…into the water of dieting; if you will permit.
It’s a bit like entering an unfamiliar swimming pool and wondering what vista will present itself; will it be a by comparison cramped but oh-so-stylish four-lane Victorian swimming bath or will it be a pool truly Olympic in proportions.
One has swum in and enjoyed many of the former as a child, struggled a tad in the latter in schools galas and quietly cruised up and down repeating “lengths” when (formerly) training for specific endurance endeavours as a younger adult. It’s a similar story with dieting. If others will permit the continuing analogy in purely dietary terms one can experience both; and still have fun too. The Fast Diet.
One was fond of periodically urging oneself to don the shorts again, to see if they would still fit and if one would be brave enough to expose one’s flesh to the gaze of anonymous onlookers. It became easy to always be too busy to find the time to…
…it becomes just as easy to see where this is going.
But one kept tugging at the shorts; metaphorically and literally speaking that is. Then one heard about The Fast Diet. And summarily dismissed it out of hand as being something which was associated with The Fast Show; which one does not watch. One doesn’t enjoy it. Simple as that. But, observing the time honoured maxim of not judging a book by its cover, one decided it might be wise to read up a little on this Fast Diet thing; research a little to see what and who was behind it all. One began to like what one was reading about this Fast Diet. It made some sort of sense; fasting but still eating. ‘That’s an odd juxtaposition’ one mused, but an interesting one.
So one resolved to purchase the book and start reading in depth. One day.
The days rolled by and one intermittently visited various websites to see what all the fuss was about; it was being spoken of in glowing terms and with surprise too. This became intriguing. ‘One really must…’ the muse continued…
Finally, having piffled around with a self-devised form of fast dieting one took the plunge and bought the book. And the recipe book too; one had taken some notice of what Ms. Spencer and Dr. Moseley had been extolling, to make dieting fasting fun.
There had been a noticeable loosening of the waistband whilst muddling about with one’s own fasting foolery and one was quite pleased with that but, if you’ll forgive the deliciously wicked pun, one was hungry for more.
And so it began. The real ‘the fast diet’. One read the book with increasing impatience. One resolved that one would not start this regime until one had completed the book. And one didn’t.
One is now into one’s third week of 5:2 Fast Dieting and coping quite well. However, one has to admit to a gargantuan struggle to overcome the impulse to snack – on nuts, always on nuts – between the hours of 7pm and 9pm on those fast days. Brazils, Hazelnuts, Almonds, Walnuts, Pecans, and oh, those delicious Peanuts. Irresistible. It is a struggle. But, to do without for one day twice a week is no real hardship. One has stopped buying peanuts. No greater love has one than that for one’s country and those delicious Peanuts. But, something had to give.
One started the fast diet at 112.7K; one is, of course, a chap, with a waistband one did not like. One is now at 110.3K and passaging one’s sixth fast day and becoming gradually stricter with one’s calorie intake. From 800 on a fast day down to 650 per fast day. Well, Mimi and Dr. Moseley do say not to beat oneself up about this diet. Instead one is always encouraged to make it work for oneself; stop punishing the soul they encourage, be pleased about progress they intone. So, one doesn’t, one endeavours and one is in response.
One looks forward to enjoying what could be amazing progress. The real measuring will start soon; as the book encourages. And the diary too. That’ll be fun. Already one’s waistbands are significantly looser. What joy.
Happy New Year dieters.
12:01 pm
2 Jan 14