Hello everyone, hope you are having as good a time as we are and are getting everything ready for Mother’s Day next Sunday. Speaking of which, we will be spending it at the local cinema chomping on popcorn. It’s fast becoming one of my favorite things to do as a family especially here in Malaysia where they have family friendly theaters complete with couches for the little ones to stretch out on. I can’t wait.

As Sunday is a special day, we are planning our weekly meals accordingly with our ‘cheat day’ on Sunday so that we can enjoy our lunch out and movie snacks guilt free. Last week went (mostly) to plan, although we did do a little extra cheating on Wednesday, which was a public holiday in Malaysia. Breakfasts and lunches were all on schedule, as were most of the evening meals too. We did find a new restaurant, Kayra, which does amazing Kerala cuisine and was simply too good to pass up after our family jungle park walks. The most important thing though, is that we have adjusted the “normal” to a much healthier pattern – and that’s what’s going to really count in the long term.

Andy seems to be doing fine, and may have lost a bit of weight – he hasn’t reported any improvement in performance yet, which is the aim, but it’s very early days yet. Despite eating heartily and, for the first time, snacking regularly, he has also said that he’s been feeling a bit hungry and so we are going to up the protein intake and cut down on the carbs slightly to see if that’s the right balance. Again, when it comes to diet and nutrition, there is no one size fits all meal plan. Everything needs to be tweaked to fit your body, your lifestyle, your budget, etc. However, it appears that staying away from processed foods, excess sugar and fat plus cutting down on the beer has really made a difference in just one week. He’s looking more fit and toned and dare I say it, his beer belly is shrinking by the day! This middle ages man is really filling out that lycra in good way.