For an old hippy like me, carrying any load is heavy. I'm supposed to be giving it all up, not carrying carrying more every day. But if the load is heavy, I will soldier on.

I'm not being all metaphorical here, I'm talking about weight; kilos, pounds, shqls, however you measure it. I seem to be carrying a lot of weight.

I don't get enough exercise - not of any formal, organised kind. I don't run, swim, go to the gym or play football - but I do have three small kids. I eat loads... loads. For breakfast today I had some peaches, muesli, yoghurt and honey, followed by a bacon muffin and grapefruit juice. I had Greek salad with feta cheese, some salami, corned beef, pitta, a bread roll, humus, tsatsiki, more cheese, pickled chllis and breadsticks for lunch, followed by some banana cake and a couple of biscuits. For dinner I had poppadoms, curry, rice and ice cream, all washed down with wine.

This is fairly typical. I should be huge, really heavy.

I don't snack during the day (who would need to?), but I think I am getting quite enough food from a calorie, protein, fat or whatever else I need, perspective. More than enough. But I am not obese - there must be a reason.

If I were giving a sermon I would say it's down to all the food we eat being home cooked and fresh. I would rant about how making everything yourself cuts down on processed sugar and fat and ensures you stay healthy and strong. This is probably a big load of crap. What's keeping me from being obese is that this morning I got up early due to Eve waking me at half six, played with the kids, made breakfast, carried Olias in a rucksack all around Chorlton, played some more and then went to the park, still carrying Olias on my back, played with the kids, carried Eve or Olias for long periods of time and then carried Olias back home through the park again in the rucksack after eating dinner with some friends.

Professional rowers eat 7000 KCals per day when they are training, but don't get fat.

I am a professional - a professional dad. I've demanding kids who make me do things all day long and I never get to rest. No wonder I am not fat, it's a bloody wonder I am not dead.

Dinner with some friends tonight and luckily for me it's curry. I think word has spread that the thing I like is spicy meat and it's good that word has spread.

Some friends, Mary, Malcolm and their daughter Louisa had us over for dinner and invited some other friends, Ian, Michelle and their children, Emma Louise, Madison and Casey. There wer a lot of little girls all playing and having fun.

Malcolm cooked us an excellent curry, not too spicy but very tasty and I'd definitely come back. He even made sausage and mash for the kids if they didn't want the curry and this went down a treat. Simple, everyone eating together, just like we all know it should be.