Nearly a week has passed, how did that happen?

My weigh in was mildly successful; I dropped another lb taking me down to 16.11 which is 3 lbs lower than my re-start.  This is good news as 5 days of not dieting was FUN! The long term success of 5:2 remains to be seen, however, as I'm struggling with the starve days and can feel my chimp start to push the boundaries.

I have done my 2 starve days for this week but neither of them has been anywhere near perfect.  On Monday I was pretty good foodwise and then ruined it with a pint of cider (there were extenuating circumstances which I'll get to).  Today has just been a little too much here and there - slightly too much ham salad,a couple of pieces of fruit, a couple of coffees, supper was again slightly more calorific than it should have been followed by a few strawberries and yoghurt afterwards. I have struggled to stick to the limits today big style.  So, it was a good diet day but it was not a starve day.

I do not have time this week to fit another starve day in so I will try to make up for the extras by doing another good diet day tomorrow rather than just a normal day.

So, back to Monday and the pint of cider.  I had been in the office and had been pretty good there (I do find it easier at work somehow).  I dashed home, grabbed a sensible supper and we headed back into Sheffield for the Green Day concert at Sheffield Arena.  Now, Green Day is not my big crush but Richard's.  I like their music but don't know it as well as he does.  I felt a bit low in energy and like I wasn't going to really enjoy the gig which would have been a shame as it had cost a packet.  I caved and had a pint of cider to get me going. And it worked - we had a great night and bopped the night away.  They certainly give good value for old rockers- came on at 8.30pm and didn't finish until 11!

Apart from Green Day, it has been a week of golf.  Sunday in the Mixed, Tuesday night playing a knock-out (which I won); Ist President's competition on Wednesday morning (I'm currently lying second with second round to come tomorrow); 2nd President's competition Friday afternoon; Woodroffe Arms Golf Day on Saturday morning; and a mixed competition on Sunday.

The President's is the big one so I'm pleased to have done well in round 1.  There are loads of women just behind me though so there will be no complacency tomorrow.  The leader is my foursomes partner, a tiny Thai woman called Kanchana.  She is quite a high handicapper but has been really coming good this summer and she had a STUNNING round of 7 under par so she is 5 shots ahead of me.  I'm so pleased for her but that doesn't mean I don't want to beat her!!  All to play for so wish me luck!

I have been over at Dad's since yesterday which has been lovely but hot.  (Perhaps that is why I pushed the boundaries on the starve day today?) The dogs love dad's garden - pootling around, in and out of the undergrowth and keeping the gardener company.  I had to stick inside at my desk (boooo) but it was nice to see them all enjoying themselves.

It was too hot at lunchtime to take the dogs out, especially as they had spent the entire morning outside and were looking tired.  So, instead, I took them out for a walk on the way home.  We drive through a lovely village in Nottinghamshire called Wellow and I have wanted to stop and have a closer look for a while now.  I checked out a walking route online and that is what we did.   It has lots of very handsome buildings, a wide village green overlooked by 2 nice looking pubs and equipped with an enormous maypole at the centre.  The village and is surrounded by the playing fields of a posh prep school and the thoroughbred studded fields of a very smart looking equestrian centre.

It was as splendid as I had expected but very dry compared to the Peak District.  We are used to having handy streams or reservoirs to dip in when we're out and about and this was pretty much water-less.  However, there was a fishing pond right at the end so I managed to find a quiet corner to let them in for a quick swim before heading home.  While they were swimming I was watching a stunning heron fishing from a nearly pier. What a master fisherman he was but I failed to catch any photos of him I'm afraid; I couldn't leave the dogs to get the right angle.

I was so hungry when I got home which I suppose might also explain the pushing of boundaries food wise.  I was also tired so have stayed in rather than go up to the pub for more dart-based humiliation!!  Saving myself for golf tomorrow perhaps....