Chapter 2 - Forbidden beginnings

Fourteen days and fourteen nights have gone, along with the first 3.4 kilos or 7.5 pounds. Wow, that’s even half a stone.  I like to think of it in packs of butter - all seven and a half of them - waiting for toast and crumpets. Somehow, I already feel alive again. Now don´t panic! I didn´t feel dead beforehand. Is it actually  possible to feel dead whilst still being alive?  I guess only when suffering from grief, depression or being lovesick. I´ve experienced all three, I´m sure. But feeling fat and frumpy is a different feeling altogether.  I´m putting my energy and vitality down to a total vitamin shock from all the fruit and veg I´ve been eating, accompanied by lots of water. H2O. Something I previously used solely for hygiene purposes like showering and having a bath. Now I´m bloody drinking the stuff. At least two litres a day. This isn´t enough, but it´s a start. Maybe the bottle really does what it says on the lable and wakes up your vitality.

Most people say the worst part of a diet is the beginning. You go from eating burger and chips, takeaways, a whole bar of chocolate and numerous naughty foods one day to a salad leaf , an apple and a slice of crispbread the next.  Or you forget the food altogether and opt for the gooey slim-shakes, cabbage soup until you almost explode with wind, or eat meat and eggs until you almost  „moooooo“ or walk like a chicken. I don´t believe in these faddy diets. No pills, potions or powders are welcome in my fat body. The South Beach diet sounds glam, Atkins always reminds me of Mr Bean and the other hundreds of diets out there contradict each other – when one diet says eat lots of carbs, the other says you should eat everything but carbs...... somehow the list is endless. I tried a few. A pure meat and fish week once got me into a bridesmaids dress. My sister would never have forgiven me otherwise. Never again. I had too many slim-shakes that I lost a passion for the „real“ McMilkshakes as a result. Maybe that was the only positive thing that came out of the many yo-yo diets I tried in the past.

What I don´t like about diets is the theory of forbidden food. Basically someone telling you that you can´t eat something makes it even more desirable. It´s like being in a restaurant and the waiter tells you not to touch the hot plate. What do you do? Well, all I can say is that I have often burnt my fingers in a restaurant. I always have to test the boundaries and rules. It´s the way I am. I simply don´t like the words „no“ or  „you can´t“.  Tell me I can´t eat chocolate again and I´ll turn into a very unhappy woman. Okay, maybe the whole bar is really out of question, but a little chocolate now and again is acceptable. Maybe I really do like Obama and his „yes we can“  after all.

Weightwatchers is apparently not a diet. It´s a change of diet. Probably best compared to IKEA and their comparison of Living and Living unböring. Accepted, a lot has to be changed in my diet - but the best thing I like about weightwatchers is that you can eat EVERYTHING. It is the „yes you can“ diet. Nothing is forbidden, banned, or frowned upon. I have the freedom to choose what I eat and what suits my lifestyle best. I only have to watch the points values of the foods I eat and those in my daily points allowance. As a consequence I´ll hopefully watch my weight go down some more.