Festive blubber

The festive season is all well and good but the aftermath is pants, especially when you can't fit into yours.

Having spent most of last year ridding myself of excess weight and getting fit, the blubber has piled on over the last couple of weeks and I've set myself back to about last May. Actually, I don't know quite what the damage is because I haven't dared weigh myself to avoid potentially spiralling into the depths of despair. I hardly ever weigh myself, I prefer to judge my weight by whether or not I can fit into my tight jeans and just at the moment, I can't.

I hit the gym today for the first time in ages and it was really, really hard to do my routine, even at a reduced pace. And I went and hurt my leg. I also punished myself with no breakfast, a baked potato and salad lunch and a lean chicken and salad supper with no wine (lucky I like salad) - although I couldn't resist the Williams Sanoma balsamic onion chutney brought lovingly to me by my Christmas visiting Canadian friends. Yummy.

The problem is, I like most things. My inclination is to see food and eat it. I just love food and I love all the wrong stuff. I love all the right stuff too and I've never really got the hang of portion control. Control is a concept I've never been that comfortable with in any aspect of my life which is what makes curbing excesses so much more difficult for me than for normal people. I can resist anything but temptation.

It's important for me to stay slim and eat properly because frankly, I feel so much better when I do those things. I guess I need to be very rigid most of the time and allow for the odd excess here and there without beating myself up. Yes, good idea because we're making a roast beef lunch for guests this coming Sunday. Then, toward the end of the month, we've been invited to friends who have a rather famous Michelin starred chef coming over to cook dinner for them and their eight nearest and dearest (no, it's not Gordon - but close). i can't miss out on that one.

So, until Sunday at least, it's rations for me and lots of exercise - even if I have to do it on one leg.