Wednesday Weigh-In - 11 December

The blog has gone quiet over the past week, somewhat reflecting how in the last 7 days the diet has not really been top priority. During the second half of last week, my little one was poorly, full of seasonal bugs which made for a gruelling few days on limited patchy sleep. In such circumstances, I like anybody else struggle to maintain discipline when my body tells me it is aching for rest. As such, the shackles were removed and I fuelled up on chocolate, crisps and whatever else took my fancy. Sometimes a bit of badness is justified and this was definitely such an occasion.

Of course, when the clouds started to lift, I could have reined things in a bit, but didn't. On Saturday I effectively had two main meals after enjoying a hot lunch with friends before being treated to a roast dinner by my wife later in the evening. On Sunday the buffet available at my mother's house during a family gathering was far too tempting not to indulge in, going back for extra helpings. Yesterday I had my work Christmas lunch, a three course affair topped off with a frankly ridiculous but rather yummy Mince Pie Sundae. 

And so with all that combined, it came as no surprise that for the first time in months, the scales on a Wednesday morning displayed a weight gain. Just a solitary lb mind.

Upwards Motion

Does this mark the turning of weightloss fortunes and suggest a malaise setting in? I'd like to think not. I expected worse if truth be told so consider a marginal increase to be a bit of a result. But just in case a small part of me mentally believes everything is done and dusted, well I have news to the contrary. 

Just signed up to run the Maxifuel Dorney Lake Half Marathon, running to raise sponsorship for @SHINEUKCharity http://t.co/opygXDeChz
— Graham Kaye-Taylor (@bigfatrebel) December 11, 2013

Yep, another running challenge beckons. The Saturday morning 5k is a jog in the park nowadays. The 10k in September was so 2013. Next year I'm raising the bar and will run my first half marathon. You can read about the inevitable charity fundraising over on my Just Giving page or by clicking the button that I've added to the right hand side of the blog.

2013 has been Year Of The Diet. 2014 will begin by getting myself ready for 22 March. Wish me luck.

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Wednesday Weigh-In - 4 December

Following the weekend blitz and subsequent Sunday tizz, I've spent the start of the week putting things right. Clearly I got into a bit of a panic fuelled by cursory looks at the scales. I know, I know. Not taking my own advice  was a bit silly as there will always be weight fluctuations, but what I saw at the weekend not only put the frighteners on me, but contributed to further eating. Clearly I've not left all of my demons in the past.

Fortunately, a few bad days does not reverse months and years of effort, as I reminded myself before going to bed Sunday night

Just a bad couple of days Graham. You're not going to be this guy again because a little bit of food #faceyourfear pic.twitter.com/XO2E3CxWWM
— Graham Kaye-Taylor (@bigfatrebel) December 1, 2013

Monday morning presented a new day and a chance to put things back on track. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Nothing more, nothing less. Repeated again on Tuesday. Having done so, I moved beyond the apocalyptic scales reading I witnessed over the weekend and was greeted with this instead.

Another lb lost

So it appears that on Sunday night I was being a touch melodramatic. But then you probably knew that already. The diet marches on and I'll be publishing my Diet in December post in the next couple of days if any of you want to join me in trying to trim down a little before Christmas week.

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Sunday Sorrow

There has been a bit of a recurring theme in my posts in recent weeks and months. I've been losing weight, running well and pretty much every article has been drenched in positivity. This one is going to be a little different.

I've eaten to excess all weekend. I drank quite a few cans last night, to the point when questioned how many I'd had, I couldn't work it out. I'm sat here on a Sunday evening feeling bloated, nauseous and downright disappointed in myself. My trousers aren't sitting as comfortably around my waist as they would have done a couple of days ago. Not a great way to start the last month of this project.

The silly thing is I had in mind to write a post this evening encouraging my loyal readers to Diet in December with me. Having been asked by a couple of people in recent days what my secret has been, I was going to lay out my typical food intake along with a few photos of the meals. After one of my mates suggested the other day that there is no point in dieting ahead of Christmas, I was planning to prove otherwise. Three good weeks in the lead up to a Christmas binge would make for a better end to the year than a month-long feast.

But instead of doing that, I'm feeling sorry for myself. And big. I dread to think what the scales would make of it all right now Fortunately I've got a couple of days to minimise the weekly damage, but 48 hours of extreme discipline doesn't sound particularly appealing right now. I've done well over the past 11 months through consistency; switching to a 5:2 diet to try to counter a bad week to date isn't really a direction I want to take.

Looking at the positives, I know that I can hit that metaphorical switch and revert to form whenever I want to, so long as conditions allow. A decent enough sleep tonight and getting out of the right side of the bed in the morning will get things settled. If I wake in the mood for food, things will be pretty messy on Wednesday morning for the weigh-in.

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