A blimp in the proceedings...

Sigh.

It was all going so well, too well, probably.

Since the end of the summer recess, I think it's safe to say that I have not been doing too well. Without wishing to justify myself too much, I will say that I have not been well lately. Two chest infections and two separate weeks off work since 1 September have knocked me all to cock.

I was doing well on Weight Loss Resources, but eating quite a lot of crap too. So I allowed myself to get distracted (not for the first time) by MadWoman McKeith and joyous dreams of tables laden with Mother Earth's greenest food being turned into filling, hot, nutritious meals that would strip the lumps from me faster than you could say "aduki bean stew". The fact that I can't cook at all does not intrude into these daydreams.

Needless to say, Ms McKeith's lofty ideals glow a little less brightly when you stumble in from work at 7.45pm, it's p*ssing rain and blowing a gale and all you want to eat is cheesy pasta.

Still, in the past week, things have taken a bit of a turn. I have come to some quite big decisions about other things in my life and am in the process of sloughing off some detritus that I no longer need. As a result I am getting a bit more sleep and things are seeming brighter. FF2 pointed this out to me, and I availed myself of both books. Yes, they are good books, funny and to-the-point. And there are some very good points. Whether they will help me to lose this weight remains to be seen.

And then this cheered me immensely:

Kirstie Alley on Oprah.

She claims to have done it through the Jenny Craig programme. Now, I've done a bit of investigating on the net and it looks to me as if this is a programme where you eat food that's not really food. They will actually post it to you. There's also a support thing... I got bored, I must admit. I don't care how she did it. The fact is, she's 55 and I would! (I'm very straight - ask FF2).

I don't know why other people's success buoys me up as it does, but it does. I am now going to the Tesco site to order lots of sugar-free, protein-laden scran.

Rye observation

Hey guys! I'm here to promote my new product (shurely "new discovery" - Ed). From Ryvita comes a tasty range of cereal bars with no added sugar and only 61 calories per bar. It's called the Ryvita Goodness Bar, and is available in three delicious flavours. Perfect for those comfort-eating moments!

Fat's entertainment

All right, all right - it's been an uneven kind of month, and I'm not just talking about the uneven rolls of fat that - but that's enough about me!

I signed up for Weight Loss Resources, but have signally failed for the last few weeks to make any note of what I am eating - suddenly it all seemed too time-consuming. It takes real effort and dedication to do this properly.

However, I feel some renewed inspiration now it's getting colder: I can run outside again (in Hong Kong it's too hot to run outdoors for much of the year) and I have vowed to start going to the gym again. I seem somehow to have begun to be able to lapse without killing myself with guilt because I either ate something I shouldn't have, or didn't exercise, or both. I know I can still make a difference and so I'm not giving up. This might be a temporary state of affairs but it feels quite good while it lasts.

So, tomorrow is another day! And it doesn't hurt having, with Fatfighter5, signed up for a marathon 1.5 hour paddle on Thursday morning for which we have to get up at 5.30 am. I just know I will feel good afterwards and I am basking in as-yet-unearned virtue already.

Where have those 3kg gone?!

FF1 knows this already as I texted her in excitment on Friday evening.
Somehow, with no conscious effort and just a couple of manageable lifestyle changes I've managed to lose 3kg in about a month. Wahey! I'm following a combo of the french woman/newly single/much happier/very busy diet plan. The crucial elements seem to be:

1. eat fruit for breakfast. Swapping a pret almond croissant for a fruit salad saves about 400 calories a throw and actually makes you feel in gerenal much healthier.

2. don't down a bottle of wine in the evening with the partner you can no longer talk to. Saves approximately 1200 calories, and a lot of heartache.

3. make sure the sports you take up mean that you can't eat at the same time. I highly recommend outrigging - yesterday spent most of my time on a boat being so sea sick that I actually lost calories (yes, was throwing up over the side for most of the afternoon....)

4. Snog younger men. Makes you suck your stomach in. good for core stability or something...

So there you have it. Will write it up into a best selling diet pack toute de suite!

Happy dieting

x

Goldilocks and the Three Bowls of Porridge

Once upon a time, there was a 39 year old with blonde highlights who liked eating porridge. She liked it so much that she didn't let the three famous, porridge-eating bears have any, and they took to eating shoots and leaves. She liked her porridge made with milk, and she liked to think of the blackhouse dwellers of the Outer Hebrides turning in their graves. She liked it with milk and she liked it with stewed fruit and then - sacrilege! - she liked it with a dollop of half-fat crème fraîche and maple syrup on top. And lo, it was yummy, and she wished that Scotland was cold all year round so she could eat it every day.

Lentement, s'il vous plaît

I'm on my fourth day of eating à la manière française. It is surprisingly difficult to eat without distractions - I find my eyes flicking around for things to read; even book titles will do - but the quantity I'm consuming has definitely decreased.

I've been having porridge and maple syrup for breakfast, but far less than I would usually have. Later, at work, I have coffee and a banana, then I go up to Boots for a wrap, and get a smoothie and a snack (of which there are many healthy options) too. That and an apple or orange gets me through till dinner time. I've been drinking lots more water during the day, and the walk to Boots constitutes a good half hour of exercise.

Soup has been a good way to start off my evening meal because it's filling and warming. Sometimes all I've had after that is cheese, fruit, oatcakes and a yogurt (Ms Guiliano is a big fan of yogurt). Evenings are traditionally my weakest time, food-wise, but I've managed to confine treats to hot chocolate made with skimmed milk. I haven't weighed myself, but I feel like there may be a little less of me than a week ago. En avant et en montant!*

*No idea whether that expression exists in French.