The diet.

A few days ago I paid a visit to Mr H's office and noticed a picture on his desk that I had forgotten about, the two of us in May 04 posing happily together. Or was it the two of us, for a split second I didn't recognise myself, the thin vaguely pretty girl in that picture is certainly not the person I am now. It made me face facts a little bit. For the last 3 years I have been consistently putting on weight. 2 stone in fact and while I am not overweight I am unhappy. I am a firm believer that it is how you sit in your own skin that matters - if you are 30 stone and deliriously happy (and not suffering health problems as a result) then go for it, if you are 6ft and 8st and happy with it then again go for it. What is not a nice way to be is unhappy with yourself, your appearance, your frame of mind - big no no and that is when you should try to do something about it.

Seeing that picture on Mr H's desk reinforced that for me. Who am I? I am no longer the girl who never ever had to try clothes on because everything draped as it should with no effort, I am no longer the thinnest girl in the room and while at 33 there is less and less of a chance that I ever will be again, it hurts. A therapist would have great fun with that one, that I want to lose weight to regain my youth, well yes, maybe I do! But I also want to lose weight to avoid having to buy increasingly bigger clothes sizes, to not have to avoid underwear I used to wear for something a little more supportive shall we say, to avoid having a tummy both above and below my belt when I wear a certain pair of jeans. Oh no, something definitely has to give and that picture was the catalyst.

A few months ago I picked up a book called Neris & India's idiot proof diet - how we lost ten stone. I read it, enjoyed it, laughed a lot at some parts, identified with others and promptly put it on the shelf and did nothing about it. Earlier this week I dusted it off, re-read it and decided that yes, this is the diet for me.

It is essentially a mixture of the Atkins, South Beach and GI diet all rolled in to one - basically 2 weeks of no carbs and then a lifetime forever of low carbs, but it suits me. Not having to measure things, being able to have butter and cream and eat the fat off a chop is right up my street. I don't have that much of a sweet tooth either really being a starter rather than a sweet girl so although I will no doubt have the odd craving I think I will manage with that quite well, and chocolate is allowed a couple of weeks down the line. The hardest parts for me will be the amount of water that all diets advocate, always difficult for me, and giving up potatoes. Not forever, they are allowed a few weeks down the line and on an every now and then basis but I LOVE potatoes.

The point of this blog is to help me - when I fancy a bag of crisps I will blog instead, to chart my progress and to pass on any recipes or snack ideas that I come up with that other pig to twiggers might like to steal. Mr H has come on board with me and we started our day with our first weigh in (ouch), downed the medley of supplements that the diet recommends you take each morning and sat down to bacon, scrambled eggs and mushrooms - yummy!

Our lunch is going to be prawn cocktails with salad and for dinner this evening we have rib eye steak with homemade pepper sauce, stuffed baked flat mushrooms and salad - yes it is all allowed!! Eating like that forever can't be that terrible, can it?!

The book `Neris and India's Idiot Proof Diet - How we lost ten stone' is available in all bookshops (and Amazon too who are rapidly putting all those bookshops out of business) and is well worth a read if you have ever struggled with your weight, even if you are not actually planning to do the diet their section on the reasons why we over eat, the myth of the happy fatty and their diet histories is a real eye opener and the sections on health, beauty and fashion are good too.