So far so good

As I've moved my way through February, I cant help but feel mentally positive. I'm enjoying the new job I started in January, the whole team and culture has been great and finally for the first time in years the KGs on the scales are in decline.

Not only is the weight coming down but my whole thought process about food has changed. Again, I'm aware that I'm only a few weeks in but I can only write about what I'm experiencing.

Wind the clocks back several months and the security officer in my local Co-op food store must have had a right laugh watching me on CCTV. I would regularly go the co-op sometimes through hunger but more often than not through habit or boredom. I would walk around the shop having a debate that would have been worthy of its own episode of Judge Rinder.

Marching back n forth down the aisles in the cases of....

Maltesers vs Minstrels

Ferrero Rocher vs Lindt

Wine gums vs Jelly babies

Who would win that structured debate about what snacks I should throw in my basket on any given day, was anybody's guess!

It was insane!! But it didn't stop there.... Coz if I'm getting something sweet, I also need something savoury to balance it out. Duh!!

Oh, and don't forget something loaded with sugar to wash it down with.

I really should have taken my health more seriously and got my bloods done too. I've no doubt a number of other health concerns would have been highlighted.

Hey, ignorance is bliss, right?

But since I started the jab..... Things are, well, different!

So was it working or did I still suspect placebo?

The reason why I spend so much time in the Co-op, is because its just 320 meters away, door to door. Its convenient. Which was probably a big part of my previous problems.

But since the 5th of Feb something weird has happened. I go the co-op and there is no internal argument about what sweets and treats to buy.

None. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Eff all. The thought doesn't even cross my mind.

Instead of a basket full of empty calories, I have discovered the Co-op Good Fuel range. And OMG, its an absolute game changer.

I've lost track of the amount of people I've voicenoted and told about these meals. I should be on commission.

Long story short, I repeat: they're a game changer!

My food haul has been looking very very different throughout February. My personal favourite from the Good Fuel range are the Chicken & Sweet Potato Penang Curry and the Naked Chicken Katsu Curry.

Whilst these are microwave meals ready in 4 minutes, I'd say they're more "meal prep" than "microwave meal". They're not full of additives and preservatives. The chicken is proper chunks of chicken and not processed shite! But the biggest thing for me is that I've never eaten so much veg. I'm like a walking grow bag.

Of course I'm exaggerating but I've been eating 2 of these meals per day. Each containing 2 of my 5 a day. They're loaded with broccoli, sweetcorn, green beans and god knows whatever else. They're amazing!

Admittedly, I've been walking home with a spring in my step recently. Proud of my bag of shopping but also my behaviour in-store. I'm reading labels. I'm checking calories and sugar content. I'm looking at ingredient lists.

Who the hell am I?

One thing I will say about Mounjaro, despite what I read online, I do still get hungry. But now, I get hungry at meal times and my choices have been a lot better.

I still snack. But I snack on nuts, or Proper Chips - which are essentially Doritos made from lentils.

If my head is in the fridge, I'm no longer like a pig snorting and looking for a truffle, I've been satiated with a protein yoghurt.

The "food noise" is VERY VERY different now. I noticed this towards the end of February. On a very cold winter walk with my dog, a local lad walked past me with a bag of chips.

It was freezing. It was drizzling rain. And that waft of hot chips and vinegar had vibes worthy of a John Hamm - Our Neighbours Gif.

My kneejerk thought was, "ooh, I could eat a bag of chips now". But once the lad had gone and the smell had vacated my nostrils, I didn't think about them again.

Usually, I'd be sat at my desk compiling a pro's and cons list for a chippy tea later that evening.

Would it be chips, curry and rice. Or a chips, sausage and gravy? Clockwatching and counting down to 5:30pm for my chippy tea.

But this time. Nothing. It was forgotten about in a matter of seconds. I went back home, dried the dog and had a Good Fuel meal for lunch. I enjoyed that, then logged back on to work and got on with my day.

This has never happened before!