Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Place your bets

I've mentioned before that I'm running the Abbey Dash at the end of the month. I know some other people who are running it too, notably my 8 stone something former colleague. I have a bit of a competitive spirit and although I know that she's thinner than me (obviously) and generally fairly fit (being a bit of a gym bunny herself), I also know that she hates running (she does a lot of spinning, but not running) and that I tend to run faster and far longer on the treadmill than she does. She's never run the distance before, and I have. So I've been motivating myself by the thought of at least matching her, if not beating her.

It turns out she's not particularly confident, and has mentioned this to some of my other colleagues. And now I hear that they've opened a book on the result. Not on who finishes first, but on how much I beat her by. Talk about pressure! But still, if I needed motivation to step up the training I've got it now. Maybe I should put a bet of my own on too!

(Seriously though, if you're planning to bet on how I do, give the money to charity rather than the blokes in my office. Either donate money now using this link, do what I do and donate based on how much weight I lose in training, or donate something for every minute under 70. Or don't donate at all, I won't hold it against you, I just thought I'd plug the link in case there's anyone mad enough to want to donate money to someone they've never met).

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Another day, another load of chocolate and cakes to resist. Elaine's 50th birthday at work. Elaine is the eternal diet talkerthe person who is more interested in telling people about her diet than actually doing it. And bringing in chocolate for everyone to eat. She likes doing that.

Anyway, today I presented a seminar on competition law at lunchtime (and people actually tell me that I'm really good at doing presentations! I could have fainted at that comment!), and there were free Kit Kats. I was planning ahead though. I knew it was Elaine's birthday, and I guessed what would be coming. So I didn't eat one. Then the cream cakes arrived. I don't like cream cakes, so managed to get through that.

Then the presentation in one of the boardrooms. Wine. A cake. And (god help us all) a chocolate fountain. Still, I had self control. I was getting increasingly proud of myself. I turned down the wine (what's the point, I have to go back upstairs and speak to a client, and I have to drive home, so why start drinking at this stage). I turned down the cake. I decided that out of all the things on offer, the chocolate fountain was the one. I dipped a couple of strawberries in it, and I was satisfied.

And that's the key, isn't it. To choose something rather than eating everything. To think, and take a decision. To choose one treat that you really like, rather than a bit of everything. And it's working.

I've got a post I want to write about control, and winning the power struggle with food. This is part of it, but I'm hopefully going to flesh it out over the next couple of days before I go on holiday.

2 Comments:

Blogger Kathryn said...

The chocolate fountain sounds fantastic, I'd have picked that too. It must be hard working for a law firm. I do contract work so work in different industries all the time and I'd say law firms were the worst foodwise.

Good luck with the run. Cheeky blokes in your office for running a book on it though.

10:31 PM  
Blogger K said...

I have never even seen a chocolate fountain, except in the pages of a magazine. This is probably just as well...

Seriously, well done for sticking to one really nice thing. The line I'm trying to take with myself is that it's worth going off-programme only if it's for something really nice, not if it's "oh, well, I might as well have a KitKat". It doesn't always work, though. I'm not that focused (which is why I haven't lost anything like 5 stone).

Oh, dear, the diet talkers. We have all known a few of those, I'm sure (or even been them).

9:42 AM  

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