HEALTH Neill O’Neill’s weight-loss diary – Week 5

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Weight loss
Neill O'Neill

My weight-loss diary – Week 5

WEEK five over and another five pounds gone. I’m one day shy of five weeks on the Motivation Programme, and I have shed 21 pounds – a stone and a half and something I am more than happy with.
The seven days before my last weigh in were not any tougher in terms of keeping to the programme, but I did feel deprived at the weekend, and I experienced cravings that I have not had since week one. However, I resisted these urges, and my reward for that was reaching, and exceeding, my 20-pounds goal when I visited the Motivation Clinic in Westport last Wednesday.
It was a fair trade off. I’ve three weeks left to go now, eight weeks in total, and my target is to have shed two stone in that time. It is well achievable if I maintain what I have been doing, so I hope I can remain focused for the rest of November.
By the end of the programme, I will have two months of clean living and healthy lifestyle under my looser belt (if the shock of it doesn’t cause my body to shut down before then!). However, the biggest challenge will be bringing some of the new habits I have acquired with me back into what I consider my normal life.
I have not missed much since I started the programme, but doing it publicly does mean I have to give a 100 percent effort, and any indiscretions will show up on the scales. I have been a gold-star pupil, and have been finding new and creative ways to cook healthy and sin-free meals. In the last week I upped the exercise routine, playing squash almost daily, and my parents’ dogs don’t know what is happening, as I’m suddenly showing up to take them for runs. I do feel fitter, which is another positive side effect of all this.
People ask me what am I going to do different after the eight weeks is up? I have been flat out explaining that there is a fine line between being an absolute pig (my former self) and a total health freak (my current state) and striking a balance, and crucially, maintaining it, will be the key to keeping my weight, fitness, BMI, body fat and so on at acceptable levels.
I have a rather hectic month coming up in December between weddings (yes plural, five to be precise, but not my own!), gala events like The Mayo News Club Stars and of course Christmas itself. It’s a lot to pack in, a socially hectic month, and those following my diary since week one will know what I mean when I say there is a few bread vans being loaded somewhere and heading in my direction! All the more reason that absolutely no liquid, with the exception of two litres of water a day, has passed my lips since October 1.
Consequently, I’ve agreed to go back to the Motivation Clinic in January to see what toll December might have taken on the new me, and address any bad habits or trends that may have crept back in, ahead of what will hopefully be a new year and a new me.