A slight slip-up

...in which I get on with it, and talk about flexibility

If you read the blog yesterday, you might remember that I had rather a lot of cider last night while watching the football (I don't actually like football much except when the Younger Teen is playing, but the Elder Teen was watching it).

This means that I'm now very close to my syns limit for the week (you're allowed 105 per week, assuming the maximum of 15 per day, and I'm on 104.5), assuming that my estimate of the home made muffin in the coffee shop yesterday at 25 syns is correct.

Now, I did not intend to do this; I wasn't going to have anything to drink at all other than Pepsi Max (other diet drinks are available), but listening to the pundits (does anybody out there actually want to hear anything Adrian Chiles has to say? I know less than nothing about football and I'm pretty sure that's more than some of them) is enough to drive anyone to drink.

So, I could now decide that I've blown it for the week and pig out for the next 2 days. Or I could berate myself, telling myself that it was a stupid thing to do and feel guilty about it; I could tell myself over and over that I shouldn't have done it and get angry at myself, or I could blame the alcohol and say it wasn't my fault and therefore it doesn't count.

I will not do any of these things. Here is what I will do: I will accept that it's my responsibility and that I knew that if I started drinking at all I would probably drink all of the cider, but decided to do so anyway. I will not let 1 bad day turn this into a bad week; I will say to myself "it's already happened and there's nothing you can do about it." and then I will forget about it and not let it affect me for the rest of the week.

I will feel glad that I managed to run nearly 5 miles yesterday and that my legs still feel OK today, and I will try to slip in some extra exercise to help make up for the extra syns; this isn't me punishing myself, this is me saying "I had one bad day (and I'm still inside my syns limit), but I still want a loss this week; I can't change what's happened but I can do something to ameliorate the potential consequences, so I will".

I will, however, get cross with the Elder Teen for having some sort of chocolate crunch cereal last night and leaving what he didn't eat in the bowl overnight so that this morning when I came to wash up it appeared that someone had superglued it to the bowl. Seriously, what do they put in cereal that apparently makes it transmute overnight into a material you could use to build a house with?

Anyway, flexibility (see? moving on. As simple as that). Slimming World allows you to use "flexible syns" if you're in a situation where you know that it's going to be difficult to stay inside your syns limit (e.g. a night out, or a dinner in a restaurant). 

This is a way of controlling your intake, but allowing yourself extra, without taking the brakes off completely. You decide how many syns to limit yourself to beforehand, and then stick to that instead of your normal daily limit.

Obviously doing this every week would lead to no weight loss, but it's a good way to ensure you don't just eat/drink everything in sight on occasions when you are out and can't avoid going over your limit. The other option is to save your syns for the night out, but that can be difficult and means depriving yourself on the other days that week.

Sunday 8th June

Breakfast

Overnight oats made with cherry Muller light & 35g porridge oats (healthy extra b), Strawberries, Satsuma

Lunch

Roast chicken with boiled potatoes, roast potatoes (cooked with frylight), carrots, broccoli & sweetcorn. (All free/superfree - skin removed from chicken)
100ml gravy (1.5 syns)

Dessert - a vanilla Muller light poured over fresh fruit salad.

Dinner

Bacon pasta salad (bacon (fat removed), peppers, green beans, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes).

Snacks etc.

Fruit, Muller light, pickled onions

Exercise (planned)

30 minute run

30 minute exercise bike

45 minutes Just Dance 4