after my 60th birthday when I felt compelled to eat all the yummy high fat, high sugar left overs and I just kept going until I was back to where I had started the year before. All that effort completely wasted and another yo-yo eating pattern.
But this time was a bit different. I knew I was eating the unhealthy food but I didn't think I was going to keep doing it. I knew that as soon as I got home I would go back to my healthy eating pattern. Also I went for quite a few long walks with the hosts' large and adorable dogs. I have to say I really enjoyed this exercise.
For the first time in my life I am being to see exercise as something that is enjoyable in its own right and not just a chore to be got through as sooon as possible so I can do other things I need to do. I am beginning to see that I might now perfer to exercise in perference to doing other activities like watching TV or staying in bed. Believe me this is quite a transformation because I have always hated exercise and have only done it recently to loose weight.
My mindset is changing in other ways too. I am being to see that healthy eating and exercise is just something I do to live well and expect to continue to do. I know I now have to eat less than I need to maintain my weight and to exercise more to get rid of fat but I no longer have a vision of giving up my 'diet' when I reach my ideal weight. I will always eat well from now on and if I stray occasionally and eat fattening foods or get a little slack with exercising I know I will get back to my 'normal' lifestyle as soon as I can because I feel so much better when I am trimmer and fitter and I just don't want to lose that feeling ever. Before, any transgression was seen as an excuse to ditch the diet and give up any attempt to become healthier except for a lot of wishful thinking.
Anyway, the weight gained soon melted off when I got back to my normal routine and now I am back to 82.4kg. It pays not to give up.
Week Thirteen
Real progress at last, over 5kg in 3 months, part of which I was immobile with a sore knee. I am sure my weight will go up and and sown a bit over the next few weeks but I feel confident that it will stay more than 5kg less than what it was at the beginning. So now I need to redo my calculations for my daily kilojoule allowance. For counter inituitively you need to eat less as you loss weight because a heavier body chews up more calories - carting all that blubber around, pumping blood further around than in a slim body and so on. Either that or do a lot more exercise.
Week Twelve
lost nearly a kilogram this week even though I succumbed to chocolate gravings at least once. I did work hard in the garden and did some cycling on the exercise bike, maybe that made a difference.
Week Eleven
I worked so hard helping to install our new raised vegetable beds that I burned lots of energy and consequently by the end of the week I lost 1 Kilogram and now weigh 83.7kg. So real exercise is certainly effective in burning fat.
Week Ten
I finished the week weighing 84.6kg only 100g less than the previous week. In fact, I couldn't say that such a weight loss was statistically significant. When I look at the graph over the last three weeks the line of best fit is actually a straight line as my weight bounces up and down like an acrobat on a trampoline.
My first response to my heroic failure was to give up and eat lots of forbidden food - my usual way of comforting myself. But then I realise I really do need to be slimmer for my health as well as lots of other more peripheral reasons. So I am obviously eating more than I should and not exercising enough, so it is time to up the ante. I am not surprised by my weight going up and down but I want it to trend down not stay horizontal.
Weight fluctuations from day to day can have several causes other than over eating. In fact if your weight increases by a kilogram overnight it is unlikely that you have stacked on 1kg of fat unless you have the apetite of a meat eating elephant.
The amount of fluid you retain in your body can affect what the scales read. Eating salty food, blood pressure tablets, anti-inflamatories and hormonal changes can affect fluid retention.
Your metabolism can affect your weight as well. For example if you store a lot of carbohydrate as glycogen and the twater associated with it you will weigh more than if you have been exercising vigorously and used up most of your reserves.
Food that you eat that is not digested but just passing through can also affect your weight depending on how long it hangs around.
Of course some food are more perilous for the scales than others. A kilogram of broccoli is not going to do much harm but a kilogram of butter is another matter.
I have read that muscle tissue weighs more than fat tissue so if your weight goes up you can always say it is because you have been pumping iron.
Week Nine - I am afraid I have been cheating this week and have for the first time eaten between meals. Consequently I have lost only 100g overall. In fact my weight is now yo-yoing between 85.5kg and 84.kg. Always a bad sign as it means I am not being consistent in my diet and exercise program.
Having put on weight last week I was a little despondent and so my break outs. Biscuits and larger than normal meals were really just examples of cheering myself through food. But really it is a spiral downwards because having overeaten it is easy to just give up and keep overeating and soon I find myself in a familiar pattern of taking one step forwards and two back. I have actually taken enough steps to have walked a marathon but more than half of them have been in the wrong direction.
It is the same phenomena as a person who has given up smoking for three months being lulled into a false sense of security and going to a party and having one cigarette only as a nice reward. Fatal.
So it is back to self-discipline and habit to save the day. After all somethings like cleaning my teeth everyday has become unbreakable habit due to reinforcement and repetition over the years so why not good eating patterns?
Week EightSurprising how a few celebration dinners and lunches put on the weight - 400g this week, which is only 100g a meal but it takes a lot of exercise to get rid of it. So I better start.
Week Seven - the real one
This is week
seven and the weight is falling off. I
lost over 600g this week. Tonight I am
having cottage pie with mashed potatoes on top.
I have to be so careful as mashed potatoes is one of the foods I am
addicted to. It is one of the foods that
I could keep eating and eating until my stomach burst. I have been able to eat over four mashed
potatoes in one sitting and have greatly enjoyed adding more butter and salt to
make it even more delicious and bad for me.
Nothing gives me greater comfort than a big bowl of smooth mashed
potatoes. Most of the food that I am
addicted to is bland and creamy with a smooth texture. Surely there is some deep hidden Freudian meaning
in that.
But I am
serious in describing these food longings as an addiction because once I am on
a binge nothing can deflect me from it. It is like another part of my brain is in
control of my actions. This primitive
brain is unmoved by any amount of reasoning and uses a very twisted logic to
rationalise its self-harming actions.
I am sure it
is the same part of the brain that talks smokers into having one more cigarette
when they know it is bad for them. It is
the voice that says smoking probably won’t kill me because my mother smoked and
she lived into her nineties. It is the
voice that compels drug addicts to inject heroine into their veins, it is the
voice that convinces gamblers to have one more roll of the dice or alcoholics
to have one more drink when they know they will regret the consequences and
loathe themselves after. And although it
may not be so dramatic the harm done by overeating is still life threatening.
And no doubt
compulsions have been really important for our survival. We could not do without that primitive part
of our brain that compels us to seek water when we need it, to eat to sustain
our bodies, to keep on gathering small morsels of food to bring home to keep
the family going. The vice of gluttony
is just as much a survival strategy as the virtue of temperance.
Our drive to
eat and drink and other compulsive traits were not much of a problem in our
long history as hunters and gatherers. Food
was not abundant all the time, and not loaded with sugar, salt and fat. Collecting
lots of possessions was not much of an option for nomads. Opportunities to use drugs, drink alcohol and
gamble were probably pretty limited too.
Now we are
surrounded by temptation all the time and the only way out that I see is to
recognise the drives of that primitive part of your brain and to just let it
know that you are going to override its desires with rational thought. I say to myself – I would absolutely love to eat an extra helping of mashed potatoes, I
know that it would taste absolutely delicious but I am not going to do so because
I want to be slim and healthy even more.
Week Six
Its hard to believe six weeks have passed since starting on this diet. It has been an up and down ride with eating out, travelling and having friends over for dinner being the danger zones.
On my last lot of travels I picked up a magazine in a cafe and read an article about fat people in revolt. Basically it was about fat people who had spent a lifetime dieting. Each time they lost weight they put it all back on and more after a year or so. They had decided enough was enough and had now chosen to be obese and happy.
The reason given for their failure to lose weight and keep it off was our evolution. The argument is that humans are programmed to feast in times of plenty and resist losing weight so that they are more able to survive in times of famine. Gluttony is built in it seems. I have a certain sympathy with this view that the body fights tooth and nail to retain its adipose tissue. My weight tends to plateau and stubbornly refuses to budge. But I know if I try harder and think of my diet as a life time way of eating I can shift it.
In someways I think I have been a bit like my little dog Wally. When we first got him he was a slow eater with a small apetite content to just have a bowl of dog biscuits. Then we started giving him canned dog food, chicken wings and other goodies. Soon he distained the biscuits. Far too boring. Sometimes we gave him some of our dinner in his bowl. He loved that and was soon looking around in the evening to see if he would be indulged with similar treats. Then we made a big mistake of feeding him tidbits from the table. Now we have a dog that wolfs his food down, hangs around the table at meal times and looks expectantly whenever we start cooking. We have increased his expectations and the size of his apetite and stomach. He is going on a diet.
There could well be wisdom in the idea that tucking into large meals with gusto is an evolutionary device to keep us from starving in lean times. Some people do use this as an excuse for being obese - I have certainly been tempted to do so.
But we rarely look at the corollary. I think we also have developed a capacity to cope with a lack of food, to endure through the lean times because at the time the human race was evolving there were no supermarkets open 24 hours to supply our every whim. While prehistoric people may have feasted on a big catch and ate to satiation I imagine these feasts were often few and far between.
Many religions have advocated fasting as virtuous, and in medieval days there were lots of fast days or meatless days. People knew what it felt like to be hungry. During the World War II prisoners survived for years on very small rations. Most people rarely go without food for more than a few hours and there are all sorts of diets which promise that you never feel hungry.
It seems to me that feeling a bit hungry is a necessary part of losing weight and controlling your apetite. That's the approach I am taking and it is a relief to walk past a packet of delicious chocolates and to know that although I could gobble them up in a second I am not going to.
I am not going to stay obese. I know I can take tablets to keep my blood pressure normal and my cholesterol low and I can do exercise. But being fat increasing the risk of diabeties and metabolic symdrome, fatty liver and greater stress on the joints and heart.
Week Five
External vigilence was difficult to achieve on the road trip of over 2000kms we did last week, to Cape Otway Lighthouse and back. I started off okay, eating a cafes where there always was a low joule option - for example instead of bacon and eggs for breakfast I had a poached egg, mushrooms and spinach - delicious.
It was the freshly baked florentines and melting momments served as a welcoming treat at the lighthouse keeper's cottage that was my downfall. How could I upset the chef by not eating them and it was my birthday and the seafood down on the coast is reknowned - so of course I could justify lobster mornay for my birthday dinner at Appollo Bay - the fresh lobster was the sweetest and most delicious I have tasted. And then I had to have a creme brullee for dessert instead of a birthday cake.
The next day we did some walking which I hoped would lessen the impact of my indulgence the day before. I felt very virtuous walking to a headland in the freezing conditions - almost sleeting but to walk off what I had eaten and what I had next I really needed to have walked to Melbourne rather than the 2 kms I actually trod.
The next day we went on a fascinating shipwreck coast tour near the lighthouse but we didn't realise that afternoon tea was included in the tour. We were deposited at the lighthouse cafe and confronted with plates of freshly cooked, large delcious, homemade scones, strawberry jam and cream and a very enthusiastic chef. I am afraid I subcumbed.
The next day we were going to drive to Ballarat but the weather was atrocious and we were enjoying driving so we kept going - for 11 hours. In order to revive and survive we stopped a couple of times at MacDonalds and I confess to have a couple of hamburgers and one lot of chips. MacDonalds helpfully gives the energy content of its food and unfortunately for me even though I chose lower joule options I still ate more than my entire day's energy needs in those two visits.
So with all that indulgence and the fact that all all the walking made my knee swell up again, I am 600g heavier than I was at the beginning of the week. So I need to work out a better strategy for eating on the road and I just have to be prepared to break the hearts of chefs.
Week Four
Hurrah, I am finally losing weight. Eternal vigilence is paying off. For seven days I have stuck steadfastly to my diet like chewing gum to the pavement. I have felt hungry every day but it no longer worries me as I know I am not going to starve to death. In fact, there has been a benefit in not eating to satiety and that is the fanastic pleasure eating now gives me. Food tastes so much more delicious when you have a good appetite.
Its hard to believe six weeks have passed since starting on this diet. It has been an up and down ride with eating out, travelling and having friends over for dinner being the danger zones.
On my last lot of travels I picked up a magazine in a cafe and read an article about fat people in revolt. Basically it was about fat people who had spent a lifetime dieting. Each time they lost weight they put it all back on and more after a year or so. They had decided enough was enough and had now chosen to be obese and happy.
The reason given for their failure to lose weight and keep it off was our evolution. The argument is that humans are programmed to feast in times of plenty and resist losing weight so that they are more able to survive in times of famine. Gluttony is built in it seems. I have a certain sympathy with this view that the body fights tooth and nail to retain its adipose tissue. My weight tends to plateau and stubbornly refuses to budge. But I know if I try harder and think of my diet as a life time way of eating I can shift it.
In someways I think I have been a bit like my little dog Wally. When we first got him he was a slow eater with a small apetite content to just have a bowl of dog biscuits. Then we started giving him canned dog food, chicken wings and other goodies. Soon he distained the biscuits. Far too boring. Sometimes we gave him some of our dinner in his bowl. He loved that and was soon looking around in the evening to see if he would be indulged with similar treats. Then we made a big mistake of feeding him tidbits from the table. Now we have a dog that wolfs his food down, hangs around the table at meal times and looks expectantly whenever we start cooking. We have increased his expectations and the size of his apetite and stomach. He is going on a diet.
There could well be wisdom in the idea that tucking into large meals with gusto is an evolutionary device to keep us from starving in lean times. Some people do use this as an excuse for being obese - I have certainly been tempted to do so.
But we rarely look at the corollary. I think we also have developed a capacity to cope with a lack of food, to endure through the lean times because at the time the human race was evolving there were no supermarkets open 24 hours to supply our every whim. While prehistoric people may have feasted on a big catch and ate to satiation I imagine these feasts were often few and far between.
Many religions have advocated fasting as virtuous, and in medieval days there were lots of fast days or meatless days. People knew what it felt like to be hungry. During the World War II prisoners survived for years on very small rations. Most people rarely go without food for more than a few hours and there are all sorts of diets which promise that you never feel hungry.
It seems to me that feeling a bit hungry is a necessary part of losing weight and controlling your apetite. That's the approach I am taking and it is a relief to walk past a packet of delicious chocolates and to know that although I could gobble them up in a second I am not going to.
I am not going to stay obese. I know I can take tablets to keep my blood pressure normal and my cholesterol low and I can do exercise. But being fat increasing the risk of diabeties and metabolic symdrome, fatty liver and greater stress on the joints and heart.
Week Five
External vigilence was difficult to achieve on the road trip of over 2000kms we did last week, to Cape Otway Lighthouse and back. I started off okay, eating a cafes where there always was a low joule option - for example instead of bacon and eggs for breakfast I had a poached egg, mushrooms and spinach - delicious.
It was the freshly baked florentines and melting momments served as a welcoming treat at the lighthouse keeper's cottage that was my downfall. How could I upset the chef by not eating them and it was my birthday and the seafood down on the coast is reknowned - so of course I could justify lobster mornay for my birthday dinner at Appollo Bay - the fresh lobster was the sweetest and most delicious I have tasted. And then I had to have a creme brullee for dessert instead of a birthday cake.
The next day we did some walking which I hoped would lessen the impact of my indulgence the day before. I felt very virtuous walking to a headland in the freezing conditions - almost sleeting but to walk off what I had eaten and what I had next I really needed to have walked to Melbourne rather than the 2 kms I actually trod.
The next day we went on a fascinating shipwreck coast tour near the lighthouse but we didn't realise that afternoon tea was included in the tour. We were deposited at the lighthouse cafe and confronted with plates of freshly cooked, large delcious, homemade scones, strawberry jam and cream and a very enthusiastic chef. I am afraid I subcumbed.
The next day we were going to drive to Ballarat but the weather was atrocious and we were enjoying driving so we kept going - for 11 hours. In order to revive and survive we stopped a couple of times at MacDonalds and I confess to have a couple of hamburgers and one lot of chips. MacDonalds helpfully gives the energy content of its food and unfortunately for me even though I chose lower joule options I still ate more than my entire day's energy needs in those two visits.
So with all that indulgence and the fact that all all the walking made my knee swell up again, I am 600g heavier than I was at the beginning of the week. So I need to work out a better strategy for eating on the road and I just have to be prepared to break the hearts of chefs.
Week Four
Hurrah, I am finally losing weight. Eternal vigilence is paying off. For seven days I have stuck steadfastly to my diet like chewing gum to the pavement. I have felt hungry every day but it no longer worries me as I know I am not going to starve to death. In fact, there has been a benefit in not eating to satiety and that is the fanastic pleasure eating now gives me. Food tastes so much more delicious when you have a good appetite.
This week was a break through. I went the whole week eating only at meal times – no snacking in between and also sticking strictly to my diet even if it meant feeling hungry at times.
Week 3
I now weigh 1.4kg more than I did last week but that is not entirely due to eating too much. On Monday I had an arthroscopy on my knee to restore its functionality. The operation went very well and I went home that night. Fortunately the knee was not very painful at all but it swelled up prodigiously so that I gained 1.4kg overnight.
After my knee became sore I could no longer exercise or even drive my car. So I blamed my knee for putting the 8kg+ back on. But in actual fact, looking back, I could have maintained my weight simply by eating less. I didn’t do that. In fact I got stuck into all the treats left over from my birthday party and then I seemed to lose all restraints, feeling that I deserved a treat.
I am still stymied in my weight loss by my attitudes – attitude one - you cannot waste food – so any leftovers must be consumed no matter that they are very high in fats or sugars; - attitude two – if you have people over for a meal or go to their place you should eat everything with gusto to show how much you are enjoying yourself and appreciate the food.
I have considered several solutions .Give up entertaining and refuse to go out to dinner. Only serve very healthy food at dinner parties.Only eat small portions of food at dinner parties and don’t eat any optional food like nibbles and after dinner treats.I think the third option is the most sensible and I must steal myself to put this strategy into action at my next foray out – which is down the coast for a weekend with the gourmet food club!!!!!
Week 2
The worse day was the start of the second week. Mike bought a bag of chocolate bullets, he offered me some. Before I realised it I had stuffed three generous handfuls into my mouth. I said to myself that it was just a one off lapse but then I felt a bit peckish later and thought maybe I could just get away with some airblown popcorn. After all sweetcorn is good for you and doesn’t contain many calories. The only problem is that the popcorn machine only makes a minimum of 7 cups of popcorn. And you can’t waste it so you just have to eat it all. But of course straight popcorn dries your mouth so you need to something to moisten it.I virtuously avoided the butter even though it tastes so good and instead added half a cup of proactive margarine – after all it is a functional food designed to reduce cholesterol (conveniently forgetting that it is also a fat and therefore dense in calories).Then I needed some salt to go with that popcorn.Hardened arteries here I come.
I am back on the straight and narrow now but a bit depressed about how easily I hoodwinked myself.This week I have done no exercise except some gardening – some of which was quite vigorous.I had a sudden insight which made me think how devious the mind is in not recognising the obvious when it is convenient to do so.If your diet is based on you doing moderate exercise and you don’t do any then you need to eat considerably less to compensate for your inertia if you want to lose weight.
Also the nibbles I ate before the Christmas in July lunch I attended, and the chocolates I ate with coffee afterwards, count as eating between meals because they are not eaten at the table.They are laden with kilojoules and are now forbidden fruit. I am gradually closing all the loopholes my cunning limbic system has found in order to justify eating delicious but fattening food.
However, I did not put this theory into practice very well when I went out to dinner with friends on Sunday night.I justified eating butter and ice cream and custard and cheese and lots bread by telling myself that going out was special, the hosts had prepared a great spread and I should show that I was enjoying it – which I was albeit laced with guilt - and that I would be a kill joy if I didn’t partake. But in fact it was a great meal with plenty of healthy choices such as vegetables and salad, the hosts wouldn’t have even noticed whether I ate the cheese or not – it was really up to me and I failed my test. I vowed that if I ever over indulged again I would fast the next day. People use to fast regularly in the past, some still do, so why not me.That will teach me to sin!
So it seems at the end of two weeks of dieting I weigh only 400g less than when I started.Must try harder.
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