SUNDAY 9TH OCTOBER 2022
A pretty uneventful week. I’m finding I have a bit more energy to get things done around the house but that enthusiasm is being counteracted by the ever-darkening, wet nights and the fact that I never seem to be done with my day job. I have, however, resolved to sort out my work/life balance because, the introduction of home working in 2020 has put that all to pot – I just need to muddle through the last couple of busy weeks of the season first……..
MY WHY
I’m still focusing on the importance of feeling good and it has led me back to another issue that keeps rearing its ugly head: I want to lose weight. It seems almost ignoble to bring this vanity issue (because it is purely vanity – I’m not looking to lose weight for health reasons) into my alcohol-free journey but, when I look at the bigger picture, I can’t deny that it has a place there because carrying this extra weight, and not feeling good in my own skin because of it, is detrimental to me as a whole. There have been many times in the past when I’ve given up alcohol for a period and hoped to lose weight as a result but it has never been the case. It seems really unfair – you’d think that cutting out all those calorie-laden drinks, not to mention the hung-over carb fests, would inevitably lead to instant weight loss but apparently not in my case. I did read something this year though that has given me a bit of hope….. Regular alcohol consumption messes with your metabolism in such a way that it makes putting on weight inevitable and taking it off again extremely difficult. Apparently, it can take months to reset your metabolism after you’ve stopped drinking so that would explain why I’ve never had results before and why I might get them now once I move into uncharted alcohol-free territory. I live in hope! Meanwhile, I’ve resolved to do what I can to help the process along. I discovered intermittent fasting last year and had some success with it before everything went to pot after dad died and I ended up almost right back where I started. I never stopped doing it altogether but I’ve been pretty lax these past few months so it’s time to tighten up my eating window again. It’s got to be a win-win situation because, while focusing on the feel-good factor, it has dawned on me that fasting consistently is another thing that makes me feel good so it’s something I should be doing. Drinking alcohol of an evening (and snacking along with it, as is my wont) then needing a big dose of carbs the next morning to stave off the nausea, is just not conducive to fasting. Equally, drinking all those alcohol calories and eating all that hangover food is just not conducive to losing weight. A couple of weeks ago, I was walking past a pub and there were people sitting outside drinking pints. Normally I would have salivated – it was a warm evening – but on this occasion, I was very much aware of looking at the full pints and just thinking, “God, that’s a massive amount of empty calories”. Not only that, they probably cost a fortune. Oh, the irony – every pound that alcohol takes out of your pocket, it piles back on to your waist – talk about a lose-lose!
Theme Tune: All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor