New Kid on the Blog.....

Hello.
My name is Fatfighter 5.
I would like to lose about a stone in weight (heard that one before??)
Unfortunately a toxic combo of work (lots of travel), client entertainment (always easier with a drink in one hand) and flagging motivation means that my attempts normally last about a week and then stop.
Over summer however, I did manange to lose 85kg in one go - by ending a very stressful relationship.......
And then I signed up for Weightwatchers - but gave up demoralised when it became clear that my main source of calories was fine wine....
Ah well....

Less of me

A colleague said that to me on my first day back at work after the summer. "Is there less of you?" Well, haha, yes there is. 13lbs less of me. Almost as much less of me as my boycat Harley weighs (he's a lump).

Natch, there's so much more of me to go that it's really hardly noticeable. My jeans require constant attention to keep them up, but that's about it.

Weight Loss Resources has been a huge help so far. Obsessively weighing everything on my brand-new electronic kitchen scales and putting it all down might not be the way of the long-term future, but it seems to be the method that suits me.

As the Fatfighters seem to be embarking on a period of Lenten sacrifice, what shall I give up? I am tempted to say that I will give up my Fridays off. Fridays usually commence to start with a sausage butty and continue with fish, chips and beans. By which time there's no point in denying myself for the rest of the day is there? And then it's the weekend and who needs to deny themselves on the weekend? (Can you see the pattern?)

So shall it be that?

One that got away

In a similar vein to the previous post, I have given up drinking. For good. It's all down to Allen Carr, who in his book Easy Way to Control Alcohol, applies the same approach to drinking as he does to smoking. Rather than making you think you're missing out on something, he makes drinking seem like some kind of prison from which you're lucky to escape.

If not ruining my life, drinking was making it hard for me to face up to certain truths about my life, for example how little time I spent with my sons and how little energy I had for doing anything other than, well, drinking. I was tired and dehydrated almost all the time, and had forgotten what it felt like to get up in the morning full of energy and enthusiasm. I had even forgotten what it felt like to go to bed sober, and lie there for a while waiting to go to sleep.

I feel a great deal better now. Carr says, near the end of the book, that you must never, ever question your decision to stop drinking. Inevitably, the thought occurs to me often that perhaps I've made the wrong decision. Those thoughts I nip in the bud as quickly as I can. But there are far, far more occasions when I think myself lucky to have escaped from something that was draining the life out of me, not to mention costing me about £100 a month. Stopping drinking isn't for everyone, I know, but for me there are so many other great things in life that I really don't feel I'm missing out.

Abstinence makes the heart grow stronger

I have now been off the booze for... [counts] twenty days. In that time I have been up close to glasses of wine, have been offered them, have seen people all around me everywhere merrily drinking. To my astonishment, however, in all that time, and even at the weekends, I have not felt the urge to break my resolution to myself. It's surprisingly easy, and it becomes easier the longer you do it, because you're building up a pattern of something that becomes harder to break. The longer I resist, the more shameful a lapse would be ... Until I get to October 5 (my birthday) and can drink again.

The other evening though, leaving the gym after work and traveling up the escalator, looking out at the bars clustered alongside at Staunton Street packed with shrieking revellers, I suddenly though that a nice, cool glass of Sauvignon Blanc would be perfect. I went home and had a cup of tea (Scottish Blend).

I realize also how often we drink out of boredom, or to cover up nerves in social situations; and keep on drinking beyond the point of enjoyment. These are all lazy excuses to pour nothingness down your throat.

Chocs away!

This is the kind of news I like: Real Age. Now, I wonder whether I can stretch it to Lindt Lindor?

Madrid as a hatter

Madrid fashion week - or, rather, the people responsible for MFW- has banned models with a BMI of less than 18. Good for them, I say, although I'll only really be happy when women of an average size are allowed to grace the catwalk. Some of the comments on the BBC website make frightening reading. What are we up against in our quest for normalcy?