Everybody was kung fu fighting in Hello.

Just a quick paragraph or two about my intermittent fasting, more for my benefit than anything! I’m finding it’s going really well. I’m doing 20/4 fasting when I’m at work and using my lunch breaks to go for walks along the lane. By doing 20/4, it means there’s no grey area for me, which always causes a downfall. End fast at 5pm, start at 9. I’m usually still at work at 5, so I’m not tempted to open the cupboard and binge, like I’ve read some people do. We usually have boring biscuits at work, so I’ll have a Rich Tea, maybe a coffee, then I feel satiated enough until I can get home and have my dinner. A woman in my fasting group for some reason argued with me that I’m essentially doing one meal a day (OMAD) and I said that yes, technically true, but I like the rigidity of having a stop and start time, otherwise I’ll start thinking to myself “oh, I’ll have a glass of wine “with my meal” and now some nuts “with my meal” and then it will be midnight and I’ve drank a full bottle of wine and eaten a multipack of crisps. And she said that was a “weird mindset”. I just replied “cool” because she wasn’t getting where I was coming from. Anyway. 20/4 5 days a week, the days I’m off with John, I do 16/8, which gives me scope to go for a coffee or something. But it’s too close to my “normal” eating habits anyway, so I don’t want to do that all the time.
The benefits I’ve found from fasting:
Not waking up feeling sluggish.
Having a huge energy rush 16 hours in (at 1pm, our busiest time).
Focusing.
Being forced to drink more water to stop my belly from rumbling. (Not a sign of hunger, just a sign of an empty belly, I must remember to make that distinction!)
Eating consciously. Most people, when tracking their eating, underestimate their caloric intake by about 40%. By restricting myself, I’m less inclined to just shove a biccy in my mouth when I’m reaching for the teabags.
Cons:
Craving salt and my colleagues giving me funny looks when they catch me eating it in the staffroom. I’ve bought my own tub of rock salt now, to keep in my locker.
Um, that’s it!

Last night was my staff Christmas do. Dinner in a Turkish restaurant 2 minutes from my house, with a bar tab in the pub over the road. They bring out food on platters and you just help yourself. Starter was bread with various dips and toppings, main was a mixed grill with rice and a spicy ratatouille type thing for the vegetarians. (Apologies, I don’t know the proper Turkish name!) Was lovely to chat with people from higher management, HR, kitchen etc because we don’t normally get to hang out a lot.
A few of us went to the pub later and the new starter chef, we’ll call him D, came over to introduce himself. Put his arm round my shoulders, said “hello darling, what’s your name? I’m D…” then reached his hand out to shake mine. I hate the arm round the shoulder thing from people I don’t know, and I detest being called darling, unless we’re friends. After he’d left, Simon must have seen my face because he came over and said “he’s got ADHD, he’s not very good at respecting boundaries.... want me to have a word?” I told him I was fine, then D came back over and started talking to Jack, who’s 6’ 5” with long ginger hair and beard. Firstly he said “wahey, it’s the ginger Jesus!” then “alright, Hadrig?” Luckily Jack is soft as anything and said “mate, never heard of Hadrig, did you mean Hagrid? Never been called that before!” D started getting louder and more obnoxious and increasingly being moved away from people by other members of staff. Next thing I know, couple of lads run from one end of the pub to the other (it was a private function, so no other customers in there) and I turn round, D is nose to nose with the hospitality manager, Ben. He then starts saying that he didn’t realise he was a manager, sorry (like that would make any difference). The lass behind the bar comes round and tells him to leave, D squares up to her, she gets surrounded by our biggest lads while she calls the police. Police come with the van and I leave as he’s outside talking to them.
He hadn’t even started yet, was due to start today! Turns out our Rob knew him (all these chefs seem to know each other!) and told me he’d always been like that after a few and had punched holes in the walls in the staff house. Sheesh!
Was wanting to go for a bit of a walk with John today, but he’s sleeping very late, typically. He’s usually up at 8ish, but it’s almost 10am and he’s still flat out! I’m hoping he’ll be up for going to one of the lakes.