1066 All Stars

End of week 16 - 20th December

Starting weight - 12st 4lb

Last weight - 11st 3lb

New weight - 11st

Comments

* Amazing what a day of feeling like death and hardly eating can do for you.

* Clearly I wouldn't recommend it as a strategy but Thursday was a complete wipeout with illness. Breakfast consisted of about four bites of toast and some paracetamol. Lunch was one slice of toast with a bag of sweets, followed by a half eaten dinner. I was still a little shaky on Friday but managed to fit in something of a walk and resisted the lure of a McDonalds to stick with my planned salad for dinner.

* Regardless of the circumstances, what a pleasant surprise to find myself down at 11st. As ever, I always weigh myself at least twice in the morning to validate the result. One of the weights registered just under 11st which I subsequently dismissed as it was not repeated. It would be wonderful to shift that extra pound by Wednesday's weigh in to give me a pre-Christmas boost. I don't expect it to be maintained over the Christmas period, nor will I beat myself up if it isn't, but it would be a great achievement all things considered.

* Speaking of Christmas, as it draws closer my sense of impending dooms increases. I wrote about it here but inevitably there were things left unsaid. I appreciate that people may find this strange. After all, I have two very exciteable kids and a new baby, what's not to get excited about? But that is to totally dismiss the anxious mindset. Whilst I do not want to be a slave to my anxiety, I am also not prepared to downplay it. Anxiety threatens to unravel my world every single day, it is a beast I must continually attempt to slay. It is a fight I don't always win.

* Lots of new pieces on the site recently. In the absence of any pending publcation of my children's story collection, I decided to post The Friendly Lion on the site. I also wrote a new children's rhyme, The Little Blue Whale. This story came about from a toy whale we donated to nursery and Karen suggested I write a story to go with it. I have received some very nice feedback on Readwave suggesting it is book material. I must admit to being quite pleased with it, especially considering that I made it up in a quiet ten minutes at work. I would greatly value feedback from parents.

* There are also a few mental health pieces dotted around, including my mental health Christmas carol, Jingle Blues! If you see something you like, help a brother out and share it with your friends.