This is actually a full pint. I have gigantic hands.

 
   Once upon a time, many moons ago, I was able to go out drinking on a week day until 3 in the morning - I'd still arrive at college the next day as fresh as a daisy without the merest sign of the debauched volume of alcohol I had consumed mere hours ago. These days are far behind me. Now, on evenings where I consume six pints or more it may well take me a full weekend to recover. Woe is me.

   Similarly, up until the age of around 21 I couldn't put weight on no matter what I ate; crisps, fast food, copious amounts of pop (and beer) - my BMI remained at around 20. It was a level I naively believed would be the case for good. This, however, is not the case. Over the past couple of years my weight has fluctuated up and down, depending on how committed I am at any given time to healthy eating, by up to two stone.

   As we draw to the end of 2016 - the worst year in my lifetime on a pop culture/political level - my mind has already turned towards next year and how, personally, I can aspire to make my life better. Usually I've always refrained from making New Year's Resolutions until February in each year (my house is always full of left-overs, uneaten chocolate and beer bought in for visitors - what's the point in trying to detox when all of this needs consuming), but this time I thought I'd go one better. My New Year's Resolution for next year is to simply not have any. No rules to bind me, no pledges I'll feel disheartened at if I fail, no goals to discourage me if I fall short.


   My thinking is simple - I might enjoy the aesthetics of decent clothes and when I push myself athletically, I feel healthy and great. Yet, more than anything, as I approach my 34th birthday (two days after this post was written), I have something which I never did when I was younger - confidence. I'm not as vain, or as driven by self-esteem issues, as we all are as teens and young adults and feel perfectly fine within my skin even as I reach the high-end of my weight fluctuations. I don't ever feel the need to try and keep my BMI perfectly in the middle anymore and I'd rather live my life in direct opposite to the rules Kate Moss once applied. As I've stated before, if the Croydonian truly believes that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels", I doubt she's ever spent an evening tucked up with a film and a family-sized bag of Maltesers or a grab buy of Thai Sensation crisps to engorge herself with. There's no shape or size I'd magically swap to if it meant giving up Burger King's bacon double cheeseburgers.

   So, with a good six weeks left of the year, I'm delighted to have come to my new year's resolution - just keep doing what I'm doing. I'm happy so why change anything? I'm not going to quit drinking Coca-Cola , or stop swigging the occasional beer (or six) because of a calorie count or fear of hang-overs. This doesn't mean I'm going to give up on life and stop eating fruit and veg entirely or become an alcoholic - I'm simply going to treat myself when I fancy and I recommend you do the same too instead of worrying how you'll look in your next Instagram post, or if you're slightly overweight in your Facebook profile picture.


   So, as we finally approach the end of 2016 (and good riddance!), let's all look for lifestyle inspiration to "the third way" (like in the good old days of 1997) - let's neither hold ourselves hostage to impossible goals or stop caring. Happy is healthy and healthy is happy. If you read this and you drink, don't go dry - only have a beer when you feel like it. Similarly, if you smoke - how many times have you tried going cold turkey and become disenchanted when you fail? I'd suggest cutting down or even vaping instead (there are multiple options in e cigarette London stores, and across the country too) - you'll quit when you want to, not when you force yourself for the most part.

   And one of the very best things about giving up on new year's resolutions, and quitting quitting, is that its simply impossible to fail at. By not having a new year's resolution, it'll be the first time you can guarantee yourself you'll succeed.