I am, right this minute, having a very interesting chat with my friend Alice. Essentially we are discussing methods to stay strong and fit and lean but also enjoy food… because we both love food. A lot.

I think I have carb brain today. Not sure what’s going on but I don’t seem to be able to concentrate and I was wibblywobbly on my feet walking to work. Probably because I am eating a proper diet this week instead of the 5000kcal a day of junk diet I had on Sunday and Monday. I’m not even joking. It was incredible.

Anyway – today’s title is pretty random but it makes sense. I have a really bad habit of being waaaaaay too extreme with food restrictions. If I decide I am going to be “clean eating” then I am ridiculous about it. Won’t go near even a tiny piece of cake in the office for someone’s birthday. Won’t have diet coke because of the sweeteners. I really really restrict myself.

Well not any more. It has come to light that having this attitude towards food just isn’t good for me. It makes me obsessive and not very fun. It also leads to massive massive blow-outs (I’m talking enough Dominos for two people here). So – yesterday, in the office, we had a visit from a client, they make Nutella. They brought us free Nutella. Yes – I have the best job in the world. They also brought us lots of Ferrero Rocher and Kinder chocolate. I took some of the Kinder home last night for Chris and had one of the tiny little bars. It was 70 calories. This morning I had a teaspoon of Nutella in my 0% Total yoghurt. Ground breaking stuff huh? Well no… it isn’t…. it’s basic nutrition that should be part of every day life. Considering I ate around a kilo of salad and veg yesterday I think I’ll live…

I am hoping that over the next few months my 80kcals of Nutella here and there will prevent me doing 800 kcals of Ben & Jerrys on a weekend. Don’t let the cravings build up = much happier healthier mentality towards food. That is the theory – I actually think it could and should work.

The brain is a powerful powerful thing. I honestly have conversations worthy of the silver screen with mine sometimes. Take yesterday for example. ALL DAY my head was saying “please don’t go swimming tonight, please don’t, just go home and chill… it’ll be so much nicer”… but I knew that wasn’t the way to go – even if my brain was right – it WOULD be so much nicer. It took me EIGHT hours of arguing to finally persuade myself to go to the pool and even then on the way out of the office my brain was STILL trying to tell me I could go and swim another day instead. Shut UP brain. You are talking pure nonsense.

I spent a bit of time last week looking at old pictures and social media posts from the last year or so. It was really good actually. Made me realise what I had achieved and what I can do when I really put my mind to it.

I feel like I am running out of steam here but I just wanted to get some words down about the balance of Nutella and the importance of having a plan. My programme for strength training is the only thing that ensures I work hard in the gym. I have it printed, I take it with me, I stick to it – even when I am ready to cry with muscle exhaustion. I have had DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) pretty much every day for a month now. That is a product of hard bloody work and lifting really heavy weights. My workouts are longer and they are non stop. This is the product of a professional writing me a plan. Totally changed my approach. It is a similar story with my swimming. I wrote a plan and now I stick to it. If I don’t I’ll fail my 10km swim in August.

Anyway… I’ve been seeing some really really awesome effort by people recently. Katie – you know who you are – those 5k runs are inspiring. Every time I go on Facebook there’s another one logged! Just love it. I think it’s really important to seek and offer support to people around us. We should be nicer to each other. That’s almost an inspirational image on insta but it’s true. I saw a friend of mine yesterday, Rhona, haven’t seen her in TWO AND A HALF YEARS, she is still one of the nicest people I know. Straight through the pearly gates for her. Life is better when we are nice and we are positive. Nice to ourselves and nice to the people around us. Nutella is nice too……….

C xxx