The best thing since sliced bread

I recently received an unexpected package in the post. It turned out to be a free sample of a new cookie developed by Weight To Go. 'A diet chocolate cookie', I thought, 'how marvellous!' A day or two later I found myself peckish and remembered the cookie. As I tore off the silver foil wrapping I couldn't help noticing how heavy it felt - dense and solid - not like a normal cookie at all. I glanced at the nutritional information and was horrified to see that this mere cookie would set me back more than 400 calories. Granted, it had a higher proportion of protein and fibre, and less saturated fats than a 'standard' cookie, but at a whopping 400+ calories this was not just going to be a snack, more a meal replacement.

I bit into to it and discovered it had the density of a car tyre, and was as chewy as molten rubber. The taste was a mixture of yoghurty, chocolatey (but only slightly), burnt egg white! Now, I'm willing to eat stuff that tastes and feels really nasty if the nutritional benefits are there, but this thing not only weighs half a tonne, it has more than 400 calories in it! It might have lots of protein and fibre, but surely I'd be better off eating a banana? In fact I'd probably do better, calorie-wise, eating a banana dipped in chocolate sauce to be honest! Sorry, Weight To Go, but this is a case of tear up the recipe and start again.

That said, the Weight To Go shakes are, for me, literally, the best thing since sliced bread. I NEVER start my day without a strawberry shake, and over the past four years they've solved a life-long problem I used to have with eating breakfast - namely - I didn't! They're not cheap, but for anyone with a gastric band who finds it difficult, like me, to eat solid food in the morning, then these shakes provide the perfect protein-rich kickstart to the day (along with a mug of strong black coffee, of course!).

Patience - an important lesson

I thought I'd give you a little insight into how things have been for me in the last year. A year ago I had a small fill, taking my total band fill up to about 7.7ml. This gave me a really nice level of restriction and for the first time in a while, I felt that my band could really help me to control my eating. However, the thorn in this theory was my binge-eating, primarily chocolate focused. At that time I was eating at least six or seven bars of chocolate per day, often eight bars, plus some other cakes and trifles. I estimate that I was consuming 1500-2000 calories per day through chocolate, ON TOP of a normal diet of about the same. It doesn't need a mathematician to work out that I was consuming nearly twice the calories that I actually needed. No wonder I was steadily gaining weight. I tried all kinds of things to cut down on the chocolate but nothing worked.

I have always subscribed to the view that a diet should be sustainable, otherwise it won't work. By the same token, I have always believed that since 'normal' people can eat a little chocolate, so should I be able to. And so my efforts over the years have been to cut down on chocolate consumption, rather than to cut it out all together. But I finally saw sense on May 25th this year, when I took the decision to completely cut out chocolate from my diet. Since that time I have very, very slowly begun to take back control over my diet and begun to lose weight again.

I thought I'd quote an anonymous comment on an earlier post (from 2010): "I too am a chocoholic and I have successfully lost weight in the past only to pile it back on (I was 5.5st lighter 2 years ago). I have come to the conclusion that I cannot eat any chocolate - total abstinence is the only way forward (I have managed to give up chocolate for years in the past and I always become complacent: "a little won't hurt....." - the trouble is I cannot eat just a "little". - Well there's at least a little comfort in knowing I'm not the only one!!

A year ago, I weighed 17 stone and 4 lbs, and now I'm exactly a stone less. So it's taken me six months to lose a stone, but maybe this is another lesson that I have learned from the last four years of being a bandit - patience, patience, patience - you can never have too much! Don't rush things, it's a marathon not a sprint. It is better to take six years to lose all the weight I want to, and to keep it off by developing good habits, than to lose it all in a year and put much of it back on again (which is effectively what happened to me).

Next time, more about the acid problem over the last year.... Bet you can't wait!!

How many calories per day?

Thanks to another bandit who posted on the UKGastricBand forum, I've discovered a web site called Calories Count. It has a useful tool for calculating the number of calories required for weight maintenance, but I also found a calculator for determining the number of daily calories required for weight loss. I entered my height, weight and age, and said I was lightly active. This is what it said: Current weight 168lbs; healthy weight range 123-161lbs; activity level - lightly active. Current BMI: 25.9 Healthy BMI range: 18.5 - 24.9.

Daily calorie level to maintain current weight: 1989 calories.
To lose weight: 1489 calories.

"Please note you should not go below 1400 calories per day, as this is the minimum amount necessary to meet your daily nutrient requirements. If the calorie level determined for you is below 1400 calories, you may want to consider increasing your exercise. However, if you are unable to do that, you will still lose weight, it will just be at a slower pace (approximately 1/2 pound or .25 kg per week)."

"To lose one pound (.5 kg) a week, a person must burn 3,500 calories more than are consumed (500 calories per day over the course of a week)."

This is good news for me because I have been really struggling to maintain a 1200 calorie a day intake. I manage it on some days, and sometimes even have less. But on other days it seems woefully inadequate and I end up eating loads more. If I stick to about 1489 per day, then according to this web site, I should still lose one pound per week. I think that at this stage in the weight loss process (i.e. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel), it's no bad thing to increase my daily intake and try to be a bit more consistent - this should help when I get to the point of having to maintain.

A long Sunday walk

On Sunday we tackled what will be the first of many Lake District walks this year. We climbed the summits of five Wainwright peaks - Grisedale Pike (791m), Crag Hill (839m), Sail (773m), Outerside (568m) and Barrow (455m). It took us 6.5 hours and included about 1150m of ascent in total, over about 9 miles. The Lake District, like much of the country now, was covered in deep snow, making some parts of the route very hard-going and we wore crampons most of the day. There were lots of other like-minded people out on the fells and the views were breathtakingly beautiful.

We completed the route in semi-darkness and wound our weary way home. Too tired to cook, we defeated some of the calorie-burning achieved by opting for a Chinese takeaway!! I think I have a beter idea now, of the enormity of the challenges I have set myself this year. In addition to completing this 214 challenge, it is also my intention to reach my goal weight - some 22 pounds from my current weight. Although this may seem small amount compared to what I have already lost, it is turning out to be SOooo much harder to shift. Just to make things even more difficult for myself, I also hope, by the end of the year, to have begun the process of removing some of my excess skin - as time goes on I am more convinced of the need for at least two lots of surgery to correct this.

So here we go, hold on for the roller coaster ride that is sure to be 2010!!

The 214 Challenge for 2010!!

As I hinted at yesterday, I have been thinking for a while that I'd like to take up a serious physical challenge in 2010. As well as helping with my physical fitness it might also contribute to my ongoing weight loss and give me a sense of real achievement. Just as climbers of Everest respond when asked why they do it - "because it's there", I suppose I want to do something - "because I can". Now. Before, I couldn't. Now I can - so I'm going to!!

I have always wanted to do something really serious like climb Kilimanjaro. I'm further convinced of this by the November efforts of the UK Children in Need celebrities who did it for charity. However, I don't think I would be fit enough in time so that will have to wait for 2011! So, by way of preparation for perhaps an even bigger challenge next year, I have given a great deal of thought over the past few weeks, to what challenge I might take on in 2010. There were two general activities in the running - walking (hiking) or swimming. After being inspired by Robson Green's recent exploits on ITV, I thought about going for some 'wild' swimming adventure. I've done some outdoor swimming in the past when I entered a triathlon in my early twenties. However, that kind of thing would take some very serious training - and time - which I don't have in abundance. So I decided to focus my thinking efforts more on hiking.

In the UK there are a number of long distance footpaths. Many years ago I made serious plans to do the Pennine Way. This is about 320 miles and takes about 19-20 days following the spine of hills and low mountains that passes from the Peak District National Park in the south (central England) to the edge of the Scottish border in the north. However, I gave up on this at the time because I simply cannot take three weeks off work! But in my searching, I came across the 214 Lakeland Challenge - and this is more exciting.

The 214 Lakeland Challenge (also referred to as the Wainwright Challange) involves climbing to the peak of the 214 summits in the English Lake District described by Alfred Wainwright (pictured) in his famous seven volume pictorial guides. The summits vary from about 500 to 1000m and traverse all regions of the Lake District. The challenge is to complete all of these climbs - in one year. Well, since I love the Lake District, it's within a couple of hours drive from here, and the challenge can be completed over a period of time not requiring a huge amount of time off work, this is what I've decided to do! Think of all the steps and burned calories!!!

I've already bought the seven-volume Wainwright guides together with another guide that groups the walks into sensible units that can be completed over 36 separate trips. We already have the 1:25,000 OS Explorer maps that I will need. All I need now, are a couple of fleece jumpers because I no longer own any that fit! Oh, and the courage to actually begin! I think that I will 'officially' begin tomorrow - January 1st and my aim will be to complete by December 31st 2010. Who knows - I may even time my final ascent for December 31st and have a mountain celebration of New Year's Eve!

Wish me luck - I may need it!

Seasons greetings

Hello again! Happy Christmas! We've just returned from a Christmas week spent on holiday in Tenerife. We booked it all at the last minute and were lucky to get anything. But in the event, we had a fantastic time. We only just managed to get out of Manchester airport a week ago because it was snowing heavily at the time. The day before there had been awful delays because of the weather, but we were very lucky and only had an hours delay. Arriving in Tenerife we were faced with 20-25 degrees C most of the time. The last couple of days have been even hotter. We stayed in a lovely apartment at Puerta de la Cruz on the north coast. Although we had full self catering facilities we ate out every evening.

Probably the fact that we only found (or even looked for!) the beach on the last morning says something about the kind of people we are! However, we hired a car for the week and got around and saw lots of the island. Every day we went for a decent walk - I clocked up at least 15,000 steps per day and 25,000 on one day. I'm defintely feeling fitter already. The island is dominated by the volcano, Mount Teide, which stands at an incredible 3717m. We didn't get up to the top (you can get from 2200 to near the top by cable car) because high winds prevented the cable car from running. However, we did lots of high level walks with absolutely stunning views of modern and ancient lava flows, volcanic cones and deep chasms.

Needless to say, I did not count my calories while on holiday, but did my best to keep my appetite under control. I ate relatively small amounts for breakfast and lunch but tended to eat more in the afternoon and evening. Every afternoon, for instance, we bought an ice cream as 'reward' for walking in the heat. Eating out every evening, I tried to choose small meals. I always chose two courses (usually a starter and main course). However, a couple of times I ate so little of my main course I asked for a 'doggy bag' to take the rest away with me. By the end of the week I had switched to two starters. However, on the last evening my first starter was so big (a tuna and bean salad) that I took that away in a doggy bag and ate it for lunch on the way home yesterday!!

So all in all, a really fabulous Christmas. I'm not sure I want to do this every year because it's nice to spend time with family and enjoy the traditional atmosphere, sights and sounds of Christmas. But it was nice to do do something different, restful and get back to exercising! I'm now thinking about truly getting back to some proper, regular exercise. I also have it in mind that I'm going to take on a major physical challenge in 2010 - but more of that tomorrow....

Pre-band fears part 3: Being called a cheat!

I suppose it was the 'outing' of Fern Britton that did it - she was 'found out' with the gastric band and called a cheat in the British media. I suppose that in the early days of the band I didn't know enough about how it would work so I think a part of me believed that there was an element of cheating involved. Of course now I know different. I know from experience that if I want to, I can eat pretty much anything. I can eat all of the unhealthy foods that I used to be able to eat. I can eat chocolate in volume and binge on the stuff almost as easily as I used to. I know that other famous celebrities gave had their band removed because they gained weight eating loads of chocolate! I know from months of hard work that band success means careful calorie counting, rigorous maintenance of a food diary, tonnes of exercise and constantly making good, nutritional food choices. It means sticking to a whole heap of rules, like chewing everything to death, eating slowly, not getting distracted while eating, using small utensils, eating off a side plate, practising environmental control and balancing proteins, carbs and veggies. It also requires sticking to the hardest rule of all, which is not to drink for at least one hour after eating!!

Because I was uncertain about how the band was going to work, I was careful early on not to tell anyone except my husband, that I had a band. Over time, and as I've learned more about what is involved in making the band work for me, I've become more relaxed about telling people. I guess I feel more confident that I am not a cheat! I feel I can explain to people properly how the band works and I can justify my reasons for having one. Some would say why do I need to justify anything to anybody - but that's just the way I am!

About six weeks after getting banded I told my immediate family. Since then, I've told several close colleagues and friends. Even just today, I told my office mate (as he was stuffing his face with a muffin!). Whereas many months ago I couldn't really see myself telling anybody, now I firmly believe that I will probably eventually tell everybody! I think that basically I'm just a coward, and am scared of telling people in case it doesn't work. That's why I expect I will eventually 'out' to everyone only once I reach my target!! I said I was a coward!

So, as far as people calling me a cheat is concerned - I no longer have that fear. At the end of the day, it's my body, my money and my health. As is plainly clear for anyone who knows me to see, the band has done wonders for me and it clearly does work. If having something that only does 30% of the work is being a cheat - then I confess to being one. But I jest. I am not a cheat, I don't feel a cheat, and anyone who thinks I am one is plain and simple WRONG! There.

Metabolic rate and muscle mass

Heres my response to Yana who commented on my previous post - I tried to post it as a comment but had a temporary glitch. So here it us for everyone!

Hi Yana,

You are absolutely correct with your figures - as we lose weight we need less calories. However, muscle needs more calories per gramme to function than the equivalent weight in fat or other body tissues. This means that if, as you lose weight, you do a lot of exercise and build up muscle mass, your metabolic rate increases a little. Using your hypothetical numbers, if you lose weight from 300 to 200lbs and your metabolic rate drops from 3000 to 2000 - you then do loads of exercise over a period of months and increase muscle mass. Assuming your weight stays at 200lbs, your metabolic rate increases to, say, 2300 calories. If you still continue to consume the same amount of calories as you did before increasing muscle mass, then you will lose weight at a slightly faster rate. This was what I meant when I said I was using my calories more effectively - sorry it wasn't that clear but sometimes my head kind of tips out ideas onto the screen before they've been thought through properly!! Hope that helps!

Trees x

Why I've not gained weight

I recently responded to a post on the UKGastricBand forum to someone who was asking how to get the self control needed to overcome the desire to eat chocolate and other unhealthy things. I've copied some of my response below. Some of these things I have said on here before, but thinking about it helped me put into perspective exactly why I hadn't gained weight during some of the bad times I've experienced in recent months.

"I am a self-confessed emotional eater and complete chocaholic and yet I've lost nearly 8 stone (if I can do it - anyone can!!!). When things in life are going well, my desire to eat chocolate and other bad stuff just goes - and if anything, I crave good, nutritious, healthy foods. During these times I lose weight. However, when life is difficult, as it has been for me over the past 2-3 months (work pressures), I utterly crave chocolate. Over the past 2-3 months I have regularly (i.e. every 2-3 days) binged on chocolate. By that, I mean, I've gone out and bought 6-7 bars of chocolate and eaten my way through all of them in an evening. On top of that I've eaten cheese sandwiches (cheese comes second to chocolate in my head), muffins, iced buns and all sorts of other rubbish.

HOWEVER (this is the good bit) - during these times I have NOT GAINED any weight! This is because:

1. My metabolism has speeded up because I've lost weight so my body uses calories more effectively,
2. I do more exercise (though nothing like as much as I do when life is going well),
3. The portion sizes of my main meals is much smaller than it ever used to be - because of the band,
4. In between the bad days I have relatively good days where I have a negative calorie balance (i.e. I use more than I put in).

So, if you still find you can't keep off the chocolate (and incidentally, I never keep any in the house), it's not all doom and gloom - stick to good eating habits as much as you can and this should mean that at least you won't gain any more weight. On good days, and at good times in your life, you should be able to lose with the band - and keep it off during the bad times".

Recipe: Olive tofu and pasta

Here's a favourite vegetarian 'recipe' of mine:

Olive tofu (available from The Eighth Day in Manchester and other specialist vegetarian shops), with spinach, mushroom-stuffed pasta and mixed shitake and chestnut mushrooms. I lightly boil the pasta and the rest is steamed in the microwave with plenty of black pepper and a splash of light soy. The edginess of the olives tastes wonderful against the subtle tastes of mushrooms and spinach. Mmmmm! The whole meal is about 350 calories and takes only 15 minutes to prepare. The meal is well balanced - you should end up with a side plate with 25% carbs (the pasta), 25% protein (tofu), and 50% veggies.

What I ate today

Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: All Bran and muesli mixed, half a glass of orange juice and an Actimel drink.

Lunch: Half a piece of salmon, a slice of wholemeal bread with a thick layer of Philadelphia Extra Light, and some steamed mushrooms and red onion.

Afternoon snacks: Small pear and Alpen Light cereal bar.

Dinner: Other half a piece of salmon, mushroom-stuffed pasta, green beans and sprouts.

Dessert: Muller Light yoghurt.

Total calories for the day 1090.

I still eat all my meals off a small (7-inch) sideplate and use a cake fork. I usually eat in front of the TV but don't allow myself to get distracted. I chew everything really well and take small mouthfuls.

Back on track

I'm pretty sure I'm back on track now. I've managed to stick to healthy eating for several days now, and the scales have dropped by two pounds this morning! I'm now just seven pounds away from being a 'normal' weight! I'm so pleased about this - there is a realistic chance of reaching that interim target by Christmas. I posted a few days ago about the pros and cons of having another fill. I said at the time that I was fairly sure I am happy where I am. I can now say with certainty that I DEFINITELY AM!! There's no doubt about it, when I eat healthily I get enough food with about 1200 calories a day. I still get hungry mid-afternoon but as I said the other day, I simply get around this by having a selection of healthy snacks available.

Although I've been at a plateau fir a few weeks, things have started moving again. I really feel as though I have turned a corner in terms of understanding how to make the most of my band!

Three courses

We've been out for a meal with friends this evening and I ate three courses! Then I read about someone for whom a two-slice sandwich lasts them all day - and I'm back to wondering again if I have enough restriction! I ate a small piece of quiche with salad for starter, salmon and veg for main and a pannacotta with blackberries for dessert (a bit like cheesecake with no biscuit base!). On the plus side, I had a lovely evening out and enjoyed some wonderful food. I didn't eat nearly as much as I would have done in the past and I am stuffed. We are going for a decent walk tomorrow so hopefully I can burn off some of the extra calories!

Back on the wagon

Well I think so anyway! I had a really good day yesterday - I could only manage half my evening meal at first although ate the other half later in the evening. All-told I managed just 950 calories all day - which for this stage in my band journey is excellent! Today it will be more like normal - about 12-1300 or so, but I went for a decent walk this afternoon so that's fine. I just need to get back to the gym for some exercise now that work presure is beginning to ease off.

Sorry this is a short post but I am dashing off to watch BBC's Question Time - one of the panel is a bit of a national hate figure (right wing, racist, bigoted and all that). There have been massive protests and I'm tuning in to watch him squirm!!!

Mushrooms are a girl's best friend....

I've started keeping a list of meals that really fill me up. I don't know what it is but I have an awful memory and no imagination whatsoever. If I don't write ideas down I completely forget the following week and get stuck for what to eat. My list is only about three meals long at the moment but I have noticed a recurring theme. Every time my meal includes mushrooms (which is quite often because I love 'em), that meal gets added to the list! They're quite solid and chewy and fibrou, very low fat and low calorie (a whole box of them is only about 20 calories). That makes them very filling and excellent for staying in my pouch. I make sure I get flavoursome mushroms such as shitaki or chestnut, and for added flavour I always pour on loads of coarse ground black pepper and a light splash of soy sauce.

We're going out for a meal this evening - for the first of two times this week (going out on Friday with friends too). I'm hoping to be reasonably sensible in my food choices but we'll see..... at the moment I'm feeling a little as though all the hard work I've been doing lately means that I 'deserve' something nice!!! Perhaps I can restrain myself enough to have just a starter and then share a dessert? Watch this space!

Burning calories

We went for a lovely walk on the western edge of the Pennines today - to a place called Winter Hill. It's basically where there is a telecommunications mast (about 200m high) on top of a hill. The mast provides all the digital network for this part of the north-west. Not so far away is Rivington Pike - part of the Victorian terraced gardens complex of Rivington House. We also walked over to 'The Tower' on top of Rivington Pike - pictured.

My other half and I went with my sister-in-law who is up from the south and staying for a few days. It's been a really lovely day, cool but bright and sunny, and we had lovely views across towards Bolton (including the Reebok stadium) and Wigan. I particularly enjoyed the walk because it is the first time I have got out and had a 'proper' walk for at least three weeks - which is about as long as I have gone since the early days of my band journey. We walked about 12,000 steps which will have burned upwards of 600 calories. So for the first time in a while, I am feeling quite saintly!!

As I suggested yesterday, I am really beginning to believe that I have turned a corner and starting to put the bad days behind me and re-focus on the prize. If I get back into my good habits there is a real chance I could be 'normal' by Christmas (BMI-wise) - now that is a very powerful incentive!!

Quorny but true

Today I decided to go out and buy some Quorn-based products. I've been getting a little fed up with eating the same things over and over and I've also been feeling for a while that I don't quite get enough protein - that may partly explain why I still keep getting hungry. I browsed around the shelves in Tesco and found a surprising array of different Quorn-based foods. Some of them are coated in breadcrumbs, stuffed with cheese and all sorts - and are pretty high in calories. But there are also some other varieties that are much better. I was really surprised at just how low in fat Quorn products actually are. They are also loaded with protein - the peppered steaks are only 107 calories, have about 4g of fat and about 12g of protein! So, I returned home with a box of two peppered steaks, some fajita-like Quorn strips and some Quorn bites on skewers. The latter will be great for snacking on!!

Anyway, I had one of the peppered steasks for dinner this evening - along with a little boiled potato and some frozen mixed veg. Despite the fact that I got distracted while cooking and the steak was rather over-done (!), it still tasted really lovely. But what has cheered me up no end, and amazed, me, is just how filling the Quorn is. I had my dinner ages ago now and I'm still stuffed. I'll be experimenting with all sorts of Quorn products over the next few weeks and I'll let you know whether it turns out to be the Holy Grail that I'm thinking it is at the moment!

Comfort, craving or reward?

Whoosh, it's been a funny few days. I've been yo-yo-ing up and down - both on the scales and in terms of my calorie intake. Yesterday I only managed a paltry 900 calories, the day before was about 2,500 and today looks like being on course for about 1800!! Why so high? Well I'm going through a very tough time at work. I work at a University and the students have just arrived back in their thousands. It's nice for the place to have a bit of a buzz again but the amount of work I have to get through is horrendous. I've been working twelve and fourteen hour days for the past week or so - arriving home exhausted, resting a while and then going to bed. Then the next day it starts all over again!

The thing is, each day I start out really well - just as today. By 4pm this afternoon I'd had about 5-600 calories - which is good. But then when it gets to about 5 or 6pm and everyone else has gone home for the evening, I'm here on my own and know I'm going to be till at least 7 or 8pm, my resolve just goes. I got hungry about an hour ago and just had to 'pop out to the shop'....a euphemism, perhaps, for stuff my face with chocolate. It's not just that I need to satisfy my hunger - which every normal person would have to - it's also that I need to get that something else, that unknown 'x' factor out of my food. Maybe it's comfort? Maybe it's some sort of reward for working so hard? Maybe it's just a craving for sugar borne of letting myself get too tired? I don't know - but wherever the urge comes from it is is incredibly powerful. Nothing I do enables me to resist.

When I get home in an hour or so from now I'll have another small bite to eat, collapse in the chair for a while and then heave myself up the stairs to get some well-earned sleep. Today, I haven't even found any time to get some exercise - so I haven't exactly burned off many of the calories either. And before you say "ah, but what about burning off the calories during all those long working hours?" - yes, but the trouble is, I spend most of my day sitting on my butt!

I can simply console myself for now with the knowldege that this period of time is always very bad. Perhaps I shouldn't expect to be 'good' at this time of year - just good enough to maintain, rather than gain any weight. Then in a week or two when things calm down (they will, won't they?!), then maybe I'll be able to get firmly back on the wagon - rolling inexorably downhill towards the finale some time in January I hope (or is it February now?!).

Thanks for staying the course with me!

Thoughts on exercise

Went to the Healthier Weight support group meeting in Manchester today. The presentation was about the importance of exercise in the body energy balance. In essence, whether or not we lose weight is a function of total calories (energy) in minus total calories out. Since calories out is largely related to activity levels, the more exercise we do, the more likely it is that we will lose weight. Of course it is not so simple as that - it takes quite a lot of commitment, motivation and organisation on our part to make that exercise actually happen.

Personally, I have got into quite good habits when it comes to fitting little bits of walking into my daily routine. However, it's harder to find the time and energy to fit in 'bigger' bits of exercise like long hikes, going to the gym, swimming etc. One of the things that was clear from today's talk was that this kind of activity tends only to happen if it has a very regular place in our daily and weekly routine. This us where I struggle at the moment because my job us quite variable on a day to day basis. That means I start and finish work at different times so find it difficult to fit in visits to the gym etc on a regular basis.

This is where I find having daily and weekly targets on my pedometer helps. My daily target is 7000 steps and my weekly average target is 8,000 steps. I find it quite helpful to look at it during the day - if it says 5790, for instance, then I know I only gave to fit in an extra 1210 before bedtime! This evening I went for a walk-jog for 40 minutes or so - I quite enjoyed it but am tired now. Signing off to go to bed.

Eggs is eggs

As sure as eggs is eggs, eggs produce, shall we say, a binding effect in me! Having been away for a few days, I was rather at someone else's mercy when it came to food. I ate breakfast each morning in a canteen offering fairly typical English breakfast fayre. On offer were scrambled eggs, fried eggs, sausages, bacon, baked beans, tinned tomatoes and hash browns. There was also toast made from white bread, yoghurt, fruit, and croissants. Being a vegetarian and trying to avoid fatty food, I opted each morning for a piece of toast, a small amount of scrambled egg and a tomato. I also had a yoghurt and took a piece of fruit for later.

From a calorie and nutritional point of view my selection for breakfast was good. However, in the past few days I have experienced one of the downsides of my choices. Eggs seem to have a bad effect on my digestive system and seem to 'block it up' solidly. This morning I declared war on my bowels! I started with the Lactosol, then followed it up with strong coffee, a bowl of All Bran and a banana!! Within the hour I had won the war but was feeling truly knackered!! Sorry if this is all too much information - but it's just one of the practicalities we have to face with the band!

I have a plan for the next time I go away. I'll eat the eggs some of the time, but I'm going to take some All Bran with me and work really hard to boost my fibre intake. For now, eggs are off the menu for a while!!