1066 All Stars

I like eating. Food tastes good, And it's fun. But there's a problem.

It makes me fat.

So, time to do something about it.

It is easy to start a healthy new regime but far harder to maintain it. So, I thought I would write down my experience and share it with the world.

But, as with most of my writing, this will not simply be a food diary. Instead, I want to explore my thoughts and feelings as I embark on this journey. What lies behind the choices I make? How do they make me feel? How do I overcome them?

To start with, let's outline the parameters.

Starting Weight - 12st 4lbs

Plan

There will be no fad diet. This will be a simple case of putting less in and working more off. I would like to reduce salt and sugar intake. I may reorganise when in the day I eat certain food groups, such as carbs in the morning and afternoon, not evening. But nothing will be excluded per se, that will likely just lead to a craving cycle.

Goals

Setting goals is absolutely vital but at the same time, it is important that they not become a stick to beat myself with. They are targets, not set in stone.

Short term weight - Under 12st

Medium term weight - 11st 3lbs

Long term weight - Under 11st

Timescales

Nah, I'm not falling for that old chestnut. This is a lifestyle change, not a crash course diet. If I set a timeframe and don't meet it, I may lose heart. It is the process that is important here, the results will come with time. Life is a journey, not a destination (I should really trademark that...)

Day 1 - 1st September 2014

Food Log

Breakfast - Tea and toast (with butter)

Lunch - Salad

Dinner - Roast chicken

Dessert - Yoghurt

Not the first day meal plan I had intended but not the worst start eith..what's that? Oh...

In between meal snacks:

Chocolate cornflake biscuit thing

2x chocolate biscuits

Hot chocolate drink

Apple

Half corn on the cob

Hmm, not so good. The corn on the cob and apple are okay but the chocolate wasn't in the plan.

It was almost worse. I stepped out at lunchtime with the express intent of buying some sweets and maybe a fizzy drink. Only the fact that it was raining put me off.

Thoughts and Feelings

* There are some extenuating circumstances. All three of the kids had been up during the night and I had slept poorly. I craved sugar.

* My first craving for food came at 9am, 30 minutes into my work day starting. I don't believe this was genuine hunger, more likely a trick of the mind, conscious of the fact that I would be 'denying' myself.

* I took the biscuit in the morning without hesitation, ready with the excuse of a lack of sleep.

* I was relieved not to have bought the sweets. As the opportunity passed, I realised that I would have regretted it and would have likely engaged in a cycle of self criticism about being weak and feeling fat.

* It is important not to judge, to always be kind to myself. It is also important to beware of labels. The temptation is to call myself fat, lazy, undisciplined. We may be any one thing at a moment in time, it does not make us that thing in perpetuity. We can change.