Back from the brink?

Today started out badly. After breakfast, which was fairly normal, I experienced the frustration of lots of things 'not working'. First, the wi-fi on the computer wouldn't work, even though it was working on my netbook and iPhone. Then after spending an age fiddling with various 'help' tools, that frankly, didn't help, I eventually got it working again. Then after five minutes of jubilation the whole computer seemingly quit! I tried to restart it but at the Windows icon it just froze. I played with the safe start mode and after another age, finally got it working enough to run a virus check. This revealed a low risk virus which took more time to resolve. Then it all froze again! By this time I had wasted most of the morning and was feeling ever so slightly stressed.

I got the computer working again only to discover that the printer wouldn't work. Then my new iPhone case arrived in the post and I couldn't get the blooming thing to fit my iPhone! By now it was lunchtime and I was in no mood to be 'good' and eat a nice healthy salad! Instead I started with a cheese sandwich. In a semi-rage I ate the first bit far too quickly and nearly had a 'band' moment. The first sandwich disappeared fairly quickly and I followed it up with two slices of marmalade on toast.

Of course, by this time I was feeling pretty miserable and that I'd let myself down. But back to the technical problems. By some fluke, my better half discovered that the pc problems were entirely caused by a faulty cable and/or USB connection on the printer! So, printer removed, old one re-attached and everything worked as it should do! Although this cheered me up a little I was still feling bruised from the morning's events. I made an excuse to pop out and post a letter and found myself buying forbidden fruits. A chunky Kitkat, Dairy Milk bar and packet of cashew nuts to be precise. All were eaten before I got back home.

This was about 4pm. Since then, I have cheered up a lot and have resolved to bring this bad day back from the brink of disastrous. I ate much more sensibly this evening and also went for a walk to burn of some of my excess calories. Having done some calculations, I think that by the end of the day I will have about broken even, in terms of calories in versus calories out.

This is the value of writing everything down - even the bad stuff. In the past, not really knowing how badly the day had gone (in terms of calorie intake), I would have just 'given up' on the day and blown it completely. However, by keeping a record, I was able to do the sums and see that it would only take a little effort, and not a miracle, to rescue the day from disaster.

I'm just about to tuck into a tasty Muller Light, satisfied that although I won't have lost any weight today, I've not gained any either. It's a shame I stil succumb to emotional eating like this, but lifetime habits can't be broken in an instant. In the meantime, it's all about developing good strategies to cope with my falibility.