The Calorific Deficit Continues...

Well, three weeks into this lifestyle change malarky, the weight loss is from 167kg to 159kg. Thats my first, very small, 5% target reached.

I have to say, this has been far easier than I expected. Its a three-pronged attack.

1. Eat less
2. Do exercise
3. Eat better

Eating less has been a revelation. The amount I would get through on an average day prior to this change was staggering, in retrospect. For example - four slices of cheese and onion of toast with a pint of milk for breakfast, four scrambled eggs with cheese and more toast for lunch, a fully fledged hot meal in the evening, with almost no vegetables. Add to that a 2l bottle of pop, crisps, chocolate and other nibbles throughout the day, plus 'cleaning up' plates from the rest of the house. One or two takeaways a week as well. It was a phenomenal amount of food.

Now, yesterday, I had two slice of wholegrain toast, a ham salad half panini (with about 80% salad), a banana and some spicy cous cous rammed with yet more vegetables and a little chicken. And I wasn't hungry.

That reflects the 'eat better' part as well. Gone are the fried foods, the takeaways, the sweets, the nibbles, the 'cheese with everything' dressing to meals, the extra little meals between meals (where by little, I mean substantial), the tubs of ice cream - you get the idea? They have been replaced by smaller portions, much more veg (OK, I'll be honest - any veg would have been mathematically more than no veg at all, but this is like half a plate of veg!), low GI carbs and MUCH less cheese.

The final bit - the exercise - has been the easiest of all. God bless my local NHS clinic-gym-thingy where I can turn up whenever I want and do my little routine. 15 minutes on the bike, 15 minutes on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the rowing machine. Its easy, convenient and hits exactly the point between 'exercise' and 'painful knee'. In fact, I've been a lot more supple and flexible since I started which has been fantastic!

I have both a dietician and exercise review in three weeks time. I'm quite looking forward to it - considering I was 'surrendering' to the doctor, the peace has had some remarkable dividends!