kierstenbrowne

Thanks for joining me!

Things I have eaten this Christmas that I don’t touch the rest of the year.
1. Dry Roasted Peanuts
Little fat bombs in pellet form that allow me to shovel 400 calories into my mouth in one handful.
2. Salted peanuts

As above with the added benefit of drenching my system in blood- pressure- rising salt.

3. Christmas themed crisps

My love of a fried potato snack knows no bounds and my excitement at finding that for one month I can buy them in turkey and stuffing, pigs in blankets, stilton and port flavours etc is indecent. I perhaps should aim that enthusiasm in a different elsewhere.

4. After Eight mints
I can remember my Mum passing these around at dinner parties as a (then) sophisticated petit four at the end of the meal. Do I eat these for nostalgia or because the minty flavour makes a refreshing change to all the other rich food? Does it matter?

5. Big tins of Twiglets
I am firmly on the ‘Love Marmite’ side of the fence and consequently fairly well acquainted with the Twiglet throughout the year but at Christmas they come in big tins and I have been known, more than once, to have demolished one of these in one go. Before Christmas even starts. So I have to buy a replacement Oops.

6. Cheeselets
Ditto
7. And then we come to the cheese.
Oh cheese, how I love thee… all day every day.
On its own. On a slice of toast. In a sandwich. On a cracker. In a sauce or bubbling on top of hot dish.
And then there is the cheese at Christmas.
One of the two best dishes at Christmas:
a. Boxing Day bubble and Squeak
b. The cheese board

I shall not mention the drink. Wine,wine,wine,wine,baileys, wine, wine,champagne,baileys, wine,wine,wine.
And how I have enjoyed it all with a wild abandon for the last week despite promising myself, as I do every year, that I will indulge for two days and then stop. So here I am 8 lbs heavier than I was this time last week. On top of an already, (I am just going to come right out call myself what I am,) obese frame. I am FAT

I have tried to lose weight many times before. I have even succeeded on occasion, (5 stone at one stage,) but it has always gone back on and usually with more on top. I haven’t had the willpower to keep that weight of. I have dieted to lose the weight but I haven’t then made the lifestyle choices to keep myself fit and healthy.
Now here’s the thing. Up until 2 months ago I had miraculously,( or so I thought,) avoided the hazardous health implications ) But two months ago my GP managed to capture me and run some of the obligatory tests for a person of my size and this is where I am now :

Pre-diabetic
With very high blood pressure
And a fatty liver

(And…Shhh, whisper it… possibly a suitable candidate for bariatric surgery. )

I don’t want any of this and for a reasonably intelligent person I am shocked at how shocked I am that these health problems have crept up on me. I am told at this stage this is all reversible if I make some very big changes. I know this and for the first time in my life I know that I must do this. This blog will be a record of my attempts. So good bye to 2019 and goodbye to all the Christmas leftovers. You are now spent.

Christmas leftover pizza night