The (slightly premature) end of diet #2

In many ways, I've loved the 100-mile diet, and so I'm sad to be ending it early, but it's proving tough to stick to for any length of time, at least in part because I've run out of food. This is really a lifestyle choice, and not one that I can completely embrace - it's hugely impractical to eat only things that come from with 100-mile radius of your house. However, there are some things that I'll take from this week and try and stick with.

For example, I really enjoyed shopping at the farmers market, and I'll definitely try and shop there on a more regular basis. It seems ridiculous to buy food from abroad when it's available virtually on your doorstep. Wouldn't Australians find it crazy to buy British honey which has been flown half way around the world when they have their own perfectly good honey on their doorstep. So why do I choose the eucalyptus honey over a local variety? And wouldn't it seem strange to go into a supermarket in Portugal and see British butternut squash when they're grown locally - but I'm happy to buy Portugese squash in Tesco, despite the fact that butternut squash is also grown less than 100 miles down the road - and the local one probably tastes fresher and better too.

Also, I have learned that the people who sell, cook, and serve you your food also don't seem to know (or care) where it came from. I'm not sure why they should, but I just feel like maybe it would be great if they did. If we all paid a little more attention to where things came from, we could make a big difference.

There are a few things that I've done this week that I've never done before:

1. Visited a farmers market, for a reason other than to stroll around and pretend I live in an area nicer than I do
2. Described everything as "locally sourced" (even if it wasn't) - for example, "would you like a square of my locally sourced dairy milk..."
3. Eaten a pie
4. Made cauliflower cheese

Unfortunately, the latter two points (combined with eating all the cheese and butter I bought) means that I've managed to gain all the weight that I lost last week.

So, start weight for next diet: 10st 8lb. Again.

Diet #3 is going to be a deviation from my alphabetical list, partly because my blog has come to the attention of the lovely folks at Slim.Fast, who have sent me a huge bag of "food", and partly because it's heading into christmas party season, and I do need to lose some weight, and quickly.

I'm a bit terrified of this one. It's called the 3.2.1 plan. Three snacks, two slimfast "meals", and one healthy meal each day, plus lots of water and a little bit of exercise. I've put the word "meals" in inverted commas because if you actually served them to someone as a meal, I think they would demand their money back.

It's called Slim.Fast - but I'm not sure whether they mean fast in the speedy sense, or in the absolutely starving sense. But I'm about to find out...