AT THE weekend I met up with one of my best friends to treat ourselves to dinner and have a good catch-up.

We decided on a Tex-Mex style restaurant in Covent Garden (their Happy Hour was the dealbreaker when choosing!)

As we settled into the booth seats we were given our menus. Much to the annoyance of our waiter, every time he came to take our order, we had been sidetracked by gossiping and swapping life updates, as we hadn’t had a good chat in ages.

Finally, we kept quiet enough to read the menu. Now, my friend is a dietician, and with my training to become a personal trainer, coming to a restaurant whose specials include Potato Skins filled with Cream Cheese and Pancetta; Pulled Pork Burgers with Brioche Bun; and creamy Banana Colada Cocktails probably wasn’t one of our sensible choices.

In fact, as I read aloud how delicious the salad section sounded, we looked up from our menus and both knew today was a day the diet was going out the window.

An hour and half (and probably 2,000 calories) later, our talk turned to holidays. She is going to Florida in the summer, 'a holiday that demands shorts', was how she put it. Among many things we have in common, there is one thing we always laugh about whenever we meet up, and that is there is always one of us striving for some kind of weight loss or fitness goal.

This was hers: to feel comfortable in her shorts in the Florida sunshine.

The reason these goals always made us laugh is that we both have the knowledge and training to make ‘good’ decisions, but along the way, well, we just don’t!
I will ask her about what kind of fat it is that avocados have (and can I eat lots of these?) and she will ask me about how much cardio she should do to tone-up more.

But there we were, dipping chips into mayonnaise knowing that the saturated fat content was above average, and that at least a 45 minute spin class would be needed to burn off the starter alone!

Reaching health related goals can always be a challenge, whether because of lack of time, money or willpower, and many articles have been written about the fact that this can become even harder with a lack of knowledge. But in this instance, I am ashamed to say, selective ignorance was bliss!

Next time: At home on the plus size range
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Picture:© Verve-Rockabilly