Not wisely but rather well

Well, that wasn't the best example of determination.  I got back from Corfu a week ago, having made a snap decision to go there with friends.  For the first day I was careful what I ate and then I started to feel like such a party pooper that I gave up watching.

It wasn't the meals that were the problem mind you, nor was it breakfast, where I ate yoghurt and dry toast as I might at home (Greek yoghurt, of course, in this case), but the snacks.  Pam produced crisps, nuts and so on with drinks and often we finished the evening with halva or chocolate.  When I arrived home and weighed myself, I'd put on four pounds.

I weighed myself again this morning and I've lost two of them and that's without trying very hard.  Once you get used to grazing, you don't want to stop.  But if I have had any nibbles, they have been olives or cheese - and that's interesting, because they're high in fat and so are crisps.  But I gained weight on crisps and lost it on cheese (not that I was eating it daily).  And I've been unable to resist my Indian Soan Papdi.

A couple more weeks at most and I hope that I'll be back on track again.  

Less of Z to love

I've been aware of my hip a few times recently.  This is spurring me into increased action, or at any rate determination, and I'm going to get shot of the excess once and for all.  I'm going down, under 9 1/2 stone now, but it's not good enough.  I am in the 'normal' range all right, a size 10 too, but I need to be 8 stone something to feel right and to slow down the deterioration in my hip joint.

It's quite a difficult thing to face and I've been managing to keep it out of my mind until now, but the thought of the gradual lameness and increase in pain isn't easy.  I shouldn't fuss I know, I'm being self-indulgent (comes with blogging territory though, surely) when there are so many people in a much worse situation, but if I say it here I won't feel the need to whinge in the real world.

Anyway.  I don't feel like eating at all today, so that'll kick start the weight loss.

Going down...

This non-diet diet seems to be working so far, although it's a very slow way to lose weight.  Still, if it's for the long-term, that's all right.

I am now nearly back to 9 1/2 stone, which is just putting me back to the situation I was in at the time I had my new hip, so is nothing to be proud of - except that I stopped and reversed the gain, which isn't all that easy to do, so does indicate a degree of determination.  And I haven't done it by dieting.  I still eat cheese, I occasionally butter my bread, I have not cut anything out of my diet at all.  I'm just trying to be aware of how much I eat, and stop when I've had enough, even if I could eat more.

That's the theory at any rate, in fact it depends on how delicious the food is.  But it is evidently the key for me.

As I said a few weeks ago on my other blog, I spent a fortnight in India eating like a horse - though again, it was not a greedy horse.  Still, I enjoyed the food far too much to leave much of it.  Looking back though, it was all healthy apart from those delicious snacks, such as home-made, newly-fried potato crisps and so on, which were irresistible, although I tried (so hard, darlings, and didn't always succeed) to limit the quantity.  That I only put on half a kilo was quite a relief.  Since I got home, that and a couple more pounds have come off and my jeans not only fit again but are quite roomy.  I only wear jeans if I'm a size 10.

Since this way of eating is the way forward, I don't have a target weight to aim for.  I'd love to be below 9 stone, which I haven't been for about 15 years, but I'm not going to worry about it.

Cheese

And the thing is, I'm not going to 'go on a diet' - that is, alter what I eat.  It's bound to fail in the long run.  You can lose the weight all right, but it's sure to go on again sooner or later.  Not if your weakness is for several packets of crisps and a couple of Mars bars every day, the thing to do there is just stop eating them.  But if you've got a healthy and sensible diet, there's very little to give up.

So I'm going to eat anything I want, but a lot less of it.  Small portions, never clear my plate unless I'm the one who's chosen the amount of food in the first place.  And if I'm still a bit hungry, that's no bad thing.  Think of being hungry as the body using fat.

I'm not giving up cheese again.  Life without cheese isn't worth living.

Z's back

I haven't weighed myself for months.  Too lowering to the morale, and I wasn't about to do anything about it, so better not to know.  However, yesterday I pulled myself together and clambered awkwardly on to the bathroom scales.

I rarely use these in any case, actually.  I normally put my contact lens in (and take it out) downstairs, so I don't find it that easy to read the dial.  And we've got these fabulous balance scales which we keep in the porch, where you stand on a platform and then add the weights and slide a bar until the balance tips.  But I just wanted an indication yesterday, so bathroom it was.

I'm pretty sure I've lost a pound or two in the past week, because I haven't been eating all that much.  But I was gratified, all the same.  I'd only put on 5 pounds.  Sadly, not all my clothes fit any longer, but if I get going again, I should lose that in a few months.  Yes, when I was young and keen I might have said a few weeks too, but it takes me ages and I hate becoming discouraged through over-optimism.

So it seems that I'll be posting again here.  And this time, I'm not stopping until I weigh under 9 stone.  Not the least likelihood of ever getting to my old (when young) weight of 8 stone 4 pounds, but that's all right.  Under 9 will be fine.

Well under 15.

Well, it's all working. I weighed myself at my folks' yesterday, fully clothed and wearing a fleece, and the scale said a fraction, a tiny fraction over 15 stone. Which means it's more like 14 stone 7ish. Though later, when I find someone nearby with scales, I will weigh clothes to make sure!

Feeling very pleased with self, especially as still running under 20 miles a week. Cutting right, right back on beer may have something to do with it... Though I weighed in after 5pm, which they say not to do, the wise people that they are. So maybe the weight loss is greater? Whatever it is, i'll take it.

Only thing that worries me about weight loss is the lady attention that follows. I have a mind too, women of shropshire! I'm not just a sex object!!! Though I am that as well, of course.

Anyway, so far, so good. Expect under 14 by mid February...

...and under 15 again.

It's all going rather well. The new exercise regime is interesting - I am both stronger in my gait and faster as a result of running fewer miles, quicker. And yesterday, I ran up one of the biggest hills in the area, and down the other side, without any real problems.

Lots of people have been saying "Crikey*, you've lost a lot of weight", but I haven't really. I've firmed up in some places, and I have lost some fat, but I always think of weight as numbers, and the numbers are largely consistent.

Except, I made a game-changing alteration - I pretty much stopped drinking. In three weeks, I have been drunk precisely three times, and each time I have A) not enjoyed it and B) woken up thinking 'what a waste - I woke up feeling so good every other day this week and now I feel like this!'. I'm retraining myself to not enjoy it at all, and I must say, it's working!

When I don't drink, I am often up at 5:30am for a 6am run, back home, stretch, wash up, make sandwiches for The Child, wake Wifelet up with a cup of tea, then walk the hounds. After a drink, I still walk the dogs but that's about it!

Anyway, I feel like weight is actually moving now that my exercise has changed, and my consumption habits. I've enjoyed sobriety more than I thought I would, but the urge to misbehave remains, and I hope it always will.

I weighted myself at my parents' house last night, and the scales revealed I weighed 15st 2lbs, or just a shade under. Fully clothed, and after a solid day's eating and drinking. So I reckon I can reasonably claim four or five pounds for my clothes, which puts me quite comfortably under 15st. And that's worth celebrating with a doughnut.

Just kidding.

But it is.

I haven't been this light since I started running, and weighed myself after massive fluid loss in my first half marathon (somehow still a personal best of 2:08). I feel absolutely fantastic, and I haven't even started the next marathon training cycle yet. Everything looks achievable, even - dare I say it - 13.5st. Or even less.

What's been really strange, and I pointed this out to Wifelet to her surprise yesterday, is that I have lost muscle mass from my legs. They've shrunk. Unless it was cunningly disguised fat, of course.

The worry - and this will sound dumber than dumb - is that women will start finding me attractive. I don;t know why, but that annoys me sometimes. It's hard to explain. Of course, if my wife were to find me utterly irresistible, that is a bonus and a damn fine one. Everyone else can just look.