Diet

We held a diet contest in my workplace last year. I won it. Lost almost two stones (28lbs) in 10 weeks. I did it healthily, started going to the gym, ate sensible, healthy foods. I felt good about myself, looked better, and enjoyed (in that embarassed way we Brits manage so well) the compliments.

I’ve since put on about a stone and not been to a gym since October last year.

I’ve always thought of myself as overweight, having never really shed the ‘puppy fat’ of childhood, and never really developing much muscle tone until my early twenties (by which point my weight was on the increase), and like most people, I have a mental image of myself that is much slimmer than I am.

I remember seeing a picture of myself taken on Christmas Day 2001. I’m sitting at the table next to my Mum, and I look huge. Now I am 6’0 and my Mum is all of 5’3 on a good day, but I was shocked. The image is still clear in my head, and hasn’t seemed to fade or curl up round the edges like so many of the images I try and store in there.

I KNOW how to eat healthily, I know I need aerobic exercise (mainly), and that anaerobic exercise won’t be of huge benefit to me, I need to diet. I need to exercise. I need to give myself a royal kick up the arse.

But it’s not that easy is it. It’s a state of mind that I can’t hold on to, it flits into my consciousness every day for fleeting minutes, and I can’t seem to grab it or hold it tight enough to make it stay. But then that problem isn’t new for me (flittering thoughts? sounds familiar). In fact it’s a daily occurance, the brief glimpse of what I SHOULD be doing, only for it to wriggle away out of reach.

I digress. Dieting and exercise. Healthy living. I have a target in mind, late August, I’ve booked the flights, and would like to enjoy the sun on my skin without worrying about what people might think of me (ohh that sounds familiar too). I’m not looking for a washboard stomach, I am quite happy to admit that I don’t have the dedication for that, but I would like mine to be flat (ish would do).

As long as it is before October 17th.

It MUST be before October 17th.

I wonder what it is like to be 30?