So after last week’s ‘tough week’ this was supposed to be the week where I knuckled down again and started making more serious progress to the next milestone.
Yeah right, erm, ok.
When I first started Lesamy you’ll recall that one of the ‘rules’ was that I am allowed a ‘cheat day’ once a week of upto 2300 calories instead of my normal 1800. I’ve never really done this. What I did instead was invent the ‘freebie’. A freebie is a day, an evening or occasionally a weekend when I stop counting calories. During a ‘freebie’ I can eat and drink what I like and it doesn’t count.
I started this because early on I went to spend a weekend with M. and I wanted to relax and I also didn’t want her to feel like she suddenly had to change her eating habits because I was with her. I told myself I’d still eat sensibly – not have snacks, watch portion size that kind of thing – but I was consciously not going to count calories.
It’s a strategy that’s worked well. Partly because it gives me the regular ‘treating myself’ times that a cheat day was supposed to achieve. However mostly I think because in the early days I could have a freebie and still lose weight. That’s getting tougher.
It’s getting tougher because I’m losing less on average generally so there’s less slack in there, but also because the freebies are getting bigger. That ‘…but still eat sensibly’ bit has gotten a bit squeezed out.
This week for instance I’ve had two freebies and they’ve both been quite big. I hope I’ve learnt from them and will try not to repeat the mistakes.
Freebie 1 was on Wednesday when I finished my final story for Eurofiction. As a celebration I took a freebie. I deliberately went and bought some of the kinds of thing I used to eat a while back – real junk food – microwaveable burgers, pork pie, sausage roll. You know what? I didn’t enjoy them. Too greasy and too much.
Freebie 2 was on Friday when I went to the pub at lunchtime. Normally I try to only have 1 freebie a week but when I get invited to the pub I like to go because it’s social. Unfortunately alcohol is a danger because not only is it calorfiic but it lowers your defences. It had been someone’s birthday and they’d bought donuts – too many donuts as it turned out. So when I got back to the office, a little merry, and saw they were there I had about four. Apart from anything else it made me ill to have so much sickly sugary stuff.
Actually I used to do ok with the pub visits and I can’t help wondering if it’s because of my lunches. It used to be the case that I bought my lunch in town. A fairly low-cal sandwich and baked crisps. However on days where I got an invite to the pub it was invariably too late to buy something so I’d go, eat a pub lunch -usually something with chips – and have a couple of beers. I’d feel guilty but write it off as a freebie.
Since we moved to the new office it’s too far to go into town and I’ve been bringing packed lunches. Which is better but if we go to the pub then I’m drinking on a much less full stomach which means I’m liable to go for snacks on the way back – such as the donuts in this case. So ironically – I might be better off having a plate of chips at the pub.
I make it sound like I go to the pub a lot – actually it’s once or twice a month at most – but I do need to be careful.
Anyway I think I need to reign in the freebies – stick to one a week and remember they’re not supposed to be free-for-alls.
Here’s my stats for this week:
Weekly loss: 0.2kg (0.4lb)
Total loss: 30.3kg (66.8lb or 4st 10lb)
Current weight: 113.8kg (250lb or 17st 12lb)
