A funny start to March down here. Everyone seemingly failed to realise that it's a new month. Even government bodies and officials: the government-run radio station today (March 1st) had the local government-employed meteorological officer on the air, and he and the announcer were happily chatting away about how today was the coldest February day on record.
Actually though, to be honest I forgot about it as well. It was only because people were tut-tutting about this
faux pas on the radio that I realised it was March already.
Certainly though, it was cold today - cold, wet and terribly wintry. I'm not ready for winter just yet, and while it is great to see some rain, I'd prefer just a little more warm weather before resurrecting the winter woolies from the depths of the wardrobe. Please.
...
Hey, guess what - I've hit upon a new theory, which I call my
amazing shrinking stomach theory. It's kind of serendipitous. When I started getting serious about losing the flab a few weeks ago, I reduced my daily energy take by about 2,000 kJ per day to 10,000 kilojoules (2400 calories). This wasn't really enough to lose much weight, so once I was comfortable with this level, I reduced it again, to 8,000 kJ (1900 cals). At this level I started losing the flab pretty rapidly, but I also (thankfully) found that I was far from starving. In fact I got pretty much used to it quite quickly. When I found that without really thinking about it, I was even going for 2 or 3 days at a time eating less than 6,000 kJ (1,400 cals)/day without getting significantly hungry, I figured that either I had heroic will-power/mind of matter, or my
stomach had shrunk.
I concluded that it was the latter (at least
virtually if not physically) because on those days when I had social obligations and
had to pig out, I found myself quite incapable of doing so. Can only be a smaller stomach, I reckon.
Anyway, it seems to work a treat for me.
If there's a secret to this weight-loss business, I reckon it's eliminating the huge evening meal*. I eat a large breakfast (about 3,000 kJ), a reasonable lunch (2,000 kJ) and just a protein drink in the evening with perhaps some fruit. And that still leaves plenty of scope for snacks through the day if necessary, and I still come in well below 8,000 kJ. On that regime, I just don't get hungry, and have plenty of energy throughout the day.
Of course, it helps enormously that I don't have much of a sweet tooth. Quite honestly, I can't remember the last time I had ice cream or cheesecake or raspberry gateaux, or a creme brulee or...
Sigh.
* I notice one of the big diet fads this year is the "reverse diet", which basically espouses the same idea - eat your big meal at breakfast and have very little in the evening.