As quick as it came, it went.
Besides a plethora of new gadgets, chick flick DVDs that I will be forced to watch, and a Wii with all it’s wireless bits and bobs, Christmas left nothing but temptation. By boxing day, the pantry was full of biscuit selections, boxes of shortcake, After Eight Mints, Roses, mince pies, bars of chocolate, truffles, and a Thorntons’ selection box.
Christmas started for me when I went out for the work Christmas lunch. It was my intention to stick to my healthy lifestyle plan and continue my training as per normal.
Over the festive season I upped my distance rides to 33 miles, and had several short rides outside, getting myself used to the main roads and dealing with traffic, traffic lights and our crappy British road surfaces.
My healthy eating didn’t stay particularly healthy, well not all the time anyway. To be honest, at mealtimes I remained pretty restrained, and meal planning was still reasonably health conscious. However, the temptation of the aforementioned confectionary provided too much at times.
Now that we’re into the New Year, I am struggling to get back into the swing of things. Just the other day at work, one person brought in a biscuit selection box, one person a packet of chocolate digestives, one person a huge jar of jelly beans, and one person brought in 2 boxes of Jaffa Cakes. I mean, hardly considerate, is it?!
I have also slipped into the habit of drinking tea again, mainly because Suzy got some Christmas blend tea bags from M&S which I couldn’t resist. They’ve run out now, so it’s back to drinking black-currant tea, Chinese green tea, and juice. It’s important for me to keep hydrated, especially when I am doing lots of cycling. I am prone to headaches because of my job, so staying hydrated cuts out the chance of headaches due to dehydration.
It’s now the beginning of the second week of January, and I weighed just over 18 stone 7 this morning, but I had got as heavy as just under 18 stone 11. It isn’t that bad – one person at work has put on 6lbs over Christmas.
Tonight I rode 33 miles at 20mph on the trainer (while watching Panic Room) and I feel pretty fit. Now it’s time to get the festive season well and truly out of the way and start building up to the Great North Bike Ride distance while heading towards my weight loss targets.
22 Stone Cyclist 