A nice neighborhood to have bad habits in

Well, as predicted I didn't lose as much weight this week as last - three pounds, to be exact. That's still a lot better than my target of a pound a week, so no cause for too much worry.

I think I established last week that breaking my routine at the weekends doesn't work - I didn't actually put anything on, but the momentum of weight loss was completely broken. This weekend I've tried to keep exercise as part of the mix - yesterday I put in about a half hour at  a friend's gym, cycled too and from zantic 's birthday bash last night, and today I'll give Merlin a proper walk of a couple of miles at least.

I'm going to be a wee bit out of my routine this week. unblinkered  doesn't get back until Wednesday, so I need to walk Merlin in the morning and be back to walk him not too long after five. That means no gym in the morning, or straight from work. I'll try to get round that by walking him for half an hour in the morning, and maybe going back out to the gym in the evening, and maybe fitting in a lunch time gym session. That does mean I probably should go to the gym this afternoon. In fact, I'll do just that - I can pick up my shopping at the same time.

OK, enough talking, time to do.

Well, in terms of weight lost I've met my targets - down from 105 to 102 kilos in a week. As I've said, I don't expect that rate to be continued, but the funny thing is that I'm disappointed: I weighed the same on Sunday morning as I did on Friday. Which is nonsense - for one thing, I shouldn't be losing anything in two days anyway, and for another I ate terribly on Friday and Saturday. And drank a lot.

I'm not sure that letting loose at the weekend is going to work for me - I wasn't very good at moderation when Scotch Malt Whisky Society malts and hand-cut chips were on offer. I didn't get much exercise either - the weather has been terrible this weekend.

So - good start, let's keep it up and see how next week goes. I think I'll put off weighing myself until next Sunday morning, or at least, I'll stop posting it!

I sneaked in an extra gym session on my way home last night, so I burned around 850 calories yesterday. I also kept to healthy eating (including a quick and tasty pasta dish whipped up by unblinkered in 15 minutes when I crawled back into the flat) so Tuesday counts as a win. I'm looking at the scales already, which is stupid since I know I should only weigh in once a week. I was down on my calorie count on the cross trainer this morning (364 in 30 minutes) but I did manage to get up and out without too much fuss, and even had time for five minutes in the jacuzzi.

I’ve set my weight-loss target at a pound a week, or a kilo a fortnight, and the strategy is to try to mostly balance out my breakfast and lunch calories with exercise, and then have something with a healthy GI for dinner. Alcohol is out Monday to Thursday, and reduced elsewhen. Chocolate, cakes and crisps are off the menu.

I managed to get into the gym just before 7.00 this morning, and clocked up 363 calories in half an hour on the cross trainer. That’s about 10% down on what I was burning in November, but not bad for a first day back. I was using the high heart rate warning (over 160 b.pm.) to set my pace, so as I get fitter I should be able to push harder. That’s how it’s worked in the past, anyway.

Breakfast this morning was a bowl of porridge (about 180 calories) and lunch will be soup (about 350 calories) and a wholemeal pitta (no idea). That probably puts me around 600-700 calories, and I’ll be snacking on bananas. I think that 400-500 calories is about as much as I’ll burn in one session in the gym, so I might throw in a couple of double sessions this week. Tomorrow I’ll either do that or go to badminton after work, and I’ll be at fencing on Thursday.

Hmm, just realised that as long as the weather is OK I can add in a walk at lunchtime – 20 minutes will add on about 70 calories or so, and I won’t be eating while I walk.

Weekends are going to be more tricky, but I can do longer walks with Merlin, and if the weather is fine I can get the bikes out.