Australia Day

Tuesday:

Today is Australia Day, which for most Aussies just means a day off work and maybe hearing who has been named Australian of the Year (typically someone doing charity or humanitarian work). Indigenous Australians see it as an offensive celebration of white people stealing their land. We didn't have any plans, but last night we were invited to a BBQ for lunch today. Tim ended up taking Jasmine, but Aiden and I didn't go, for me mainly because it is just so hard sticking to my diet with these constant celebration meals! I'd managed a one-day winning streak and after a week-long stall finally lost some more weight overnight, and did not want to surround myself with treat food yet again. Treat food should be "sometimes" food, not three times a week plus leftovers! Why put myself in the way of that much temptation (again)?

I dragged myself out for a walk first thing in the morning. It's getting harder to find streets close by that I haven't walked down. I'll need to make my walks longer. I was sad to see one of those poor little dogs bred to have a squashed nose, it was trying to enjoy its walk while being almost unable to breathe. The wheezing could be heard from the other end of the street. I thought from the noise it was going to be a dog choking itself pulling hard on its lead, but no, just a dog bred for human vanity.

Taco salad for breakfast, half the size of last night's dinner. Didn't bother to have tea.

Cauliflower soup for lunch. I made it with half the amount of cream today, still good. I'm still amazed that I like something mainly made of cauliflower, and also that soup can be so filling.

But perhaps not quite as filling as I would like! In the afternoon I had some cashews and grapes, and a cup of tea. Didn't really enjoy it without sugar, but I didn't want to go through caffeine withdrawal at the same time as other diet struggles.

Mid-week roast for dinner so we'd have leftovers for Tim going back to work tomorrow. As I've always been told, my eyes are bigger than my belly (and that is saying something!). I was very hungry when I dished this out, but I left a lot of it on my plate!

I served myself some potato, which is a bit carby for my current diet, but I told myself I would only eat it if I finished the rest of my plate and was still genuinely hungry. I certainly wasn't! The potato got left. I enjoyed my beef, broccoli, cucumber, and half the mixed vegetables. And gravy!

The kids start school on Thursday. I am looking forward to it! After six weeks school holiday, I need some peace and quiet. I'll get some writing done, and maybe get a bit of time on the guitar! With four people all wanting to practise, there is constant strumming. I had to try to sleep last night to the sound of "Greensleeves" over and over. And the kids will happily play while someone else is playing the other guitar, so it can get a bit chaotic. After my walk and breakfast I wanted a turn on the new 3/4 size, but I waited and waited and waited while others kept playing. Just before lunch I finally got to play, only to find that Aiden had been using my profile for the app and I was nearly out of free time for the day! Arg! Tim has paid for unlimited time so I can practise on his profile, but it's not the same as getting personalised lessons and progressing through the levels. I don't really want to pay for unlimited yet as I can't play for long anyway, until my fingers have developed calluses. We use steel string guitars and they are hard on the fingers. Ten minutes twice a day is about as much as I can manage. It's addictive though.

Being strict with my diet after a week of eating all sorts of things is hard. Going through the low-carb hunger all over again.

We were going to go for a walk after dinner, but it's raining again.

Two day winning streak! Dietbet weigh-out tomorrow or the next day. It's down to the wire.