That’s my lesson for the week!  Thursday has been my weigh-in day, but this afternoon (Wednesday), I felt like the planets were in alignment after my swim, so I jumped on the scales.  I knew I shouldn’t have done that.  Hmmmm, 100g loss for the week.  And we all know that scales/our bodies have a margin of error of +/- half a kilogram depending on the way you hold your tongue.    Bugger, I’ve even had my hair chopped off which I thought might account for 20g at least!  I’m now eyeing up my limbs and trying to decide which I could best do without.  I think the brain’s the heaviest organ isn’t it?

So I’ve reflected back on my week’s diary, and I see a habit forming.  A bowl of fruit salad has become my filler at around 8.30pm, just when I start to feel a bit peckish.  What started as a chopped up apple, has became a chopped up apple, chopped up kiwifruit, half a dozen grapes or a mandarin, some natural yoghurt, a sprinkling of toasted rolled oats and a drizzle of manuka honey!!  I’ve totted up that ’snack’ tonight, and it actually equates to over 400kcal, or for me, a 45 minute run.  Wow, I was really surprised at how it all adds up!

I set out to eliminate all the after tea snacking that I had been indulging in, but then started to sneak in what I thought was a healthy alternative (which it is), but it’s energy that I don’t need.  The bowl of rice I used to have as a late evening snack, actually only has half the energy of my bowl of fruit salad!  AND my chin has been a complete pimply mess since I’ve started eating more fruit (I’m not sure if it’s the sugar in the fruit, or a de-tox effect – Mr Google tells me it’s more likely to be a de-tox, but I didn’t think I ate that poorly before). 

Believe it or not, I’m not actually becoming obsessed, I’m just enjoying learning more about what I’m actually taking on board, compared with what my energy expenditure is, and developing healthier habits in the process.  I’m not doing huge training – around ten hours a week – so it’s a good time to try things out while my body isn’t crying out for more energy dense foods.  My lack of any real weight loss this week might be simply my body plateauing (or in other words, I’ve reached the ideal weight for me), or it might be a response to this last week of increased snacking after tea.  I’ll just see how things go.

Other than that, my swim today was GREAT, and it has surprised me how quickly I’ve regained some semblance of bike fitness, albeit doing just strength sessions on the wind trainer.  I’m feeling SOOO much more relaxed in the pool than I ever have before.  I think it’s because I’m now in my second year of swimming, whereas last year there was always a sense of panic about my training, because I had a huge goal in front of me, and I was afraid I was biting off more than I could chew.  Now I’m just enjoying hopping in the pool and swimming – it’s just a couple of times a week (plus maybe an additional session if I have time and the kids want to go), but it’s still a minimum of 5-6km a week.  Just enough to keep some swim fitness ticking over.