Day 002

"Dieting is wishful shrinking" - Author Unknown

Today was my first day at work on the diet. As I am a desk worker, and it's where a lot of my over-eating occurs, I felt sure it would be a challenge.

I had a banana shake while getting the kids fed and managed not to unconsciously mop up any crumbs from the worktop, or inadvertently swallow a cow as I passed the fridge. This made me feel disproportionately proud considering what a small thing this is, but then it genuinely requires an act of will for me to do.

Most mornings, I meet up with a bunch of friends and colleagues at the station, and at the far end, most of us walk in the same direction. This morning, there was only one going my way and as I walked passed the small convenience store rather than my usual practice of buying a fried mastodon to stuff my face with, I was surprised to hear myself tell him I was on a diet. I hadn't actually intended to mention it, but then it's part of the routine, so not going in probably would have been noticed. It's a good thing, and I did feel I was making a choice not to go in there rather than feel restricted from going, even if a part of me is tempted to put air quotes around the words "making a choice" and saying them in an airheaded American accent.

I'd thought was an empty pastic litre bottle under my deskbut there wasn't. I'd managed to leave my LL water bottle at my mother-in-law's, so this meant that I only had a normal-size mug for my water. Ensuring you drink a lot of fluids is very important because the body needs to break the fat down into a liquid form in order to use it, but also because dehydration can cause headaches, lightheadedness and constipation among other things. However, it's also important to spread the drinking across the day as over-hydration can cause it's own problems, including death. Eeek! The point is to spread it out over the day.

At 11 o'clock, the fire alarms went off. We'd been primed that this was going to happen and I took the opportunity - we're not registered after an alarm, so it was OK to do this - to nip into the shop and bought a litre bottle of water. I didn't really feel that bothered about the food on offer, although one of the women who works there asked if I'd come in for my sandwiches, brandishing the ones I always have. It's a sad day when your food habits are so ingrained the staff notice when you don't buy your usual. I laughed it off by saying I wanted to keep them on their toes...

I had a veg soup at lunchtime and started working on this blog, writing a back-dated Introduction and the first day's entry. As a side note, I haven't decided if I'll blog every day; I can't believe there will continue to be anything of note in repetition, but I may end up doing that. We'll see.

By mid afternoon, I was pretty hungry, chewing myself from the inside out. I made the chocolate drink, though didn't make a good job of it and it was lumpy. I may need to buy a small whisk or something. Probably adding the water more gradually would help too. It tasted passable, even so.

By the time it came to time to go home, I felt hungry again, and for a short while on the walk back to the station, I did feel a little lightheaded and worried about driving from the station back home. However, by the time I got off the train, I was feeling normal, and the drive home was uneventful other than the slight concern that I should have gone to the petrol station at the start of the journey rather than the one at the other end.

My evening meal was Thai chili. I made it slightly thicker than the previous night and it was better for it. The temptation is to go for more water in the hope it feels like more food.

By ten o'clock, I was sleeping on the sofa and by eleven, I was in bed. Normally I'll stay up into the wee small hours arguing with people on the Internet, so it'd be no bad thing if I went to bed a bit earlier. They always say that lack of sleep makes you fatter.

Two days down, not too bad so far.