Feliz Navidad

So, that's it. I've made it through to Christmas. In a couple of hours I'll hit the road for a lonely four hour overnight drive, I'll check in at the airport early tomorrow morning, and by lunchtime I'll be sunning myself in the Canaries with my family. Fantastic.

My weight has been a bit blah this week. I'm retaining a shed load of water for some unknown reason, and I've not been eating amazingly well. I've exercised like a demon mind you, with another 5k run this morning (continuing the recent trend of getting a couple of seconds quicker each time, too - I'm now down to 27:47), but it's not shifting on the scales. But as I've blogged to death, I'm not going to let that bother me too much. What's a couple of pounds compared to the great mass of what I've lost.

I'm trying to decide the plan for the 10 days ahead. I always eat excessively when I'm with my parents, and to be there over Christmas isn't exactly conducive to weight loss. Or maintenance, to be perfectly honest. But I think I'll just try to be realistic. If I gain three pounds, then it could be that this time last year I gained four, so it's still an improvement. If I gain, as long as the holiday was worth it I'll take it on the chin and just get them back off again. I know I can do that. It's just a number at the end of the day, and experiences are more important than minor variations in numbers.

I'm hoping to swim a little, and I may run too. There's a lovely sea front path near my parents house that would be good for running if I could get over the embarassment of them seeing me start off. I'll take my trainers and my sports bra and see what happens. That may mitigate some of the worst excesses. I will walk a little, but possibly not as much as I do here sadly, unless I can think of new places and reasons to walk. I won't exercise like I normally exercise, but I won't be glued to the sofa for the next 10 days either.

But above all, I want to just relax and de-stress from the year. I want to get some sleep, and I want to forget all about work. I want to just enjoy myself for the moment, and I don't want to constantly worry about what I eat. If the trade off for that is a gain, then that's a choice I'm consciously making.

That's the difference between this year and last year. Last year I just did stuff, and didn't think about the effect on my body particularly. This year, if I go a bit off plan it tends to be because I choose to do it, and I let myself do it. There's no such thing as an accidental slip up round these parts. There is choosing to eat stuff that's good for me, and there's choosing to eat stuff that isn't. I'm responsible for everything I do, and I have to take the consequences of it. If I choose to indulge myself once in a while, I know the consequences, and it's up to me. So I choose to relax at Christmas, because that's what works for my sanity.

So I'm just going to say happy christmas to everyone who stops by here, have a good time whatever you choose to do, and I'll be back just before the new year to get my act back into year and make 2006 the year I hit and stay at goal.