Climbing the walls: Derek Bish cooking up a storm in race to lose weight

There have been many things to help – getting up for PE with Joe Wicks in the morning, extra play time with my children and all your fabulous ideas, which we will get to in future columns.

However, being at home all day brings with it the temptation to graze.

Who doesn’t enjoy raiding the fridge, or the cupboard, or the secret chocolate stash, or even the kids’ Easter eggs when you are feeling a bit peckish?

It is like my evening has extended into a full 24 hours – no wonder biscuits appear to be among the items supermarkets are particularly short of at the moment.

But shopping is also the thing that is going to help me get on the straight and narrow.

To be honest, the less we all have to go out at the moment, the better.

As the official message goes: Stay at home, help the NHS, save lives

And anyone who has ventured to the shops these past few days will know what a difficult experience it is.

Aside from the anxiety it brings and the challenge of staying two metres from people who want to pick up the same products, there is a case of having to make do with what is on the shelves. There is no point going out armed with a shopping list for a complex recipe, and the freezer aisles are also looking a little bare.

This is far from a complaint though – in fact, perhaps we can all learn to cook a little better, a little healthier during this time. Get creative, pretend you are a Masterchef champion and, if it is not a hit with the family, try something else tomorrow.

People are sticking to what they know at this time, and understandably so, but be brave and try a new vegetable or a new fruit. Try mixing up your normal meals – everything else has changed, so why not your meal planning?

Hopefully the penny has dropped with me in time for my first weigh-in next week.

I started this journey at 18 stone – if I want to make inroads into that then I am going to have to put down the biscuits and pick up some cooking skills.

I want to hear and see what you are up to sporting-wise during lockdown – the good and the bad – so email your pictures and videos to derek.bish@expressandstar.co.uk or contact me on Twitter @DerekBish_Star

I will include the best ones in this column and retweet plenty of ideas that everyone can get involved with.