planning my plan of sorts

Whenever we go visit R's family and ancestral homelands, I end up putting on weight. This is due to 3 4 factors:

1. Complete Idleness and Sitting on @rse All Day Long
2. Being unable to say 'no' to cake and biccies served with every cup of tea
3. Well meaning but high calorie vegetarian meals prepared for me by R's rellies
4. Believing that being on my holidays provides a 'get out of diet free' card, entitling me to eat far more than I normally would.

And it being Easter isn't going to help much either. So, I've been trying to do a bit of forward planning to try to at least minimise the damage. Plan so far includes:

1. Getting some exercise

• going swimming (either on my own, or R will have to supervise O and some or more of his cousins while I get some lengths in)
• a walk with R's dad (tho I think we'd have to leave O at home, he whinges mightily if asked to walk further than the sweet shop)
• cycling - no room in car to take my own bike but there's a bike or 2 knocking around the peat¹ shed that should fit me. Unfortunately, R's folks live in amongst some very big hills, in fact they live at the top of one particularly large one. Me cycling up that hill is just not going to happen. Me cycling down the hill is a different story, so that's what I'm going to do, possibly incorporating some of national cycle network. When my legs start to hurt, I can ring R to come and pick me up²
  

2. Doing my best to say no to cakes etc, and taking along some options hot choc sachets to drink instead of tea, in the hopes they satisfy any chocolate craves.

3. Not a lot I can do about being served quiche 'n' coleslaw and/or cheese sarnies at every house we visit. However I don't have to eat seconds, and I don't have to eat piles of bread and butter with meals just because it's there. Also will stock up on some diet friendlier foods eg low fat yoghurts instead of muller fruit corners, some skinny cow lollies, that kind of thang. Oh and fruit. Will buy and eat plenty of fruit.

4. Calories don't take holidays. I don't eat several slices of toast with butter and jam for breakfast when I'm at home, and I don't need to do it when I'm on holidays either. Likewise for all other treats and temptations. Sure, I'm not going to be an angel and I'm not going to be super-strict with myself. But that doesn't mean I can stuff my face for 10 days running.

So, that's the plan so far. Oh and I'm going to give all my easter eggs to R & O.



1. R's family have the rights to dig peat, which they use just for themselves ie to burn on their fire. Large scale industrial destruction of peat bogs for gardening and horticulture is A Bad Thing. Please don't buy peat.

2. Bike won't fit in the car together with our suitcases, O's bike and assorted cr@p and 3 people, but will fit in with just 2 of us and an empty boot.