Saturday 16th January 2010 - 14 Stone 2 Pounds

I have lost a couple of pounds this week which is good. I was expecting to lose something as I have tried quite hard to get back into the routine of not snacking on the naughties which people take into work. I feel I am back on track a little bit which has helped to stabalise my mind about going forward.

It has been a bit hard this week as it was Matthew's birthday and so we went out for dinner and we have birthday cake sitting around the house just waiting to be eaten (and its been so long since I cooked a gingerbread that I just couldn't resist). So I am pleased with 2 pounds drop and think it could probably have been more if I had not had a birthday to contend with.

I was reminded this week about the mentality of dieting and looking for excuses to eat if you are not really dedicated and focused. It is also a sign of the times in terms of advertising brain-washing. Someone brought a packet of biscuits into the office and when I stood talking to them when making a cup of tea, they took 3 biscuits out of the packet. This person is on a diet and has a specific target to meet due to her getting married in about 6 weeks time. She is having to be quite strict with herself but she really is not all that interested in keeping to it. Even going down a dress size for the wedding is not quite motivation enough as her lifestyle of eating is very much ingrained. Anyway, when she took 3 biscuits out of the packet (which she actually brought in), I told her to put 2 back and only have 1 biscuit; I reminded her of the looming wedding. Her instant reaction and defence was 'they are diet biscuits'. This was very true - they were 'diet' biscuits in terms of having a lower sugar count (hate to think what else they put in as a replacement), but a biscuit in itself is not diet food. I agreed that there may be less calories in these biscuits than others, but pointed out that they still have a lot more calories than she needs right now and certainly by taking 3 she was tripling that unnecessary total of calories. She saw my point and conceded into only taking 1 biscuit.

I know it might seem nasty to have said these things to her, but she has asked for our support in her weight loss and we had all agreed not to take things into the office - a rule which she broke first.

These advertising genius' who came up with the idea to make excessive purchases/consumation acceptable by making you think you are saving something must be billionaires by now. Buy 2 and get 3rd at half price...... I actually went into a shop once with a similar deal as that on some clothing and bought 2 items.. the shop assistant pointed out the offer and I said no - she could not comprehend it... most people run off to the rack and spend that extra money just to feel like they have saved money. I've had an argument with a guy in the cinema trying to sell me a large soft drink. I wanted a regular size, but he said it was only 20p more for a large one. I said no thanks and he actually argued with me saying what is 20p when you can have a much larger drink? Its only 20p. Look at the value you are getting for 20p. But I wanted a regular sized drink and wanted to keep my 20p, much to his annoyance. I do fall for these offers myself - I am certainly not immune to them.

But with dieting it seems a bit like a sick joke. On one hand you can see the manufacturers are trying to help you reduce your calorie intake by making 'diet' products... but then on the other hand, they advertise them in such a way that it makes you think you can eat more of them because they are diet. Which totally defeats the point. No wonder there are thousands of dieters out there who don't really understand why their weight loss is not as good as it should be... they think its okay to have 3 biscuits rather than 1 because they are diet. I know it is up to the individual to think these things through... but we are so conditioned to accept advertising... these adverts go into our subconcious on a different level and it is hard to battle it.

So it was a reminder to me that just because certain items are 'diet', it doesn't mean to say that (1) I have to eat them, (2) that they are any better for me and (3) that I can have more of them.

Signing off.