Thinking Time

I’ve just got back from a brisk walk in the even brisker air down to the local shops to get the paper - they keep on telling us that winter’s over and spring has arrived earlier, but the winds of the last few days have certainly put paid to any notion of that… The air had a certain chill to it (but at least it was a dry chill and not the usual winter damp one…

As I’ve got a bit to do today (including a visit to my sister and my adorable niece Charlotte) I took the shorter direct route of 3 ½ km’s as opposed to the full block of about 5km. It still took 40 minutes though and according to my Food & Exercise Diary that still burnt 162 calories… Now I know I said I was going to walk both days this weekend, but yesterday morning it was raining when I went to get the paper so that put paid to that. Instead I did a little more gardening in the afternoon…

Taking a walk is a great time for thinking… You see others out for a stroll (and I was over taking them), other people in their cars driving to get the paper (that WAS me)… I’m starting to notice larger people more and more these days’ and its not just since I committed to the band… I’ve been noticing it for the last couple of years… I look at them and then look at me and think “at least that’s not me… YET”. - And now that’s NEVER going to be me… I have been doing a lot of thinking of late in regards to what I am about to undertake and how it will change my life…

I’ve also been thinking how in just under 3 short weeks I have been able to change my eating habits of a lifetime and loose almost 10kg.

3 weeks ago my typical diet was cereal and fruit with skim milk for breakfast (raisin toast on weekends); 2-3 skim flat whites in the morning, a roll or takeaway Chinese for lunch (large of course) with diet coke & spring roll or dim sim, a couple of times a week there’d be a mid afternoon snack of another diet coke or banana cake, then dinner would be pasta, or stir-fry with rice, or steak and chips or something, and then by 9pm I’d be hungry again and have some yoghurt, ice cream or popcorn…

Now its 3 Optifast’s a day, some tomato/celery for lunch, and greens/mushrooms for dinner and that’s it (and there’s still maybe 2-3 diet cokes a week down from 1-2 a day). And I’m not feeling starving like I used to. (I sometimes feel peckish, but not like I used to). I’m also taking longer to get through it. The goal is 20 minutes to eat a cup of food once the band is in place; I’m slowly working towards that now, as it’s taking me 10 minutes to eat an Optifast bar – which is something you could really devour in under a couple of minutes if you really wanted to…

“WHY am I going so well so far?” I keep asking myself – It really is something that I have been thinking about a lot but can’t explain… The power of positive thinking – perhaps; the goal at the other end – a bit of that too; small pain for long term gain – definitely; I must say though that I’m looking forward to 5 ½ weeks time when I can start eating some real food again, but nothing like before…