I want to lose weight!

I won’t bore you with all the details but the jubilee weekend left us with a glut of party food in our fridge – including a huge tub of home made crème patissiere, which Steve transformed into a trifle. Vanilla crème pat – not too sweet – mixed with fresh strawberries, cream, and cake soaked in something alcoholic... A heavenly combination. I didn’t have to eat it several days in a row – but, no excuses, I did. And it was delicious!

The problem is, delicious food always fools me into thinking. “It can’t really do any harm, can it?”

If Kate Moss really believes that nothing tastes as good as skinny feels, the woman has no palate.  Or she has never been introduced to delicious food.

So, here is my problem. I am married to a chef who only knows how to cook delicious food – and I love eating it. I don’t have to be hungry. Just knowing there is something yummy waiting to be picked at is enough to create a craving. Nor do I have to be hungry to want seconds of something I am enjoying soooo much!

When I’m working, I’m frequently interrupted by Steve, bringing me spoonfuls of stock, sauces, canapés and cakes to taste – he wants and values my opinion. 

It’s often a blind tasting. I have no idea if I’m about to bite into something sweet or savoury, fish or fowl. When you’re not hungry and it’s only 10.0am, that is pretty daunting – but my palate soon swings into action, and that one little taste will lead to another, and another. And I wasn’t even hungry!! If I’d never tasted one of his chocolate brownies I’d think they were going to be sweet and sickly, and would turn up my nose and push them away. But that’s sadly not the case – and now I know it!

For me, the easy way to lose weight would be to jaunt back in time to my childhood – when I always eschewed leathery liver, over boiled greens and lumpy potatoes at school, and never felt hungry. There weren’t that many dishes I ate at home, either. Until we got into the 70s and Mum discovered herbs and spices and my palate was awakened.

But now there’s no way I can avoid all the nice food around me – or the smells wafting up from the kitchen...

So, what do I do?

I’ve thought about the running challenge – and decided to reject it. I think any exercise I take up must be something I am prepared to bring into my life forever. That means it must easily fit into my life and routine. And it is essential that it is enjoyable too.

So the best bet is to add in more dog walks, more yoga, more aquarobics, more swimming. I have been trying to do a BodyVive Class – but it’s going the same way as Body Pump, and becoming one of those mortifying experiences where everyone else is doing one thing, while I’m doing something completely different.

On the food front, I should try to cut out carbs, sugar and alcohol. That I can do, in theory. But they are the mainstay of a social life – so that’s another challenge.

I’ll have to do something, though. Because, right now, jackets are not doing up, and waistbands are straining.

And I daren’t even get on the scales until I can sigh with relief instead of gasping with horror.