Why am I writing this - for shame

There are countless dieting blogs out there. There must be.  Not that I've ever really looked; nor have I attempted to count them, but it seems likely.

Assuming that that's true, what does the world need with another one?

Probably nothing, really.

So why am I writing this one?

Shame.

I think part of the reason that so many people seem to join slimming groups has nothing to do with the diet plan: losing weight is very, very straightforward, you just have to eat fewer calories than you burn and let the laws of thermodynamics do the rest.

That's it.

So why spend money on something you can do yourself for free? I would wager a big part if it is motivation driven by fear of public humiliation.

Who wants to be the one person at the weigh in who's put on a pound? I certainly wouldn't.

And that's why I'm writing this.

All it takes is one person. One single, solitary person out there in the world who's seen this blog and who wants me to succeed.

Or, even better, one who wants me to fail.

Just the thought of that gives me the motivation to try and stick to what I've set out to do. That, and a quote from Scrubs' Dr. Cox (forgive me if I've misquoted, but you'll get the idea): " The day you look in the mirror and are happy with what you see, you've lost the battle."

This isn't the place for discussions on body image; as the title of the blog suggests, I'm pragmatic.

I know I wasn't born with the facial bone structure of Ryan Reynolds; I'm unlikely to wake up tomorrow and be 6' 2 1/2" tall; I know the guys on the front of the men's health magazines spend hours in the gym and trim their diets before a shoot because it's their job, but a wee glance in the mirror doesn't hurt.

And sometimes, just sometimes, when the light reflects off the toilet just right and I'm dehydrated from last night's dinner of two bottles of Rioja, that stomach looks damn fine and I crack a smile and it feels great.

Then I just need to not drink anything and find a reason to keep my shirt off until my wife's sees me.

Day 6

Breakfast
4x cups coffee with milk (150 kcal.)
Bacon sandwich (250 kcal.)

Lunch
2x poached eggs on toast with 2x slices ham (350 kcal.)
Multivitamin

Dinner
Cheese, crackers, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, 2x ham slices (650 kcal.)

2x 150 ml beers (400 kcal.)

Snacks
2 shortbread finger (200 kcal.)

Exercise summary
2 lots 3x 10 bicep curls
2x 25 squats
30m leisurely stroll
30m less leisurely stroll

Summary

On for a neat 2000 calories today, before exercise, nice end to the weekend and primed for next week. Happy with that.

UPDATE: It's Sunday night, it's a time for sitting on the sofa and indulging. Take that 2000 and add another beer and a small sticky toffee pudding with cream to that. Let's call it 2700.