Day 5: Other People's Biscuits

This dieting lark is turning into a social minefield. I was minding my own business in the office today, looking over some weekly figures, when a colleague came in with a giant box of biscuits. Apparently, it is his birthday and he had been given the biscuits as a present. Unfortunately (for me) he is on a diet and so didn’t want them and decided to share them around the office. Now, I haven’t told anyone I am watching what I eat, and I should have prepared for this scenario, but I didn’t have a readymade polite answer for turning away what looked like a top quality biscuity offering.

He was clearly as desperate to get rid of them as I was to refuse. There was quite a long silence as my brain kicked into panicky action.  After a few seconds he rattled the tin under my nose and the waft of chocolate, sugar and creamy filling rushed up my nose and straight to my brain, addling it even further. By this point the silence was quite pronounced, “go on, have one, please” he pleaded. 

At this point I crumbled, and took the smallest biscuit I could find. My colleague visibly relaxed.  I put the biscuit on a post-it note for later. He looked at me. “Aren’t you going to eat it?” he asked.  What is this man trying to do to me? I have relieved him of about 100 calories worth of fat and sugar, isn’t that enough? “Err, not just now, I thought I would save it for after lunch”. He nodded, seemed satisfied and left.

Now I just had the problem of the temptation sat on my desk. There was only one thing to do and that was to dispose of it, and quickly. What to do? I could bin it, but what if someone noticed? I briefly thought about throwing out of the window, but I sit on the 4^th floor above the executive car park. Could a biscuit dent a top of the range BMW from 4 floors? Best not take the chance.  There was always my handbag, for later disposal, but then I would know it was there, taunting me, waiting for willpower to weaken. No, it had to go, and it had to go now. I eventually decided it was unlikely that my colleague was going to rummage through my bin, so wrapped it in a tissue and buried under the empty yoghurt pot where it sat for the rest of the day reminding me of my little deceit. I wonder how many other biscuits were secreted about the office by other people who are also trying to cut down?

Be happy.

Miss D.

Day 4: Diet Diary

I am a real gadget freak, no two ways about it. I have all the widgets you could want, from my beloved iPad to my rather battered but much loved mp3 player.  The odd thing is that when I really need to focus on something, and make sure it gets done, remembered or generally sit in the forefront of my rather ragged mind, nothing is better than paper and pen.

My new health kick is important to me and so it doesn’t get caught up in all the other daily debris that ends up in my diary, I have decided to note down my daily statistics in a separate diet diary.  

Today, work was very busy indeed and I could feel the 2^nd floor biscuit tin calling to me.  Before I could be tempted by a jammy dodger (or two) I took myself into town to the stationary shop to buy something cheerful to record my daily weigh in. The lack of biscuits is definitely making me grumpy and so I decided something to make me smile was the way to go.

I was rather taken aback by the choice of diaries available. Who would have thought there could be so many different ways to remind yourself you have a dentist appointment. I stood there for several minutes, my mental faculties clearly diminished by 4 days without any form of processed sugar. I must have been looking quite dazed as a helpful shop assistant asked if I was OK.  I nodded, grunted and tried to focus. Now, a week to view seemed a good option. I discounted business diaries (too much like work), floral Edwardian style (too icky) and the one covered in pictures of cupcakes (too much like torture).  Eventually I went for A Simon’s Cat diary. It has just the right amount of room to note down weight, Body Fat % and BMI, with a nice notes section under Sunday to summarise the week’s successes and lack of biscuit intake. Also, who can’t be cheered by Simon’s Cat?

Be happy.

Miss D.

Day 3: A Weigh A Day

Firstly I should apologise for the dreadful lack of updating. I can only blame work here. It has been frantic, and I have written the posts, but not had time to actually publish them. So today, there is going to be a bit of a catch up, with loads of posts all on the same day. I promise to try harder.

As mentioned previously I have decided to weigh daily. I have a pair of those rather snazzy electronic scales which do weight, body fat percentage and water percentage.   I am not so bothered about water, but I think in the longer term the body fat readings could be useful.

Lots of diet books seem to think that weighing yourself every day is a sin second only to eating an entire packet of chocolate Hobnobs whilst watching back to back editions of Downton Abbey on a Sunday afternoon when you should be out running 10k.  When I have been trying to lose weight in the past I have been meticulous in weighing only once per week, at the same time, wearing the same clothes, etcetera etcetera. The problem is that when I am trying to do something which I find so difficult I need constant feedback that I am going in the right direction. Weighing only once per week left me in a perpetual state of worry that I might be unwittingly going off the rails. Trying to second guess what was going on was torture. It is bad enough having to fret about whether I have eaten enough fruit and veg, fibre, slow burning carbs and good fats without the extra pressure of weigh- in day.

As I have become all independent minded on the weight loss front I thought daily weighing may well be the answer to the problem. I can see how things are going and make minor tweaks through the week to rescue things if needed, rather than suddenly finding I am 2lbs in the wrong direction.  I am going to give this a go for a month or so and see how things pan out. 

Be happy.

Miss D.

Day 2: Oh Nurofen, Where Art Thou?

The sugar withdrawal headache really kicked in today. It hit a peak about 3pm and I was desperately pulling my office apart searching for any sort of pain killer when one of my colleagues came to see me. I think it fair to say that I almost took his head off. It probably did look quite odd. My desk had the contents of my handbag plus two desk drawers worth of detritus on it and panic was setting in as I was down to my last hope – the bottom drawer that I never use...

He looked a little shaken and slightly concerned as I told him I was busy and would find him later. I had my priorities and it didn’t include discussing the latest design details of the project we were working on when I was suffering the revenge of the biscuit addiction.

Eventually a member of the team I work in realised I was in distress and came in with a selection of over the counter medication. I was so grateful I could have sobbed.

I then went and apologised to my colleague, citing major headache as an excuse. He took it well, although I suspect he now has me labelled as “highly strung”, really he should have me labelled as “biscuit deficient”.

Be happy.

Miss D.

Weight today: 12 stone 10.8lb

Day 1: Oh McVities Where Art Thou?

It’s Sunday, and it is Day 1 of the biscuit famine in our house. The remainder of a box of biscuits we had at Christmas has been wrapped and stored at the back of the most awkward cupboard in our kitchen. I am going to have to be desperate to get all the pots and pans out in order to get at them. Fundamentally I am lazy, so they are fairly safe.

Today has been another day of planning. I work in an office with multiple sandwich bars literary outside the door, so the temptation to wander out and buy a nice baguette for lunch is huge. They are all made freshly and taste wonderful, but I dread to think how many useless calories there are in them. So, I channelled the spirit of Nigella, although to be fair I am probably more the Swedish Chef from the Muppets, and made all of my packed lunches for the week. They are now nestled in our fridge ready for me to grab in the morning. I know I am going to find the lack of Hobnobs a problem tomorrow, so I have bought some nice fruit to see if that eases the pain. I rather like grapes as they are a little like sweets, and also kiwi fruit.

The old advice that if you deny yourself something you want it all the more seems to be holding true. Biscuits and all things sugary are at the forefront of my mind. I fear I may even dream about them tonight. Is it possible to lose your sanity due to lack of biscuits?

Be Happy,

Miss D

Today's Weight: 12 stone 10.8lb

Day 0: The Grand Plan

Well. Here I am. All 12 stone 10.8lbs of me, if my bathroom scales are to be believed. Like most people who struggle with their weight, I have read many diet books and even tried some of them. All of them a waste of precious time, money and effort and one in particular, a source of deep misery and several hours in the bathroom after a nasty smoothie incident.

The fact is, that being overweight, whichever way you cut it, is not healthy. Having seen my Dad suffer at the hands of cancer purely down to lifestyle choices, I am determined to get this right this time. I have been mulling this over for several months and decided the only way to really make permanent change, was not to follow a set of arbitrary rules someone has thought up, but to create my own diet plan which suits me and how I live.

So, how did I get to this point? It is a bit of a long story, but it starts with a virus in the early 90s, I was very poorly and it took me several years to really recover. I won’t bore you with the details as there is nothing duller than other people’s health problems. However, the long and the short of it was that I stopped being as active as I once was, and my body is very efficient and stored lots of lovely fat away to help me get through the tough times. I am now in my mid 30s, and I need to shift it, otherwise I will be at risk of all sorts of nasty ailments as I start to age.

So, first things first. I am going to make some obvious changes which I know I need to deal with. The first is my biscuit consumption. I like to think of myself as somewhat of a biscuit expert, particularly those of a chocolate variety. I eat far too many, particularly in the office. It has to stop. So, to show myself I do actually have some will power, I am going to go without biscuits for a whole month...

...Sorry, I had to have a little rest there for a while, I became a little wobbly at the thought.

I am also going to weigh myself every day. I know this is a little controversial, and I will discuss this in later posts, but I think it will help me be mindful my plan each day.

Finally I am telling nobody, other than my DH, that I am doing this. I think this will also support what I am aiming for, and again, I will write about this at a later date.

Now, I need to go and mentally prepare for the great biscuit drought of 2012...