Good Morning Everyone
Thanks JoJo, ClareBarr, Diane and EJ for all your kind messages of support
I'm feeling ridiculously upbeat and pleased with how my diet (oops! sorry MrG
- I mean quest for healthier eating and fitness
) is going. I'm really determined not to get complacent though, because I have a bit of a track record for yo-yo dieting, and I also know full well that the early pounds come off much easier, that the later ones. There is a
link to what's gone on before for me in my signature if anyone is interested.
I mentioned that I was attending my first (well not my first ever obviously
) gym session yesterday.
I turned up armed with shorts, loose fitting shirt and trainers only to find that there would be no exercise involved in this first session. It was purely a consultation, so that they could take my background health details and weight, height, blood pressure etc and discuss what I wanted to achieve by coming on the course. I was impressed by the thoroughness of the instructor.
I had a little smile to myself when after measuring my height and weight the instructor said words to the effect of "there is much work to be done - to achieve your goals" (which are to get fitter, increase stamina and achieve a BMI of around 25). She is absolutely right of course, but I could not help thinking how much worse her reaction would have been if I'd been there 3 weeks previously and 12 pounds heavier.
It kind of pulled me back down to Earth a bit and made me conscious of the size of the challenge still to come. I've never really been a fan of gyms in the past (preferring actual cycling - because it's cheaper and more fun) but anyhow I'm going to try to give it a fair chance this time.
I will be attending a two hour session on a Monday and a Wednesday afternoon each week for 24 weeks. There are supervised cardio and weight type gym sessions, non-competitive badminton/table tennis, and unsupervised (apart from the usual lifeguards) swimming sessions available. I'll tell you better what I think, after I see how I go on tomorrow afternoon.
Diane, you asked for suggestions for your dinner party menu. I came across a really nice looking, and not too involved, recipe for a meringue style desert topped with cream, blackberries and mint leaves. I think it was a Waitrose effort, I'll see if I can find a link to it, or put details directly on here in my next post. Could this be a contender for Saturday?
Also, how about doing some sort of casserole with dumplings for a main course. Beef, Chicken, or even sausage? That kind of non time-critical thing that you can prepare in advance, could save a bit of last minute panic in the kitchen, when you'd rather want to be chatting to your guests? What do you think?
Today's Menu
Breakfast:Porridge, blackberries, skimmed milk
Lunch: Big salad, boiled egg, I was after some fruity homemade chutney or something to liven this up but sadly have not been able to source anything.
Evening Meal: Lemon sole, asparagus, butter-beans
Be good everyone.
and unbelievably frequent 
excursions to such a variety of gastronomic eateries 
If I'm honest although it seems to be doing the trick at the moment, it's starting to feel a little bland. I think I need to rethink ways of making my salads a little more appealing - maybe if I could get something nice like, oh I don't know, a special homemade festive fruity apple and plum Chutney, then that would do the trick.... 
, Vegetable Stir Fry with hoi-sin sauce.
