diet update: I thought you might be interested to hear how my low-cholesterol-ness is getting on. It's now four months since my doctor told me I really ought to de-clog my arteries. Back in the middle of March I embarked upon a puritanical low-fat diet, cutting out excess stodge and living off only permitted foodstuffs. No crisps, no pie, no pizza, but plenty of oily fish and un-sauced chicken. I had two months to try to reduce my cholesterol levels before a follow-up blood test, and the Creme Eggs stayed in the cupboard all that time. It was grim, but look, it worked.
mid-March
X stone 7
mid-April
X stone
mid-May
(X-1) stone 7
By mid-May I'd lost a whole stone (note to American readers, that's fourteen pounds) (note to continental readers, that's six and a half kilograms) (note to innumerate readers, that's about the same as chopping off my arm). Not only that but my cholesterol was down by a third, my doctor was happy and he felt no need to prescribe me anything. Result. I'd also dropped an entire waist size, which meant I was able to slip into pairs of jeans I'd not worn since 2004. And some of these were still almost in fashion.
mid-May
(X-1) stone 7
mid-June
(X-1) stone 5
mid-July
(X-1) stone 4
But today I'm far more impressed by my minor weight loss over the last two months. Because a crash diet is easy, but a change of lifestyle is much harder. I'm still behaving myself by heating up porridge for breakfast and dining on salmon twice a week, but now I sometimes have a pizza inbetween. I've gone back to eating chocolate, in moderation, and ice cream, occasionally, and roast dinners, sometimes. I'm no longer the boring sod in restaurants who stops eating after the starter, or who turns down a biscuit with a cuppa, or who lives in a state of complete cheeselessness. I'm living again, but that stone I lost has stayed off, and my weight appears to have stabilised well beneath what it used to be. It's not a bad life really. Now, if I'm staying down here, I wonder if it's time for some new trousers?
