Progress!

Weighed myself this morning. 15st 8lbs. That might not seem much of a difference, but if I can lose 2lbs per week, I will be perfectly happy with that. I hear tell that weight that is lost quickly gets put back on quickly, too, so loosing it slowly is maybe not a bad idea.

Actually, I am not really bothered about weight itself. I don’t really care how much I weigh – it’s how it looks that bothers me. Muscle weighs more than fat, so they say, so I’m not really bothered what weight I get down to as long as I trim up a bit.

I’m sort of vaguely getting use to the idea that whatever I do, it’s going to have to be a permanent lifestyle change. There’s no point in doing some weird fad for a few weeks and blasting off a few pounds, only to put it straight back on again when I go back to “normal” living.

What I need to do is find a lifestyle that allows me to lose weight and trim up, and then stay that way. So I need an exercise routine that I can commit to following permanently and a change of diet likewise. Fortunately, I am not particularly attached to sweet or fatty foods, so eating healthily is only a question of foregoing the convenience of junk food. I actually quite like the tastes.

I was talking to a friend over the weekend who is also trying to loose weight, and he is on a crash course of one of these meal replacement diets and is eating nothing but these shakes and soups four times a day. Well, quite frankly, I’d rather be fat.

I am not counting calories. I am just replacing junk with “healthy” alternatives. I told him that one of my favourite snacks was garden peas, fresh from the pod. “Oooo,” says he, “you can’t eat peas, they’re full of sugar.” Well, ok, yes they might be – but I hope that they are still a better idea than a packet of crisps of a piece of toast.

If I am wrong, then this crusade is doomed before it starts. I am prepared to change to healthy foods and a reasonable exercise regime – I am not prepared to sacrifice the enjoyment of today for the possibility of an extra 10 years at the end of my life. I don’t want to end up lying under a number 9 bus thinking “Bloody hell, I wish I’d had those garden peas after all…” Life is too short, and there’s absolutely no guarantee that you will live long enough to live longer, if you know what I mean…