I'll get by with a little help from my friends

The first Friday night of the diet was successfully navigated. I found myself unexpectedly on my own with my wife out for the evening and my son conked out in bed feeling a little under the weather. A house to myself with an unopened tube of Pringles, cake bars, Christmas selection boxes, Ben and Jerry's, frozen pizzas. Not to mention a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio chilling away in the fridge.

Did I resist temptation and stick to my diet? You bet I did, though the dangers of procrastination made it very difficult. Sitting alone in front of the tv with so many bad things readily available and with nobody to stop me except my willpower was an early challenge I hadn't really wanted just yet. Fortunately help was on hand. I rang my mother. I called my sister. I chatted with a dear friend on Facebook who was being super complimentary. Time filled, snacking suppressed, thank you very much.

It probably hadn't helped that I'd 'enjoyed' a less than satisfactory evening meal. Cooking for one meant I had to be careful about what I served up for myself, as although I'm not going to a portion control Nazi, I know that if I prepared a meal for 2 at this stage, it would be very difficult to restrain myself from eating more than half of it.

Tired and feeling a little drained, I went for an easy option rather than cook something from scratch. The net result was a very uninspiring dinner consisting of a microwaved Light Choices chicken fillet in tomato (both pieces, I'm not starving myself!) plus a large portion of frozen veg.

Edible, but you wouldn't want it too often

The chicken itself was alright but combined with vegetables that were straight from the freezer rather than nice and fresh meant the whole meal felt and tasted plastic. When you're sticking to a strict regime, you need to have three meals per day that you enjoy, otherwise you are likely to deviate from your plan and compensate with snacks. I should have made the vegetable chilli I had in mind, rather than settle for something quick and easy. Quick and easy doesn't correlate with satisfaction. Remember what I said before about going through the manual door rather than take the easy option? Well here is a little demonstrable example that taking a short cut is not the path to success!

Not really wanting to go through this sort of experience again, I sought advice on some simple healthy yummy recipes from someone who knows a thing or two about cooking. I got in touch with Filipa, and old school friend who is behind the excellent Gourmet Mum website. She sent me over the following recipes which I'm very much looking forward to trying out. You may want to give them a go too.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Thai Turkey Burgers

Three Bean Chilli

Turkey Noodle Soup (subbing chicken for turkey)

They all sound delicious. They are also making me feeling very hungry, so time to round off this article and enjoy a nice big bowl of bran flakes for breakfast!