Going in the right direction

I don’t necessarily think that the universe is conspiring against me, but it did feel that way on occasion last week. On two different days I was faced with work based buffets heavily laced with nothing but refined carbs and sugars, with the thinnest slivers of processed meats or plastic cheese in-between with lashings of margarine and mayonnaise. One of these buffet lunches was served up at a health and wellbeing conference, for crying out loud. Frozen chips, frozen mini pizzas and cake. The irony was certainly not lost on me. Lesson learnt, I will ensure I take a packed lunch with me from now on.

My bike remains very clean. It was not used in anger once last week. There are so many excuses to be made for not getting out and riding, but just as many very good reasons to do so, not least of all the small matter of 1414kms awaiting me this summer. In my defence, the weekend was very busy. What with judgement day and finals day, there were five rugby matches on the telly which meant dedicating a considerable amount of time to the sofa.

Saturday night we spent with friends munching our way through mounds of cheese, cold meats, pate and boiled potatoes. Raclette baby! Whilst there was salad on the table, the nearest thing i came to my five a day was pickled gherkins and the strawberries on the flan. It was a superb night with great company, but not really conducive to weight loss. However, when I came to step on the scales on Monday night, I discovered I’d lost four pounds! The general advice is you don’t want to lose too much per week as it is supposed means your losing water not fat. Plus, rapid weight loss can bring its own problems. I mean at this rate, in twelve months time, I’ll be six and a half stone. Buying clothes could become a problem and we live on the top of a hill where it’s very windy. So, I’ll proceed with caution.

Although the bike remained in the house all week, I did improve my activity levels. This I did mainly by building physical activity into my daily routine. I made sure I hit my daily activity target on my watch and walked wherever I could within my working day. Over two days in particular I clocked up six extra miles by walking for errands rather than driving, increasing my energy burn by over 1000 calories.

Soon there will be pictures.