Skirting the issue

Sorry it’s been a while – work’s been long and crazy and I’ve had little time for anything else.  I knew it would be like this so it’s not a surprise.  And it’s coming to an end.  This week is likely to be the last high-pressure, high volume week (for a while) and then of course I’m off for a fortnight. 

Dieting is particularly tricky when work is like this – a shortage of time to do all the prep required for the discipline of dieting and more sugary snacks about to derail me.  And very long days too.

With that as a backdrop I’m doing okay – but it’s a bit wobbly (not the only thing about me that that is true of!).  The first week I lost 2lbs.  Then last week on WI I had put on 1lb which was upsetting.  But the next day I’d lost that.  Even so it’s somewhere in the realms of 0-1lb+.  And I had bread and wine over the weekend which has sent me soaring up 3lbs.  This WI is the last one before my holiday – I will fail to reach my target (again) but I’d like to have a solid loss behind me to keep me going.

Not least as I’m in that tricky ‘in between’ stage with dress sizes.  My usual skirts are way too big but the next size down is just a tad too snug.  I had the horrific task of going through summer stuff over the weekend to try and find stuff to wear on holiday.  There is nothing good for the ego about going through bags and bags of clothes that are too small.  Most of it has been bought from ebay but even so, it represents quite a sum.  The good news is that if I continue to lose weight, I have plenty of stuff to wear.  The bad news is that it varies from ‘almost/just about’ to ‘you must be joking’ in terms of fit.  At the rate I lose weight I have enough to wear for years – once I get into the larger end of my clothes mountain.  There are some very nice things – most of which I have never worn or only worn briefly.  It makes me sad.

Two of the three skirts I dragged out to take on holiday are of the ‘just about’ variety.  They’re tight but I can get them on.  I’m pretty scared that they won’t fit by the end of the holiday though and I’m not sure how good they look.  I have got very good at not looking at myself in mirrors – or looking just to do make up, but managing not to see myself.  I don’t scrutinise myself in the way that I was doing yesterday – for the good of my mental health.  As I seem to have next to nothing in the next size up the two snug skirts are coming.  But you can see why I’d like to lose as much lard in advance.

In my head, I intend to be pretty good on holiday – I think salads, fish and fruit are perfect in hot weather.  Albeit not for breakfast.  It’s the booze that worries me – especially on an all-inclusive.  Mind you, I read on a review that the wine is pretty awful and since I don’t drink beer and would never drink a cocktail with food, it’s only aperitif time I need to worry about.  After all, it would be handy if things still fit when I got home, obviously!

Quick update on Jane Plan: the evening meals are fine, the breakfasts are fine, the lunches are vile.  Who knew that soup could be so unpleasant?  I’ve heated up two different flavours (leek and potato and vegetable and bean) that were so nasty I ended up chucking them away after a wary mouthful (the smell was grim).  Possibly good for weight loss as I try not to buy a second lunch, but not ideal.  The mushroom one is fine.  I recall that tomato and butternut squash were bearable if not actually tasty.  The only other option are salads in boxes – remember these are ‘ambient’ – I’ve tried the bean one and would rather not do so again, I’m yet to try the tuna one and salmon one.  Unless I can find 3 lunches I can bear, it’s a deal breaker for me.  They are good at swopping meals you don’t want – apparently: I’m yet to put this into practise – but I need to find something to swop for.