Thursday 28 January 2016

sugar, sugar...

I read something terrifying today: according to this article, Britain spends more on obesity-related healthcare costs than on the police, the fire service, prisons and the criminal justice system combined, he says. Obesity-related conditions cost the NHS £6bn a year and rising. The diabetes bill is £9bn more. Type 2 diabetes now accounts for 10% of the entire budget of the NHS. More than 65% of all men in the UK aged 16 or over is now either overweight or obese.

Those are some frightening statistics.

I have a slightly different problem: I think I'm losing weight again.  I've written about this before, but I struggle to see myself as thin.  Since the age of about seven or eight, I've generally been big for my age.  I was tall, rather than particularly fat, but children tend to see things in absolutes, and if you have big feet and take a bigger size of shorts than they do, then you're fat.  I think this set my body-image fairly early, but it's also true that I have been about 40kg heavier than I am now. I lost that weight fairly steadily over a number of years, but I've never quite shaken that picture of myself as big.

Still, the fact remains that, by most people's estimation, I am pretty thin.  You can count my ribs and everything. I eat absolutely loads - especially bread - but I just can't put weight on.

It's probably all that running I do.

Anyway.  I'm about 4 weeks into marathon training -- sponsor us HERE -- I've upped my mileage and have covered about 120 miles so far this month.  And, well.... my trousers feel a bit loose.

I mentioned this to a colleague this afternoon, and she asked me if I'd started eating more to cover the extra calories I'm burning up in marathon training.
"Um.  Well, I eat loads"
"Yes, but have you started eating more?"
"No.  But I eat loads"
"And you're wondering why you might be losing weight? You need to look after yourself."

She's right, of course.  I've acted on her advice immediately and had sausages for tea.  I'm planning bacon and maybe black pudding for my breakfast.  That's a start (albeit absolutely no different to what I eat every week).  My mother-in-law is coming over for a visit next weekend too, and she's threatening to stock the freezer.  As she's an excellent cook, this is a most welcome development indeed.

I understand that there are also calories in beer?

I need to look into this.

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