There is an aroma of déjà vu about it all.  How many times, I wonder, have I kicked off a diet?  Each time thinking that this one will be the last; that this one will be successful.  Soon I will be svelte.  And happy.  Of course. 

My parents arrived on the weekend and tomorrow my father commences treatment for Merkel Cell Carcinoma.  Twenty-five treatments over five weeks.  As I mentioned in my last post, his radiotherapy will be in the evening so my brother (his wife) and I can accompany my parents to and from the nearby hospital.  I am on duty this first week and at some point over the past few days I told my mother of my plan to use the fact that I will be busy in the evening to address my unmotivated dieting behaviour. 

My mother – understandably worried about my weight and the impact it has on my life – has been encouraging.  She is happy to organise separate meals for her and my father so that when I arrive home from work I need only have something quick and easy (and devoid of carbohydrates) before heading off to the hospital.  Presumably I will also refrain from indulging once home after treatments.

Although the treatments and evening outings start tomorrow night, today is Monday so obviously the diet had to start the moment I crawled out of bed this morning. 

My initial plan (as per my last post) was to rely on meal replacement shakes, but I am not altogether sold on this idea.  As a coeliac there is only one brand here in Oz that I can drink and they are higher in calories than I would like.   I could – for example – have a chicken breast and some vegetables for the same caloric intake and it would probably be as nutritionally balanced as the shakes.  So, my plan is a tad more flexible… I am just going low-carb.  Or as close to no-carb as possible.   

Today, for example (because I was unprepared) I had no-fat yoghurt for breakfast.  Then salad for lunch (some veges and chicken, with a sprinkling of low fat cheese).  I will have chicken or beef and veges for dinner.  And then – thank god – day one will be over.  My biggest challenge is always the first few days.  Once I am in the groove (and feeling virtuous) it is far more manageable. 

I am conscious that this kind of diet is a quick fix.  I am telling myself that I will try to stick to it (or do as well as possible) until Christmas and then ease off without regaining all of the weight I have lost (assuming I lose a bit).  Perhaps then I will switch back to calorie-counting or Weight Watchers.  (Note that even I realise I am not being completely realistic about this and am slightly embarrassed at my pie-in-the-sky aspiration in this respect!)

Of course I haven’t yet decided if I will completely forsake alcohol.  I had also thought I would be a bit more flexible on weekends (and I still have baby potatoes in my refrigerator crisper).    I am also not sure how I will cope once my parents go to my brother’s next week and I am left to my own devices.  Unsupervised.  Accountable to no one… other than myself of course.  Hmm… look how that has turned out in the past!