CAN YOU BE A SOCIAL BUTTERFLY & STILL LOSE WEIGHT?

Thankfully, this weekend hasn't played host to any birthday parties, stags, weddings or charity events which would take me away from home, unlike the previous 4 weekends.  However, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been busy!  I am blessed with a mixture of great friends geographically scattered all over the globe and a family with whom I am particularly close.  I am also a firm believer that relationships require time and you will only ever get out what you are prepared to put in, so there really isn’t ever a quiet moment in my social calendar, which makes dieting more difficult for me personally.

Friday evening I joined a friend for dinner and, as is usual for us, we headed to our favourite Mexican restaurant.  Usually I’d be having some jalapeno chilli, salsa and cheese topped nachos as a starter, chicken and steak combo fajitas mixed nicely with a couple of Corona’s and a Margarita or two for good measure.  This week I had to find something new from the menu and given how notoriously fattening Mexican food can be, I applied my own rule of thumb, which was to try and stay away from anything which was fried, so I skipped the starter and tried out the Guisado de Cordero (slowly stewed lamb in a tomato sauce) which is served in a tortilla bowl, which I didn’t eat.

On Saturday, I missed breakfast, as I overslept, so grabbed a coffee en route to a meeting I had in Victoria.  I headed to La Tasca for lunch and had a Castile la Mancha (spicy roasted vegtable cassolo made with butternut squash, red onion, chickpeas, celeriac and cannellini beans in a winter warming spicy tomato sauce).  After lunch I went to witness one of my friends get confirmed in Westminster Cathedral.  This friend’s family is half Italian, half Irish, so food and drink plays a huge part in the every gathering.  After the confirmation, as expected, we soon sound ourselves in an Italian restaurant and I really had to dig deep to avoid ordering some bruschetta, a nice plate of pasta and bottle of red wine, but I pushed on and ordered Spigoli Alla Meditarrean (seabass grilled with onions and garlic) served with a side of broccoli and spinach.

We will find out on Wednesday whether or not it is possible to continue to have a social life which involved a lot of eating out and still lose weight, but the key rules seem to be not ordering a starter or dessert, staying away from alcohol and allowing yourself to order a couple of extra sides of vegetables and a coffee whilst everyone else is tucking into their tiramisu! As one of my Titter followers said to me earlier today, “a moment on the lips…a lifetime on the hips”!!