My kids went back to school today.
Happy New (school) Year!
A fresh start for our children. They have a new class, a new teacher, blank pages in their exercise books and a fresh untarnished attendance record!
But it won’t be long until they’re off again for half term and bobbing apples.
X factor is back on the telly and getting up early in the morning is already starting to get harder now the mornings are getting darker.
The heatwave (and healthy salads) seems like a distant memory and all the Autumn/winter fashion is out in the shops.
I went into The Range today and all the Halloween decorations were out, and they even had a Christmas tree up by the front door.
It’s funny how certain times of the year fly by and others not so much. Last winter seemed to last forever, didn't it?
So, I was thinking, what better time than the New School Year to give ourselves a new start? Let's face it, we need it after entertaining the kids over the summer holidays. Think of all the things you can do now the darlings are in school. Maybe you’ll take up a new hobby, get a job, or join the gym/start a new exercise regime.
If it’s the latter it’s an even better time than you think.
You see. Every year I would diet in the January so I was slim enough for my summer holiday and if the occasional day the weather got warm enough not to have to wear a jumper and jeans.
Every Autumn, I’d fatten myself up for winter like a turkey. It’s like I go into a 3 month training for the big day itself.
Only to start the diet cycle over again come January 1st (or whatever the 1st Monday in January happens to be that isn’t the 1st!
But this year I’m breaking that habit. This year I broke it before New Year. I made a conscious decision no to wait for some arbitrary date. I decided to start it as soon after Christmas as I could without letting the left over buffet food go to waste. I started my diet and exercise regime on 29th December! I decided I wouldn’t yoyo this year, that I would maintain my goal weight. Mainly because I wasn’t ending up any slimmer year on year, if anything the dieting in the New Year barely touched the excess put on during Christmas Day let alone the rest of the year. That’s too much pressure to put on January and February!
So I've come to the conclusion. There's no better time than the present AKA New School Year to drop a dress size or whatever your goal is. Even if you maintain your weight through winter that is better than gaining!
Here are some excuses I’ve used in past Autumns:
- The weathers getting colder, and I’m feeling down about the loss of summer. I must comfort eat to feel better and warmer.
- Food tastes so much better in winter…mmm warm donuts with pumpkin spiced mocha latte and whipped cream
- I can’t eat salads in winter…are you crazy?
- Who’s going to notice if I’m a little bigger, I wear head-to-toe fleece-lined thermals even in bed this time of year
- It’s natural to gain more insulation in winter…it’s the real paleo diet
- It’s not that long till the New Year (only ¼ of a year!!)– I’ll diet then
- It's classic pleasure pain dynamics. I'll have my pleasure, and worry about the pain later. But it's ok because - no pain no gain.
Yes my brain will tell me any excuse and I'll gladly let it!
So the plan this year (as my previous way of doing things for the last 10 years hasn’t worked out too well) is to GET AHEAD of Christmas! That’s right. It’s not sneaking up on me this year. I’m going to feel confident on my Christmas night out with work. I’m going to have a guilt-free Christmas day. Not because I plan to crash diet in January but because I will have lost weight (or at least not gained) in the lead up and therefore won’t spend next New Year bigger than the year before. Simples.
Who’s with me?
