The Terminator
Movie quote of the day:Withnail: (having just drunk a bottle of lighter fluid) Got any more?Peter Marwood: No. I have nothing.Withnail: Liar. What's in your toolbox.Peter Marwood: Nothing.Withnail: Liar. You've got antifreeze.Peter Marwood: You bloody fool. You should never mix your drinks.Withnail and I, 1987I have my first hangover of the year, though Robert says this is not strictly true, as I must surely have had one on New Year's day. Perhaps his right, but not unlike the nasty birth process, you never quite remember just how painful a hangover is until you get your next one.Last night I was out with the girls at Derya's club Home House. My friendships with my female friends are so essential to me; we get together and share a few bottles of wine, talk about our lives, share our problems, and laugh a lot. I inherited a lot of these lovely ladies when I met Robert, who has an expansive group of friends, and now I cannot imagine life without them.Jane told me that statistically, yesterday was supposed to be the most depressing day of the year here in the UK. Something about a high incidence of suicides on that date historically, no doubt influenced by the fact that everyone is broke in January, and the weather is miserable.This morning it's beautiful, or at least from what I've seen out of the blinds in our bedroom. The sky at 7am, when Robert got up, was a surreal mixture of blue and pink, which makes me think of the song Vanilla Sky, by Paul McCartney. At 7.30 or thereabouts, I heard the garbage men arrive outside, and found their usual clanking and clattering quite soothing, despite my throbbing head. There is something quite reassuring about familiar noises, much the same way routine can be. It just gives you that feeling that it's a fresh day, and people are going about their business as usual, and for some reason that kind of makes me feel safe.OK, I'm romanticising far too much, clearly a case of being hungover. Before leaving for work Robert instructed me to get one and a half hours more sleep. Not sure where he got that number from, but he seemed pretty confident with his prescription. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I have a fair amount of things to do today, including a creative project I am working on. And then there's the small matter of working off last night's alcoholic excess at the gym....Before I go, I received a comment on my blog from my sister who says she is worried about me, or my zealous approach to exercise and diet. I appreciate I go on about it a fair amount, but to be fair, this is my blog, so it will tend to contain boring details of my latest obsessions from time to time.For the record, I am not starving myself. In fact, quite the contary; I am eating healthier than I have done in my entire life. I eat fresh fruit and vegetables every day, drink a lot of water, and don't eat any junk. Occasionally, like on the weekend, I'll share a pudding, or have a piece of chocolate. But let's be frank here, if you want to lose weight, eating a piece of chocolate cake, because it makes you happy, isn't going to get you very far. I think people associate food with happiness, and I've spent/wasted far too many years of my life doing that, and the only thing it got me was fat.If you set a goal for yourself, and are serious about it, you have to persevere. The attitude, that just one little piece of this or that won't hurt, is fine on a rare occasion and more so, for people who can be moderate. But let's face it, if you are overweight and on a diet, chances are you're not the sort of person who's very good at moderation, so best not tempt matters. My approach to getting healthy is to stay focused, and if I fall off the wagon, like last night with about 5 glasses of wine, I get right back up and carry on from where I left off. You will never achieve anything if you keep making excuses for yourself, and unfortunately I know myself well enough to realise that I'm quite skilled at doing this, so I need a hard line approach. Different things work for different people, and this is what works for me.I've also had a few people suggest diets to me to get the weight off faster. Diets do not work, or rather, they may work short-term, but they are not a good long term investment. When I talk about my diet, I am referring to what I eat, as opposed to a restrictive eating regime. I believe in eating healthily, which is something you can train yourself to do and practise for the rest of your life. I may not be loosing 6 kilos in two weeks (as one friend's diet apparently promises), but I am shaping and toning and losing in inches. And unlike my friend who will no doubt put on all her weight and more when she switches back to eating normally, I'd like to think I'm training myself to eat well and be fit for the rest of my life.Happiness for me now is not rushing home so that I can have a nice big dinner and pudding after, or watching a movie while working my way through a box of chocolates or packet of crisps. Rather it's about feeling fitter and healthier then I have done in ages, having loads of energy, and having a much faster metabolic rate which means, whether I like it or not, I have to eat around every four hours. So no risk of starvation here.I am not interested in looking like Nicole Richie, rather my ideal body shape is the one Linda Hamilton achieved for the filming of Terminator II (see top image), and one which sparked a massive gym craze for women at the time. I'm into serious muscle tone and eating right, not anorexia. So no more worrying OK?Over and out.Photo: Linda Hamilton, Terminator II c/o kinoweb.de
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