Doing it for the dog

I have a really clever friend who founds start ups. His most recent tech start up is an machine learning eCommerce platform for small and medium businesses. With my marketing background I was really intrigued by this new venture and wanted to hear all about it. So a few weeks ago we arranged to meet him and his wife at a local pub for a catch up. 

We really enjoy their company. They’re big drinkers and we have such a laugh. I have absolutely no idea how many bottles we got through that afternoon but I know it was a lot because a) the bill was massive and we hardly had any food and b) I felt terrible the next day. 

When I say terrible I mean AWFUL. More terrible that I’d felt in a long time. The following day I spent the day on the sofa watching Netflix. I couldn’t manage to do anything else. 

I couldn’t even manage to take the dog for a walk, which is one of my favourite things to do (see my love list - it’s top of the list) He looked sad all day. He has this gorgeous brown eyes that look at you with love or in this case utter disappointment and judgement.

The dog did not deserve this. 

Since we stopped drinking the dog has been in heaven. We walk for hours. He’s a Kelpie and we tire him out! If you’re not familiar with Kelpies, they need a lot of exercise. A day without a walk is not a good day for a Kelpie.

https://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/australian-kelpie

Even if we weren’t doing this for ourselves, it appears we’d be doing it for the dog. 

Rapture

I was out shopping in David Jones (that’s an Australian department store that believe it or not is still going).

I was looking for a black blazer, playing it safe for work when I spotted the most magnificent leather jacket by Sass and Bide. I have never owned anything by this label. They have the most magnificent clothes, a Melbourne label worn by celebrities all over the world. 

https://www.sassandbide.com/

For quite some time I skulked around the rack wondering what to do. I really wanted to try it on. 

The jacket is called ‘The Rapture Jacket’ and it comes in Forest Green which Trinny and Susannah confirmed for me many years ago is a colour I should embrace at every opportunity. Plus I t was reduced from $950 to $450 so you can see my dilemma. 

$450 is not the sort of money I can spend without consulting my husband. We’re pretty good at discussing large purchases and I’ve never been the person who spends huge amounts on clothes. Probably one of the reasons he married me.

In the end I walked away. Now is not the time to be buying expensive leather jackets.

However I was still feeling resentful that my husband had spent $450 on wine at a cellar door when we were away camping for October school holidays. Wine..jacket...hmm. I weigh it up. I’m definitely choosing the jacket. 

If this six months alcohol free works in the weight loss department I’m buying this jacket or something similar. I’ll have saved way more than that on wine we haven’t bought. 

Bring on that moment of Rapture!

My Love List

I have a rule in our house that if it’s not in the diary it doesn’t exist. Alongside that rule is the sub-rule that whoever gets in the diary first wins that spot. It’s a great incentive to be organised. 

For our first weekend alcohol free my husband has sent me a meeting request for a four hour walk.

We will be walking, I suspect, from one end of the Adelaide Hills to another. 

I love walking. It’s one of my favourite things to do. 

If we’re not spending time sitting around drinking does this mean I’ll have more time on my hands? I’m always wishing there were more hours in a day. 

I decide that if I’m going to have more time I should make a list of the things I most enjoy which I’m calling my love list. This will show me what I’m going to be doing when I have all this time. 

I got this idea from this blog about being more with less. 

https://bemorewithless.com/how-to-make-a-love-list/

Walking in the country

Reading page turner books

Gardening (but not weeding)

Camping (especially by the beach)

Creative writing

Watching Netflix

Podcasts (usually while walking)

Running (on flat surfaces)

Bikram Yoga

Re-organising my wardrobe and creating new outfits (easier when your clothes fit you)

Networking (meeting new people)

Sleeping in

I’m not sure how this list it makes me look to someone who doesn’t know me. Does it make me look boring and suburban? 

I shouldn’t be too concerned about other people’s perceptions of me.

It’s all about being authentic these days!

As Keala Settle sang in the Greatest Showman, I’m not scared to be seen, I make no apologies, this is me (of course this image below isn’t actually me. Just to be clear). 

Wine Wednesday

Since we decided to go booze free I’ve become obsessed by finding out about other people’s drinking habits. How much do they drink? When? What do they drink?

A few years ago when my husband and I were going through a difficult period in our marriage I instigated Wine Wednesday’s. When the kids went to bed we’d sit at the kitchen table, get tipsy and in doing so we were able to talk freely and without inhibition about our issues. 

Since then Wednesday has been the only workday weekday that alcohol is consumed in our household. It’s not a strict rule, rather a framework that makes sure we have a number of alcohol free days each week.

A couple of months ago I was out for dinner with a small party of people including two women. The conversation turned to our various lifestyles and one of the women mentioned that she has a no alcohol policy on Sundays and Mondays and the other said she doesn’t drink on Mondays or Tuesdays.

My mother in law is trying to lose some weight so she’s only drinking on Saturday nights but I’ve noticed that on these nights she appears to make up for abstaining the rest of the week.

My father in law has a large Rye Whisky (or two) every night.

My neighbour doesn’t have a rule but then he has a rather active social life which may not be conducive to implementing an AFD framework. 

Dr Michael Apstein, who has the unusual distinction of being both a wine writer and a liver doctor, suggests that people should have at least two alcohol free days per week. His article about whether taking a month off alcohol is beneficial is here 

https://www.decanter.com/learn/is-dry-january-beneficial-287019/

I have been known to be competitive so it makes me feel smug that we’re overachieving with seven. Cheers!

Day Dot

My husband has to have open heart surgery in March next year.

It’s not a shock, we knew this operation was coming but looking it square in the face makes it very real and rather frightening for both of us. 

On the plus side:

It’s not unexpected - we can plan and prepare

Our insurance policy will pay us a chunk of money

And best of all the cardiologist tells my husband he needs to lose weight before surgery.

I think about Dylan Thomas, the Welsh poet, whose poem about death and dying began with the line “Do not go gentle in that good night”.  My husband is not going into the biggest operation of his life with any risks around his health so we take this advice seriously. 

I'm pretty active but in the 14 years since I had my daughter I've put on 14 kilos. It seems like a good time to join my husband in losing weight. I would love to feel healthier and lose weight.

I have so many wonderful clothes that don’t fit me and I don’t love what I see when I look in the mirror.

We’ve talked about losing weight for years but our lifestyle hasn’t enabled it to happen. We’re big drinkers, love eating and are generally very social people. 

We discuss our strategy. It needs to be simple, easy to follow and above all, something we can stick to.

I’m not prepared to bamboozled by diet fads, pay for food to be delivered or go on any form of crash liquid diet. 

Calories in - calories out should be a simple formula. We’re both fairly analytical people and it makes sense to just cut out the things that are high in calories and low in nutrition. 

Oh dear, those two things happen to be cheese and wine. And one goes with the other. Sigh.

We decide not to set weight loss goal, we decide to do this by timeframe.  The first priority is health, weight loss will surely follow. That way we also don’t need to be weighing ourselves each day and stressing out about the number of kilos on the screen.

There are 635 calories in a bottle of wine. A female’s daily intake for the whole day should be 2000 and 1500 if you’re trying to lose weight. This means drinking a bottle of wine is nearly half of these calories. And what’s worse is that those calories are empty calories. They have zero nutritional value. ZERO.

This makes me feel better. I’ll be cutting out something that does absolutely nothing for my body. 

In addition, alcohol lowers our inhibitions and stimulates the appetite, a lethal combination which lowers willpower and leads to packing on the calories from snacks like crisps (also a weakness). 100 grams of crisps = 536 calories.

Alcohol can also lower blood sugar which causes cravings for sugar and carbs. 

We’re convinced. 

It’s Day Dot of six months alcohol free. We’ve never gone more than a month without alcohol. Can we do it? 

Let the journey begin...