Two weeks in...

I have been following Paul McKenna's "four golden rules" for two weeks now (God I hate all these cliches) and while I can't exactly rave and swoon in the way some people have been doing about the scheme, something seems to be happening.

Yesterday, in a meeting, my immediate boss said I looked like I'd lost a bit of a weight. That makes three in a week. And, I could be fooling myself and I do realise that these things are a bit relative, but I looked down at my trousers this morning and I thought they looked a trifle looser.

Have I lost weight? err, actually, I don't know. I haven't weighed myself, you see, and while Paul allows you to weigh yourself after two weeks, I didn't get round to doing a preliminary weigh until a few days in, so I'm going to wait until Friday, after which it will be two weeks since weigh-in #1.

I have never really been into dieting (hence this 'non-diet' approach) because I have too clear an understanding of why lots of people immediately gain all the weight again once they finish the diet - they can't stick to punitive regimes. And quite frankly, why would I want to deny myself so many things? With this scheme 'no foods a sin' (yes I know weightwatchers says that too, I told you it was full of cliches) and I even ate the extremely decadent, calorie and cheese laden tartiflette (see here http://gastronomydomine.blogspot.com/2006/01/tartiflette.html for a recipe) on Saturday night - i just ate it really slowly and stopped when I had had my fill.

It's a bit bizarre, actually, for the first time that I can remember, I am still munching away long after Andy has finished. I'm leaving a little bit of food on my plate every day (admittedly, when it's my morning bagel which I LOVE it's a very little bit) and I don't think I've had seconds on any occasion. A couple of times, I woke up in the morning and wasn't hungry yet so instead of forcing down some very dry-tasting toast or whatever, I brought a bagel into work and had it when I developed an appetite.

The thing I am finding a little harder is scheduling my midday meal, in that I pretty much have to take my lunch hour at a certain time so what do you do if you're not actually hungry? Or if you're hungry before then? I always bring in a piece of fruit so that can sometimes help, but still... It's a bit daunting tucking into lunch in front of the skinniest boss on earth. All she seems to eat is sweets and crisps. (Hmmm, healthy).

So I am pleased with the progress so far. However, I really want to lose about three stone, if not four. This is obviously a long-term aim so can I keep this up long-term? I think that I can because to be honest, so far it's not been very hard. Hell, I even went to the gym last night after having already been to a council meeting for work (53 floors on the stepper on five minutes - this is I believe some primeval form of torture - 30 mins on the cross trainer and some weights).

Oh, a question... anybody got any good talking book recommendations that I can put on my MP3 player and listen to at the gym? Preferably stuff I can borrow from the library ;-) It would be nice to have a bit of a change from pumping choons.