I must explain my absents without leave over the past week, I decided that I needed a week to start and plan my new diet. I’m following the Optifast diet plan and today will be the start of week two. The first couple of days I had flashbacks to the time I gave up smoking ( I quit cold turkey in 2005 and have not picked up another one since), this time the images are burgers and pizza where’s my chewing gum for that “MAC-o-rett”.

Diets are a unknown beast, just when you start to feel good about your progress, your body starts to feel hungry and the beast seems to overtake the male brain that thinks about woman and eventually becomes the major topic of your dreams and daydreams, old biscuits that you would not have given a second look at before become mouth watering treats and irresistible.

On more than one occasion I have found myself for no reason at all just walking to the kitchen and opening the fridge, I swear my wife could hear the light click on because I would hear a shriek from the other side of the house “it’s not time for your apple snack yet”.

I feel like a POW looking through the fence at the tree in the garden of Eden and the only apple on the tree is just in reach but if I take it I would have failed myself.

The only cure I have found is at night drink lots of water and then go to sleep and during the day keep a coleslaw salad and water bottle close by for those snack times.

Week 2 going to be tough but I will keep you all posted.