364 Days Later

I’m not quite sure where to begin with this article. Do I chasten myself for buying packs of biscuits at work last week and scoffing the lot? Shall I talk about experiencing 4 seasons in 5k on Saturday morning, when a mix of glorious sunshine, rain, hail and gusty winds made conditions testing for ParkRun? The 6 cans of cider on Saturday night? Going to my mother’s house on Sunday where I consumed fruitcake, chocolate cake, trifle, a huge dinner and biscuits, before setting off for an 8 mile run in the evening? Or how about managing to remove the skin from my heel this morning courtesy of an incident with a wheelie bin?

To be honest, while all of the above could fill a number of blog articles, the only thing I’m really interested in writing about today is reflective of where I was 12 months ago. On this day last year, my wife and I pootled off to hospital unsure of when we’d be home again. Full of nervous energy in anticipation of meeting our little boy and seeing how his surgery would go. The next morning we met him and our journey began. Tomorrow we celebrate his first birthday. In that context, all of my trivial diet/running ramblings are rightly put in their place.

Wednesday Weigh-In - 5 February

The headline news this week is I've had my first gain of 2014. However, in the immortal words of Corporal Jones, 'Don't Panic'. The scales put me 1 pound heavier this week compared to last Wednesday, but I've no reason for concern. It may sound a bit defensive but what is a pound anyway? I'm using scales which round up or down to the nearest pound. It is a marginal gain at worst.

Up, but not down

I'll admit I've not been particularly diet focused, but then as I said last week I'm now in maintenance mode and so a little movement up or down from 14 stone is not unrealistic. There were a couple of cans on Saturday night ending dryathlon. There were fewer runs than the previous week. Yesterday was my wife's birthday and so I enjoyed a large slab of chocolate cake, rather than go for a 4 mile run the night before a weigh-in like the previous Tuesday. I'm certainly not blaming the gain on a nice treat!

On a more positive note, I feel slimmer. A belt that I bought back in October because my existing ones were too big is now in danger of being replaced having moved onto the last hole at the tight end. I'm also going to have to think about getting my wedding ring resized as my fingers are smaller than they used to be and it has been noticeably looser of late.

I'm feeling good on the running front. I've mapped out some longer routes for me to try out as I push my training forwards in the next few weeks. Yesterday I received a bunch of donations on my sponsorship page and I've recruited some colleagues to bake some wonderfully sugary badness for a Macmillan style coffee morning next month, with proceeds going towards the run. I'm looking forward to a bit of indulgence when that comes around.

Over the next 7 days it would be good to see that 1 on the picture above drop back to a 0. I'm giving blood later today so if I was so inclined could check the scales tonight for reassuring comfort. But I'm very happy with where I'm at right now. I'm not blase enough to say the weight can take care of itself, but so long as I don't do anything silly, my exercise will keep things in check.

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The weekend starts here

It is Friday night and after several days of getting back into the dieting groove, inevitably things are becoming a little more difficult. For most of the afternoon I've been trying to keep my mind from thoughts of take out and cold beers, and writing this now I'm pleased to report I've stayed away from both, but I know that the rest of the weekend will present its challenges. A working day provides distraction; a weekend at home means 48 hours of temptation.

I've kickstarted life into my diet by entering a post-Easter detox. Nutritionists would likely disapprove but I've been living off porridge. Not in the three meals a day sense, but close enough. Porridge for breakfast. Porridge for lunch. Proper dinner in the evening. Believe me by the time I get to eat at night I am ravenous! This is just a short term measure, to get thing rolling but it is quite effective and given how bitterly cold the weather has been this week, three hot meals a day has been very welcome.

How things will pan out this weekend I'm not too sure. Staying away from my 4 year old's Easter Eggs should be straightforward enough, but the lagers in the fridge and the Pringles in the cupboard may be harder to resist. One thing is for sure, if I do give in to temptation, I'll have spent the last three days wasting my time with Oat So Simple. Wish me luck.

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Get back to what you know

When I started writing this blog at the start of the year, I always knew there was a cloud hovering above February that would likely effect both the diet and my ability to pen content. That cloud came to be on 11 Feb in the form of a 7lb 1oz baby boy. Under normal circumstances a new family addition will alter your usual routine, and as you'll have noted from the blog so far, my dieting success comes off the back of consistent behaviour. With that in mind, plus the knowledge that Jacob's arrival brought additional concerns, I benched the diet for the last three weeks. Today things will get back to normal.

My paternity leave plus an additional week of leave has been and gone, and today I head back to the office. I strongly suspect I'll be spending most of the day talking about babies and hospitals rather than be particularly productive, but whereas I can't control my colleagues wanting to know everything about Jacob's adventure to date, what I can do is regain control of my food intake. I've just started my day with a bowl of porridge with a banana and plan to get back on track with a view to weigh-in on Wednesday.

After initially keeping relatively healthy during my time off, the last week or so has descended into cake, crisps and chocolate. They are no longer on my menu. A return to three steady meals a day will replace eating at will. I voluntarily climbed off this dieting horse, but now I'm determined to get back in the saddle and resume where I left off.

When you find a weightloss formula that works for you, stick with it. That is what I am doing today, going back to what I know. A wee bit of sleep deprivation may present a challenge, but dieting was never supposed to be easy.

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Choices, choices

Life is full of choices. Do you got outside and play in the snow, or do you stay inside nice and warm? Do you tidy the house when you know you really need to or do you decide to put it off for another day. The big topic of conversation in my household at 8am on a Saturday was do we go with Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam or Looney Toons? There are always choices. Always an alternative.

The same is true of dieting, and the choices that you make will be a determining factor in whether or not you are successful. My choice so far has taken advantage of my 'all or nothing' mentality and distance myself from snacks and sweet stuff. I know that once I get a taste for chocolate, cake or crisps I'll be looking for more. And then some more. And before I know it, I'll have abandoned diet mode and started to reverse the losses of the last two weeks.

Some people have better self restraint than me. They can have a little bit of something nice from time to time and not let it interfere with their weightloss plans. I am somewhat envious of them, but I know what works for me and where my weaknesses lie. So in the face of temptation, my attitude is to politely decline the opportunity.

That situation arose yesterday at work. One of my colleagues was having their final day before moving off to pastures new, and inevitably there was a bit of a leaving do planned, starting with our traditional office lunchtime buffet. We have some sensational amateur bakers in our midst. One had made a to die for cake while the other had made a gorgeous collection of cupcakes. Throw in a huge amount of savoury goods and the challenge was set. Do I tuck in or do I abstain?

The PCC Buffet - What would you do?

In the end, the snowfall took the decision out of my hands, as I had to leave work early to collect my son from his nursery which was closing early due to the adverse weather conditions. However, I had every intention of taking a look but don't touch policy. My humble lunch of ham, rocket and coleslaw wrap would have done nicely (as it did later when I eventually got home) and not broken my diet.

My choice is to take the steps necessary to achieve long-term weightloss. If that means deferring on a raft of sweet temptations, so be it.

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