A lovely Christmas prestent

Festivities over, back to real life. Well, I say that, but things haven't really been very 'festive' at all this year. My lovely hubby has been a poorly bunny since well before Christmas and it kind of took the 'cheery' edge off things. He still isn't very well now... but I'm sure (touching wood, crossing fingers and spitting in hat) he'll be back on his feet before too long. Probably just in time to go back to work :-(

Ah well, at least it's meant that I haven't had to do the festive buffet tightrope walk this year... choosing the healthiest, least sugary or fat-filled, smallest portions I can while conveying my total delight at the spread to a hostess with 'deep-fry-me' as the main method of cooking. Sounds both ungrateful and 'bah humbug', doesn't it. Sorry, but gets to me sometimes. It IS possible to provide healthy and tasty nibbles - honest!

Having said that, I have felt mopey with lovely hubby being ill, so have found myself unduly tempted by the tin of Quality Street chocolates on the dining table... and I don't even really like them. Ho hum.

OK, enough of the moaning - let's get to the good stuff.

Christmas eating has been pretty moderate, all in all, and I've actually managed to shed a pound, which is rather nice. More through disinterest than true commitment to weight loss, I'll admit, but I won't look this gift horse in the mouth!

And... wait for it. I've received a lovely Christmas present - in fact, it could not be better!

I had some blood tests done before Christmas (a long story but it follows on from the thyroid thing) and went for my results yesterday. My GP was pleased overall and things are OK. Large sighs of relief can be heard!

But, the really good news was that she was delighted with my cholesterol figures. She told me she'd be really pleased if the Total Cholesterol result of 3.8mmol/l showed up if I was taking statins, but to see that figure just through my decent diet and exercise was great. And, with an HDL reading of 1.7mmol/l the balance between HDL and LDL is good too. Woohoo!

Our health is SO important. Without good health everything in life is so much harder. Losing the weight (even if I'm not done yet), and getting fitter and learning to choose to eat healthy foods has been so good for me. Learning to make this a sustainable part of 'normal life' not thinking of any part of it as 'temporary' or a 'diet' has had so many benefits already, and now this. I am really so very, very pleased with this fabulous news I can't express the way it makes me feel!

It's spurring me on to stick with the changes I've made and make more changes for the better in 2011. Let's make it a fantastic year... together. What do you say?