Guilt

Day 19


Then: 15 stone 5 pounds (215 lbs)
Now: 14 stone 10 pounds (206 lbs)

Two pounds gained. Damn that chocolate cake. Dukan says one error is like pricking a balloon: all that effort can be lost with a single moment of indulgence. Well, I had three hours of indulgence, a jolly nice evening, I slept like a log and now I’m going to prove that Frenchman wrong. I may have had my cake, and eaten it, but I’m sure going to put things back on track before the rot sets in.

Sunday lunch at our local pub is usually the highlight of our domestic week. Today Izzy sits in a high chair with deep-fried chicken strips, chips and Yorkshire pudding; Keith and Sam, my 12 year old, have roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, with a mound of mashed and roast potatoes, mushy peas, carrots, a lake of gravy and a bowlful of vegetables; Jo has sausages and mash and Yorkshire pudding. I have – just a few slices of roast beef. Mark and Jackie, the pub’s owners, are mortified. They tell me my chins have disappeared since last weekend, but that I really need to eat a more balanced diet.

I quietly work out how long I have till the photograph is taken: 46 days, which amounts to another 144 joyless, fatless meals. Happy Independence Day, America