I don’t worry too much about my weight but I do monitor it and I’m comfortable if it’s in the 68-72kg range. And for those who don’t know me I’m about 5 foot 8. I’m sorry but for some reason I think weights in metric units and heights in feet and inches.
Over the last few months my weight has been trending downwards and now sees to be steady at 69kg. And because I feel pretty good that must be a good thing but why? There seem to be many contributors with just two main reasons.
Main reason number 1 is my frequent travel to Spain. I’ve been working with a Spanish company for over 6 months this year with many visits and I’m pretty sure that the Spanish diet is good for me: regular meals, smaller portions, plenty of fish and no fry-ups. Plus an appropriate quantity of red wine.
Main reason number 2 is exercise. I’ve always kept fairly fit with regular and often frequent visits to the gym. However generally I’ve found that to be a necessary evil, a bit like brushing your teeth. More recently I’ve begun to enjoy the process as much as I’ve appreciated the end result so I’ve been running more and doing more intensive gym work. That makes it more like shaving, wet shaving that is, which I’ve always found a satisfying part of my morning routine.
And the other reasons: no snacking, smaller portions and more fish than meat. Plus an almost compete avoidance of fried foods.
But the good news is that I have not consciously moderated my diet, so I enjoy my food, and I have not reduced my alcohol intake, although I don’t drink much beer, typically only a bottle at a time, and rarely touch spirits. I make up for this by drinking lots of reasonably good wine.
Dinner at Kursaal in Manresa exemplifies much of the above. I would have gone to the gym but I’d forgotten to take my kit to Spain this time so I turned up at 2100, early by Spanish standards, to enjoy a light mid-week dinner. It was also a quiet dinner: I was the first in and there was only one other occupied table at 2200 when I left.
Kursaal offers a nice 3 course menu for €22. I went for it.
Jordi is the manager at Kursaal and he looks after me especially since I posted an otherwise favourable TripAdvisor comment in which I described the wine by the glass as ‘ropey’. Tonight it was Fra Guerau, 2003. Decidedly not ropey.
Tonight Jordi also recommended ‘rovellons’, local mushrooms, which had just been delivered. I had them for a starter and they were delicious: served on a bed of spinach and with salt granules they were fleshy and flavorsome. For main course I had magret d’anec; I generally go for dishes which I like and are not so available or so good in the UK and this met those criteria. It was served sliced on thin toast. Not a big portion but just right. Finally for desert the fresh fruit options were unexciting, apple or oranges, and there was no strawberry shortbread so I went for chocolate with oil and salt. Not big, just 3 small pieces. Just right.
Add to the above a bottle of Estrella to start and an espresso to finish and you’ve got my perfect weight control meal: super tasty food but not too much and an appropriate volume of alcohol.
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