Successes, Failures and Learning, Learning, Learning

But, before we get onto the diet-y stuff, let's have some wedding photos.  I don't know what it is about them, but I love looking at wedding pics, even if I do not know the couple involved whereas strange peoples' holiday photos would not interest me at all!!

This is the venue, well, a corner of it. Brookfield Manor in Hathersage.

The groom with his little grandson while we waited (rather too long) for the bride to arrive. She was 40 minutes late!

Rich with his dad and stepmum.

It poured.  Such a shame as the weather forecast had said mostly dry with an occasional shower.  This "shower" lasted for about 3 hours!

The bride arriving with her father.  Her dress, while lovely, was maybe not  best suited to an October date??

Views of the main house from the terrace of the wedding pavilion.  I didn't venture out into the grounds due to the rain and likelihood of slipping in my new high heels!

As I said in an earlier post - the champagne flowed...

And was appreciated by all.

I'm very glad I had brought my coat as there were several women in little slip dresses who looked absolutely freezing!

I think I'm the only one who snapped them in the car as the official photog had already left by then and I think it's a nice pic.

We're in the dim recesses of Hassop Hall now - and we've moved onto mulled wine!

The rain did eventually let up and they chivvyed us outside for a group photo.

But eventually, they had to let us eat - not before speeches were made.  My guess of a 4.30pm start to the meal proved to be spot on!

And then, ties off and onto more drinking and dancing...

So - diet chat!

Successes:

There have been many.  Being good in the week leading up to the wedding to allow for a totally relaxed and enjoyable day. Stopping the rot immediately on the day after the wedding so no major damage was done.

Yesterday was a case in point.  I had to go to Birmingham at the last minute for a work meeting.  I was travelling by train and by myself.  These are huge triggers for me to overeat and drink.  My chimp sees time on a train or a motorway (by myself) as time out from real life, unaccountable "free" time when she can talk me into eating and drinking whatever happens to be around.  Not only that but I'm usually bored and there is usually a ready availability of just the sort of food and drink which I should NOT be eating - giant vats of cappuccino, muffins, baguettes etc etc.

Mindful of this, I made a plan to ensure that I was ready for the temptation.  I did my morning routine and then packed a yummy salad in a tupperware with a piece of fruit and travel mug of green tea.  So I had it with me at my first mealtime of the day rather than being cast adrift in a sea of railway temptation. 

The meeting itself was good in that, buoyed by my virtuosity (and the fact that the other 2 women in the meeting were stick thin and very glamorous!) I had green tea throughout and NONE of the gorgeous looking cakes and biscuits offered.

So there are a few successes to be proud of.

What I hadn't planned for was the 30 minutes wait at Sheffield station on the way back!  Just at the time when I was ready for my second meal of the day.  Rats.  I succumbed.  But slightly ameliorated the succumbing by having a small cappuccino rather than a jumbo and only eating half the piece of cake.  This latter restraint is unheard of for me.  It was a fairly large piece and, as I was nearly halfway through, I started feeling that too sweet, cloying taste come through.  So, rather than ruin the treat I shouldn't have had in the first place, I decided to only eat half and save the rest for later, thus enjoying what I DID have and not spoiling it by feeling sick which would have been doubly annoying and led to those self-flagellating sort of recriminations.

Does that count as a partial success??  Not really but my fall from grace was better than it might have been.

And what have I learned?  That anticipating how to get through a difficult situation really helps.  Saying it out loud and having a plan gives me something to hold onto and aids my chimp through.  I hadn't anticipated the Sheffield station return trip situation but, if I had, I would have told myself to use the time in walking over the platforms to M&S and browsing the offers and picking up some of their yummy coleslaw.  That would have taken up the spare time, given me some exercise and helped me avoid the cafe.  Next time.