Weekend of fun and naughty treats

I do not want to ease up too much on this diet but I also want to ensure that the changes I'm making are long term lifestyle changes not just a temporary diet. This is a bit of a tricky conundrum.

Anyway this week comprised multiple challenges to the diet but nice things which need to be incorporated into my life, somehow.

Saturday night we met up with a couple from Hathersage. I went to school with Louise and have known her and James for decades yet we hardly ever get together. Busy lives. So it was great to finally get a date in the diary and the chosen venue was our favourite curry house - Maazis in Hathersage. We didn't go mad - no starters and I didn't have masses to drink but nor did I hold back. It was fantastic.

However, I had been pretty good all day and gone for a decent walk around sunny Bakewell where we were on a cheese buying mission.

Bakewell was gorgeous. Quintessentially English. Cricket on the park. Kids swimming in the river. People feeding the fat trout basking in the sunshine from the bridge. Ice cream vans and fish and chips.

I didn't know they did the "padlocks of love" thing here. Last time I was here (last summer at a guess) there were a few but now the whole bridge is festooned! Bit cheesy if you ask me.

So, did you spot the mention of cheese? That was for our next, naughty treat of the weekend.

Our local had put on a cheese and wine evening. We were to bring some cheese and they provided a selection of intetesting wines at a very reasonable price. Well, we couldn't say no. I prepared by being very abstemious all day and playing a hard fought knockout singles golf match. It was so hard fought we couldn't settle it in 18 holes and had to play 2 sudden death extra holes before I won!! Go me.

I didn't go mad on the cheese and biscuits. It was my supper after all. The trouble is we were with some boozy pals of ours and it was a delicious, warm evening to sit outside the pub so we ended up staying longer than planned and, inevitably, drank more than planned - 5 175ml glasses of red. That is 1 and a half bottles!! Whoops.

Look how content Billy and Rich look with their beers, comfy chairs and plates of cheese!

Strangely, the scales showed a very impressive drop this morning but I'm not terribly optimistic that I will hold onto it as I can't help but feel that it may have been assisted by post alcohol dehydration.

I've played yet another golf match today so have done plenty of exercise and been very virtuous food wise. Our team captain who is very supportive of my diet gave me the wink that our post match supper was to be lasagne and asked me if I would prefer a salad. Yes, while everyone else tucked into lasagne and chips, I had a very tasty ham salad with sides of quinoa and mango and tomato and chickpea. It was genuinely no hardship. I did have the scoop of ice cream which came with the strawberries though - I'm not a saint!!