THEN had to go to dire supper at a friend’s house. I could have been good if I hadn’t been sitting next to a man I couldn’t stand who kept putting his face into mine and annoying and boring me. So I drank two glasses of red wine, ate chocolate cake, some stewed apple and peas and potatoes. The worst was a truly disgusting first course which I had to eat and wasn’t too bad in terms of diet (a combo of orange segments, raw kippers and carrots. Weird and vile).

But if you love food, as most of the pigs 2 twigs on this forum do, it seems so stupid and tragic to break the diet to eat horrible things. Which through boredom and irritation is exactly what I did last night.

I will be better.

Beginning to get remarks from people, which is surprisingly unembarassing and actually very cheering. Wish I had done what it says in the book and taken measurements - neck and back and ankles definitely diminishing.

Success is good - it makes you want to stick at it, despite the moments of acute boredom and the longing for risotto and pasta.

Am sitting here in M & S’s excellent Magic Knickers. They may not be lovely to look at but boy do they work.  Make sure you put them and keep them on properly.  You don’t want rolls of fat overflowing over the tops.

And a happy ending to the Duo Boots saga, and good news for Velvet Cactus who commented on my post (as long as you live in London or Bath): I went to their new showrooms in London’s Savile Row (I believe there is one in Bath too, Milsom Street) where you can try their boots for people with large calves on for size. Then you order them in the normal way. My purple suede boots have arrived, fit beautifully and are the new loves of my life. 

So how am I?  Happy!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned doing this diet its that you do have to be strict and not kid yourself about what is and what is not going to help you lose weight.  Everyone has their weaknesses, of course - and as India has said, one or two, won’t slow the weight loss too much - but I as regularly remind myself the sacrifices involved in this diet are not, for the most part, unbearable.  How hard you find it largely depends on your tastes and it helps if you don’t have too much of a sweet tooth (I, for one, find it hard to do without cheese) but in the end, it’s not that punitive.  And I know when I stick to it, the weight does come off.

I’m determined to lose the extra half stone I need to be comfortably in my healthy BMI range.  I figure that gives me a bit of room for manoeuvre (or the occasional pie)!

Having said that, I’m not feeling particularly good at the moment and have not lost more weight - currently have lots of distractions which have caused me to take my eye off the ball somewhat - and frappuccinos have seemed like a good way of cheering up (no, no, no!).  In some respects I think this is no bad thing - I am in distinct danger of becoming a real ’diet bore’ but I realise its the other dangers I should be wary of - notably piling on ‘comfort’ pounds.  I’m not sleeping very well and not pooing very much either (yes, I know, sorry!) which is making me feel, well…shitty!

I think the way forward is, as several people have sensibly suggested, exercise.  I’ve stubbornly resisted engaging in much so far - you may be familiar with my mantra, ‘only run when chased’, but I think perhaps the time has come.  I even have a domestic access to a super-dooper rowing machine that I’ve only used a handful of times.  I hope that the exercise will not only help me to reach my goal weight in the next few weeks and tone up my flesh which has gone disturbingly wrinkly since losing weight and rather resembles a plastic bag full of water (okay, I’m exaggerating), but also establish a routine that will keep me healthy in the long term.  It might also clear my head a bit - pain and oxygen starvation leaves room for little else!  I know how important it is, I just hate it…

Onward and downward!

p.s. Cerys - who is our mutual friend?

Have been good as gold.

Well not entirely. Just two weeks ago was my three day binge with a big work event. Went to Moro and ate everything, and went to a party and drank everything (appletinis): but didn’t put on anything over that. Since then have been g as g again - one thing I have discovered though is that the one nationality food you just can’t eat out is Chinese (I suspect the same is true of Thai). Everything has a carbohydrate tucked in somewhere. But am very good at dealing with diet at Joe Allens and Livebait and Sheekeys.

My difficulty is I am beginning to get very bored…long for bread and toast, wierdly pasta and potatoes less so. Making lots of the recipes from the book in rotation!

I haven’t had breakfast this morning as stayed at a friend’s house last night but having a lovely creamy decaf which is lining my stomach until I go out for lunch.  Breakfast is a real problem for me generally; I commute from Brighton to London every day for work and I have to confess the thought of most of the diet-friendly breakfast options make me want to heave before 7 o’clock in the morning.  Equally I can’t really afford to buy breakfast every morning once I arrive in London - and ‘bought’ options are much more limited than your options at home (this diet is, as Jasmin says, an expensive business generally and one that my meagre salary (sob!) only just permits).  Hence my weakness for frappuccinos - they’re just so darn convenient and liquid always seems less dangerous/ fattening than proper food - a ridiculous lie, of course!

I’ll share my new weekend breakfast tip; I’ve been having scrambled eggs with caramelised onions and smoked salmon stirred through (the fish kind of poaches gently in the eggs) with lots of salt and pepper.  It’s a New York speciality (there’s a name for it I forget) - I had it when I was there in November - and it is delish, especially with some avocado on the side.  Try it!

So, Friday, onwards and upwards - true svelteness/ sveltitude awaits!

But anxious anxious anxious to keep things going.

Discovered various things this weekend.

Doesn’t always help telling friends you are on a diet. Told the people who we were having dinner with, but they doggedly served fish pie anyway, which was v difficult as loaded with mashed potato and floury sauce. Had to rudely pick bits off. My god, evenings seem long with no drink.

It’s a good thing to have a revision period with the book, which I did - it egged me on, pulled me up on bad habits, reminded me of recipe ideas I hadn’t tried, etc etc. Am I really allowed green beans and tomatoes at this early stage, I hadn’t realised ??? (getting a bit sick of the brassica family).

One thing I have discovered is that it is bad for me to spend time in the kitchen - I made roast pork, roast potatoes and broccoli and green beans for everyone last night (no pots for me obviousleee) and made my pack lunch for today at same time - I have always picked as I cook, and I don’t seem to able to break the habit. So although I didn’t eat anything forbidden, I was munching away at bits of celery, chicken, nuts - not good.

Two, I had a hilarious but humiliating thinking-I-was-already-a-twig clothing experience (just like you mention in book): ordered boots from Duo and measured calves carefully. All well and good. But when boots arrived discovered total humiliation - FAT ANKLES. Fat ankles. No one said. Could not do boots up, had to send back. Then comforted myself with buying on Saturday ridiculously expensive pair of Emma Hope faux Converses (velvet and suede and totally impractical). This diet is proving sartorially v expensive… (have already chucked some things out).

Feeling physically great. My anxiety is to do with whether I will continue to lose at this rate - what’s the answer?

I have been rather remiss in not blogging these last few weeks but the truth is I’m finding it hard to keep the momentum up.  Slack, I know, when you are all evidently doing so well.  My timing has been badly off since I managed to lose the majority of the weight I needed to before most of you started (after the book was published); now despite all this available support, I’ve not been as good as I could have been about sticking to the diet.

Today is, give or take, Day 219 for me. Day 1 was back in July ‘06 when a combination of the heat, a desire not to have to wear clothes to ‘cover up’, the arrival of some grotesque holiday photos and the felicitous arrival of India and Neris’ manuscript on my desk prompted me to pull my finger out and take control of my eating (or more accurately, carb-loading). 

I was 9 stone this morning (24lbs lighter than my 10′10′’ starting weight).  That doesn’t sound a lot, I know, but bear in mind I’m only 5 foot.  I would really like to lose another 7lbs before a university reunion on March 24, and these last pounds are proving hard to shift. I’ve only lost 3lbs since the beginning of January when I wrote my first post.  Part of this I realise is that there’s not tonnes more weight I can, or should, lose.  On the other hand, it doesn’t help that I am currently obsessed with having caramel (light) frappuccinos for breakfast - I kid myself that choosing ‘light’ (or is it ‘lite’?), with the cream and syrup on top, is a healthy option - much to the amusement of the Starbucks’ baristas who clearly have to deal with sort of low-level, female pathology on a daily basis.  I’m getting away with it largely and maybe some others of you who have less weight to lose are also having similar experiences in the latter phases of the diet but I need some inspiration, now more than ever, to reach my target.

So, please laydeez, inspire me, tell me the funny ways you slip up too, get me back on it… And if I can reciprocate by relating my experiences at various earlier stages, I’d be delighted to…