Wednesday January 3rd

*Sigh* It's that time of year when Roy has to do his tax return and I hate it. I can't describe to you how disorganised this man is. And then of course I get involved and irritated by the whole thing. *Takes deep breath and points husband in the direction of the filing cabinet*

My plans for this week are to get myself organised for starting a major healthy eating campaign. I am trying to decide what sort of "diet" to follow. South Beach Diet Phase 1/2? Low-fat? Calories? Something different?

Today/tomorrow I have some work to do as it's annual review time. I have been asked to complete reviews for my team (5 of them) and so am in London tomorrow to do three. Next week I'm in Scotland to do the other two. After that, I'm pretty much done and dusted with work and on proper garden leave. 15th Jan is my next "interview" with the company in Preston. I have a little bit of prep work to do for that, too. Today I need to sort out a mountain of washing from our trip away. Also, they're picking the laptock up to take it away for fixing or replacing. I borrowed my mum's monitor last week and saved all my files to an external hard drive.

After some discussion, we've decided on trying the Carol Vorderman Detox Diet! And it's vegetarian for the first few weeks.

Here is the Virgoan New Year Resolution Diet:
Jan 1st: resolve to Diet in the new year.
Jan 2nd: go through all the Christmas leftovers, deciding what you can make of them, as you won't throw good food away.
Jan 3rd: (and for several days thereafter)eat said leftovers.
Jan 4th: get out your huge collection of diet and fitness books and prevaricate for ages about which one to follow in the new year.
Jan 5th: procrastinate some more over The Diet, whilst polishing off leftover chocolate, cake and peanuts.
Jan 6th: enjoy a huge lunch (well it IS the weekend)
Jan 7th: have a Monday panic because The Diet hasn't yet begun. Pick up those books again.
Jan 8th: decide to look online for support and ideas. Spend the next three days surfing the net.
Jan 10th: finish off the peanuts (make note to self not to buy such a huge jar next Christmas) and spot a huge bottle of full fat Coca Cola in the fridge. Drink it.
Jan 11th: remember that you rejoined the gym and start to consult exercise books for ideas on the fastest way to lose that tummy.
Jan 12th: compile shopping list for The Diet.
Jan 13th: go to supermarket, buying healthy food sufficient to feed 12 people for a month.
Jan 14th: start to eat healthy food. Like it so much you have second portions of everything.
Jan 15th: sample three new types of Healthy Eating Cereal Bars and love all of them.
Jan 16th: have another panic attack as you realise you haven't reached your goal of four gym visits per week. Do one very long session to make up lost time.
Jan 17th: get weighed (well you had to let the Christmas bloat settle down). Feel sick as you realise you've regained (and some) since your last Diet. Comfort eat for the rest of the day.
Jan 18th: consider hypno-therapy and start to research it on the internet.
Jan 19th: discount hypno-therapy as too expensive.
Jan 20th: discover some uneaten goodies in the back of the fridge. Take them to the bin. Bring them back in the house. Take them out again. Bring them back in. Say "oh sod it" and eat them in one sitting.
Jan 21st: Realise you haven't been very good on The Diet. Oh well, it's the weekend.
Jan 22nd: Monday weigh in. You have gained 3lbs since starting The Diet.
Jan 23rd: time to get serious. Throw out all the out of date healthy food and prepare to restock.
Jan 24th: reacquaint yourself with the gym. Realise it is full of January Joiners and get irritated at how busy it is and how you can't get onto your favourite machine. Go home early.
Jan 25th: cook three months' supply of healthy stews and soups to freeze.
Jan 26th: realise that lentil soup doesn't freeze well and eat three portions.Jan 27th: it's the weekend! Enjoy a special treat, since you've been on The Diet almost one month.Jan 28th: order three new exercise DVDs from Amazon.
Jan 29th: buy Detox Diet book from the supermarket. Get home and realise you already have it.
Jan 30th: decide to tackle the psychological aspect of your overeating before attempting any physical Dieting. Dig out 14 self help books from the book cupboard.
Jan 31st: prepare to start the New Diet in February. Work out how much weight you can lose by Valentine's Day.