Retail therapy

This is the outfit we selected for retail therapy on BBC radio Manchester.

The dress is from Coast (£125) and is lovely material -  it has a lovely swish to it. The bracelet and earrings are also from Coast.

The bag and matching shoes are from Dune - they are covered in bugle beads which makes them really sparkly. They are a bit high for me, but they are lovely shoes. £95 is also a bit more than I would spend on shoes, but they'd be great if they go in the sale.

I also tried on some lovely dresses with lace overlays - they seem to be very fashionable at the moment - but most had quite high necklines which don't do much for me. Also, many of the dresses are cut quite straight, and I'm a full size bigger on the bottom than the top, so they never fit properly. This style of fit and flare gets round that problem and is also very comfortable.

Still not sure about those knees though - say horray for opaque tights, my new current staple!

Happy Birthday

This is my family celebrating my mum's birthday - on Dec 27th. It's a full table (in all senses of the word full).

We did dinner between us all - one doing a starter, one of us on veggies and vegetarian option, one on chicken and one on dessert.

I'm not going to list all the things we had, because if you're trying to be good, it won't help, but it was lovely!

Happy Birthday mum!

New Year, New Style?

Radio Manchester have asked me to be styled for a makeover in their "Retail Therapy" slot tomorrow. They are thinking of doing party dresses, so it should be fun!

If you can get Radio Manchester, it's on between 9 and 11am. I'll take pics and blog - I might even treat myself if they find me a really lovely outfit!

Merry Christmas

Yesterday was my mum's birthday, and a great reason for a family Christmas get together.

This is my hubby and me after lunch, very much in the party spirit. Can't say I was really well behaved though, although I did eat far less than I normally would have done, but I did have more than I should have.

Not sure where that leaves me now - I'm sure the scales of truth will have their day of reckoning soon!

Have a lovely Christmas break everyone,

Just a few pounds more

I got weighed this morning and I've put on 3 lbs. That's no surprise to me, with Christmas drink and fine fare for several days. We have another big day tomorrow, with mum's birthday and a big family get together - so the damage may be even higher - but then it's back to being strict, and shift the weight before it sets on. Hopefully before the new year starts I'll be back to 12 stone.

Hope you're all having a lovely Christmas too, without piling on too many pounds!

Shrinking

I keep thinking I've shrunk everything in the wash. Whenever I take the washing out and hang it up, I always think it's shrunk, as my clothes look so small. I still can't get used to having such tiny things.

And they take up so little room in my drawers compared to my old clothes - so does that mean I can go out and buy more?

Redwood

Obviously I normally post pictures of me looking very glamorous, but I just had to share this one.

This is what I look like first thing in the morning - do you think I could join Jedwood - or perhaps I'm "red-wood"?

I've taken to "doing" my hair - mousse, rollers, the whole works. But in the morning, I have terrible bed head hair. It clearly has a mind of its own, and an anti-gravity mind at that.

So there you go - can't be a glamorpuss all the time!

Weight and sign off

19/12/11 - weight 12 stone - so another 3lbs down, and I'm now 4 lbs below target.

Also had my final session and sign off with the doctor. My Medgem was 1790, but since it wasn't completely fasting (I'd forgotten and had my 5pm snack!), the doc lowered my target calorie intake to 1650 per day.

I think that's quite a lot - I'd been doing some planning based on 1500, so think I will be OK.

I'm thinking of breaking it up into chunks, and sticking with eating 5 times a day, so I could do something like:
- 200 cals for breakfast
- 200 cals mid morning
- 400 cals for lunch
- 200 cals for afternoon snack
- 600 cals for dinner

so, any meals I'm under will give me a bit of leeway for other meals / snacks. Think I can manage on that.

I'll be doing phase 6 and 7 as much as I can until after Christmas - just don't have time to plan around calories yet, so will do that when I get some time between Christmas and new Year.

Oh, and if I don't post before then, have a lovely Christmas everyone.

Health review

So I had a health assessment recently - I have them annually - and my results have changed significantly.

First of all, obviously I am much lighter, and my BMI has come down from 42 to 29 and I am now officially overweight! So that's a dramatic difference from being morbidly obese.

Secondly, my lung capacity has increased - and since lungs can't grow, this can only be because they aren't being squashed by being surrounded by fat.

My diabetes risk score has also dropped - it will never be very low, as two of my immediate family have diabetes, but it's dropped from high risk to moderate.

Cholesterol hasn't changed much - I thought it might have dropped since I've been so low fat, but I'm not sure that you can change cholesterol levels by diet.

The doctor was very pleased, as was the doctor at the Alizonne clinic - so everyone is happy!

So, the objective for next year is to get fitter and keep off the weight - I'm setting myself an upper limit of 12 stone 4, since I know my weight can go up and down by about 4 lbs a day. Let's see how we get on over Christmas.

Catching up again

Well, I don't think I've posted anything for ages! I've been caught up in the preparations for Christmas, and having a new fireplace - so I haven't actually sat down with my laptop for what seems like weeks.

I have lots to tell you, so I'll do separate posts over the next few days - possibly in a bit of a random order! Hope you enjoy catching up with me!

Before and After

So, here I am, at target and feeling fab.

I've just recieved my before and after pics, so thought I'd share them with you. To be honest, when I saw this, I thought "who let me out of the house looking like that!?".

The difference is astounding, and if you think I look different, imagine how different I feel.

Altogether, I've lost 6 1/2 stone with Alizone, and 3 stone before that, so 9 1/2 stone all together. It seems for years I've been carrying round an extra person with me, all the time. My poor heart, joints and muscles - now enjoying a well earned rest!

Out for dinner

I've been in London on business and out to dinner with some colleagues. I'm still officially phasing off, so really trying to stick to the phase 6 and phase 7 regimes.

As we were in an Italian restaurant, and I was avoiding carbs today, it was a bit tricky, but then I noticed this fish on the menu - seared cod loin with griddled vegetables - perfect!

It tasted delicious and just goes to prove you can stick to the plan when eating out.

OK, so I did deviate a bit by having a glass of wine with my dinner - this was a Christmas and celebratory dinner (we've just about finished a big project). Have to say, after my first glass of wine in 8 months, I was definitely a bit squiffy! And of course I savoured and loved every mouthful!

If you don't want to see calories, look away now

We're having a festive bake off at work, and it's my turn tomorrow. So this is my entry - a festive turkey and ham pie with chestnuts and cranberries on top. I'll be serving it with some homemade chutney - but I won't be having any (well, maybe just a little bit without the pastry!).

I've also made smaller mushroom, chestnut and goat's cheese ones for the vegetarians.

I'll let you know if I beat the competition and get through to the final! Wish me luck!

Makeover Pictures

This is another of my favourite photos taken by the very talented Frank Henshall - and it's also my favourite dress.

This is the fit and flare dress I bought about a month ago - sometimes I wear it with a shirt underneath or with a lightweight cardigan over it. It's very versatile and I love it!

Still can't walk properly in those shoes though - think I need stabilisers or training wheels or something!

World's Best Diet

Just watching The World's Best Diet on ITV2 (a program shown earlier in the year I think - you can find a link here - http://www.itv.com/news/tonight/episodes/worldsbestdiet/default.html).

Interesting stat - 500 cals a day over your limit will give you a weight gain of about 1 lb a week. Bizarely though, they suggest that the calorie limit for a woman is 2,000 cals a day - but I think most women's base metabolic rate is much lower. Most of the women I know who have had a medgem are around 1,400 cals per day - so on a diet of a recommended 2000 cals, they'd already be 600 calories a day over! It's no wonder we put weight on whilst thinking we're eating the right things.

Can't wait to find out what my daily calorie burning is - will know on Thursday!

Another quick dinner

Another quick dinner tonight, but lovely and healthy. Cod loin with brocolli, green beans and a hot salsa of fennel, red onion and tomato.

Put the green in a pan of boiling water, then gently fry the fennel. Add the red onion when the fennel starts to soften, then add the tomatoes when the onion starts to soften (cut them up small so it doesn't take too long). Season it all with salt and pepper. Make a space in the frying pan then add the cod (or any fish). Turn the fish over after about 3 mins and then drain the greens.

Deglaze the frying pan with vinegar (I used sherry vinegar because I like the strong, sweet taste). Put the greens on your plate, then add the fish and spoon the salsa over the top.

Takes about 10 mins in total, and it's quite filling and very tasty.
Enjoy

Pastrami Salad

So, salad for lunch, but fancied something with some bite. I made this salad based on a new york deli style pastrami sandwich.

Green salad with lettuce, spinach, green pepper, chopped gherkins and spring onions. And a dressing of natural 0% fat yoghurt, mixed with wholegrain mustard and some sweetener (makes a passable honey-mustard dressing).

Then topped off with my lunchtime allowance of 80g of protein - today it was 65g Pastrami and 15g low fat cheese.

So, appetite for something crunchy and tasty satisfied. Now for another cup of tea.

Grapefruit

So after indulging (a little) last night, I'm being ultra good today - a weetabix for breakfast and then grapefruit for my mid morning snack.

Of course it will be salad for lunch, and then an Alizonne bar for my afternoon snack. For dinner I'm going to have some cod.

And lots of water - for some reason I have a headache today.

It was a lovely evening though - I saw lots of people I hadn't seen for ages. Some of them didn't recognise me, and there were a lot of "Wow!" comments, which was really lovely. It's just a shame my other half is currently stuck in Turkey - I would have loved for him to be there too. Never mind though, he'll be home next week and I can't wait.

Have a lovely time if you're going out to Christmas parties - don't overdo it, but enjoy yourself!

Drink!

This is my first drink in 8 months - a glass of port.

Seemed just like the thing after the dinner at the Christmas party, along with a little bit of cheese - it was heaven (and I'm glad to say I did it in moderation).

Dinner was a trio of winter pies (so I only ate the filling, not the pastry) then daube of beef with green beans (I left the potatoes) and then a trio of apple desserts, which I tasted but didn't eat much of. Then 2 crackers and a tiny bit of cheese, and this glass of port.

It was lovely, and I savoured every mouthful.

Christmas Party

It's our company Christmas party tonight, and it has a Hollywood Glamour theme. So this is my outfit (I will post better pictures when I have some). Black velvet skirt and vest top, silver silk blouson jacket and lots of bling.

Oh, and redder hair! I dyed it scarlet this afternoon, as the red streaks I had put in for my makeover had started to fade (swimming in chlorinated pools is not kind to coloured hair). So, I have bright red curly hair (thanks for the rollers mum!).

I'm sure there will be more pics, so I'll add some over the next few days.

Salad days

I'm so used to having salad for lunch that it's my automatic response to "what do you fancy to eat?" even though I actually have more choice now.

So this was lunch today - with whisky smoked turkey and beetroot. All very tasty.

Steak and tatties

Tonight's dinner - a bit bigger than I usually make, but I've been feeling hungry recently and wanted to make sure I didn't have a snack attack later.

So, 100g green beans and 100g red onions - with brocolli and griddled aubergine to bulk it up. And of course potatoes - 3 small ones, boiled and then sauteed with the onion in my tablespoon of oil.

All topped off with a small sirloin steak - served blue, just the way I like it.

Lovely and very filling. And about 25 mins from start to plate.

weight

5/12/11 - 12 st 3 still (although 0.2 kg heavier than last week).

As I'm phasing off, I don't expect to lose weight now - and I know my weight can fluctuate by 2 or 3 lbs a day on occasion, so I'm quite happy.

It's been a funny week though, I was away for 2 days with catering that wasn't ideal - not much of it and when you're not eating the carbs you need extra veg. As a consequence I've been hungry, and I've cheated. The odd biscuit here, the odd piece of cake there - not sure what was going on in my head!

I think I was partly seeing how far I could push it with cheating before I gained weight, and partly I think I'm just a bit overfaced with lovely treats at the moment.

But I'm seriously back on plan today - just had dinner with lots of extra free veg to keep me off the snack attack later, and now I'm full!

What a change

I went shopping at the weekend with my husband - looking for a new coat.

Imagine his surprise when I couldn't find one that fit - because they were all too big! It's so unusual that he got quite animated about it - normally I can't find one big enough. His face was a picture - I think it's finally hitting home with him that I'm now so much smaller.

Found a great coat (the right size) last night though - they really shouldn't put John Lewis on my way home from clinic....

Me and my big sister now

And this is my and my big sis now - wearing one of her skirts!

So you can see, we're both half of what we were - but in many ways twice as much!

And like peas in a pod - especially since we bought matching glasses. It's one of those things - on Friday when we went out for lunch all three of us (me and both sisters) all turned up wearing the same colour purple! Luckily for mum she hadn't got changed at that point, and had the option of wearing a different colour - she went for green. Funny how often that happens with us lot.

Me and my big sister

I was looking for a picture of Christmas things to illustrate my last blog post, and found this picture of me and my sister - this is Christmas 2006.

We're both now a lot thinner - I'll find a more recent pic and post it in a mo!

Getting Ready for Christmas

If you’re trying to loose weight, Christmas can be a very challenging time. If you don’t want to see a big increase in the January Scales, then it’s worth doing some planning up front – and that means now.

If you're an Alizonner, then you probably already have a plan for Christmas - and I've just put together a Christmas day plan which I'll post shortly. But for everyone else who might need some inspiration to help get you through Christmas, here are my top 10 tips for surviving without adding too many pounds.

1.       Decide how much leeway you will give yourself now, before the madness starts. Will it be a disaster if you put on a pound? What about 7? What about 10? Decide what you are comfortable with as this will determine how strict you need to be.

2.       Look at your commitments for the whole month ahead – how many parties, dinners, family meals etc do you have? If it’s only a few, then you can probably afford to relish all of them – but if it’s lots, then you’ll need to prioritise them in terms of how much you will allow yourself to consume at each.

3.       On days that you don’t have festive engagements, try and stick to your normal diet, or be even stricter with yourself – that way you won’t compound any increases.

4.       Don’t stock up on Christmas treats early – unless you have superhuman willpower, that tin of chocolates or bottle of vodka will be gone by Christmas if you buy it by the end of November. If you want to spread the cost, get someone else to store your food. Mince pies with a best before date of Dec 15^th are a definite no-no unless mince pies are included in your diet. If you want to buy early and don’t have someone to store things, buy things for the freezer – brandy cream, turkey crown, chestnut stuffing etc can all be frozen and aren’t as tempting as a bottle of Baileys.

5.       Find non-foodie treats to enjoy – festive games, pampering treats, those huge bumper magazines and supplements you get at Christmas.

6.       Try and plan in some fun exercise – you will probably have extra time off work, so a long walk, sledging or even playing Wii with the kids will all help burn off a few calories – but don’t eat more because you’re exercising – use this to burn off what you “had” to eat or drink at parties etc.

7.       Offer to drive and stay off the drink – you will be popular with everyone and won’t have added to your waistline by having “empty” calories. Make a deal that if you drive, they buy your drinks all night, and stick to low cal soft drinks.

8.       Decide which festive treats you really like, and prioritise those. Which do you just eat because they are there? Can you do without them? I used to eat sausage rolls, but then realised that I didn’t really enjoy all that pastry, and so now I leave them, or just eat the sausage and leave the pastry.

9.       Don’t worry about upsetting someone by saying “no” to offers of cake, sweets, food etc – it’s your body and you are the one responsible for its maintenance. You can tell them you’ve just eaten, you’re not hungry, you just don’t fancy it or that you’ve already eaten/drunk too much this Christmas – whatever you need to do. When you get on the scales in January, it will be you, not them, you will have to face up to.

10.   Write your own list of goals and rules for the month ahead – things like:

a.       I will only drink on the following occasions – X, Y and Z

b.      I will not aim to eat all the Christmas cake by New Year’s eve

c.       I will not beat myself up about having more than 2,000 calories / 15 sins whatever, as long as I have fewer on other days

d.      I will try and keep any weight gain to less than X lbs

e.      I will do at least 3 30 min exercise sessions before New Year

So, everything in moderation – pig out some days, but then restrain yourself on others. But most of all, enjoy the break, find non-foodie treats and get at least a bit of exercise.

Merry Christmas,

Fishy treat

I'm having a phase 7 day today, which means I can have carbs - and tonight it was potatoes. So, 3 small boiled potatoes with 100g french beans, 50g tomatoes (seeded and chopped) and a lovely piece of cod loin, grilled with a parsley and lemon crust.

I dressed the potatoes, beans and tomatoes with olive oil and lemon juice and just plonked the fish on top.

It was lovely and very quick to make (boiling the potatoes took the longest) about 20 mins in all.

New Picture

I had to have a new picture taken at work this week - for my security pass and press releases etc - my last one is now very out of date, even though it's only 6 months old! Thanks to Ian Howath for the pics, which are great.

Seems it's been my week of being in front of the camera (which makes a change for me).

I wonder what next week will bring.

Potato!

Today was my first day on Phase 7 - and I can have potatoes! Great timing, as it was a pre Christmas dinner with my mum and two sisters.

We went to the catering college restaurant at Rochdale College, and it was lovely - I did eat my roast potato, but left the dauphinoise and the trimmings, but the turkey and veg were lovely.

C'mon Christmas!

Thai inspired Tuna

Gone all oriental tonight, with a Thai inspired dish. Seared tuna, coated in thai spices and chilli, served on a bed of peppers and onions which had been fried and then deglazed with sherry vinegar.

All on top of some spinach.

Lovely and colourful, tasted great and only took about 12 mins to make - what's not to love? Fast food at its best - quicker than driving to the takeaway in fact!

Makeover Pictures

I think this is my favourite picture from Friday's makeover.
Thanks again to Alizonne for the makeover - and making me feel so special and glamorous. Especially to Anne Welford and Vivienne who came with me, and to Jacqui for doing my makeup.

And to the lovely and talented Frank Henshall the photographer, who did a fabulous job and made me feel really at ease in front of the camera (no mean feat I can tell you!).

The dress is from M&S and felt lovely.

There are many more pics - I'll add a few more over the next few days, but I don't want to bore you to death dear reader!

TGI Fridays

We ended up going out for dinner after the Big Style Event on Saturday - and the nearest place was TGI Fridays.

I suspected this might happen, and so I'd checked the menu on the internet and didn't find anything that would suit, so I rang them and asked if they would do a steak with a simple salad. They said it would be no problem at all, just to ask and they'd be happy to do it.

And indeed they did. The steak was too big, so I cut it in half and had half in a doggy bag to take home (lucky cat!). There was loads of salad, and I was pretty full by the time I'd eaten mine, so didn't mind the others all having sundaes and cheesecake.

The tip here is to plan ahead if you think you might get caught out, then you won't panic. And if you're only planning on eating half your steak (or whatever) cut it in half first and push one half to the edge of your plate. Don't start eating it planning on stopping half way through - you won't be able to tell where half is once you've eaten some!

Enjoy - you really don't need to be a hermit!

To diet or not to diet...

I was watching BBC breakfast over the weekend and heard an amazing statistic. 90% of people on a diet will put the weight back on (and often more) within a year.

Now, that's an astounding figure.

But, they went on to say that losing weight shouldn't be about a "diet", which is a temporary state of mind (and state of eating) that when over is forgotten about. This is because people consider themselves to be "on or off" a diet, and when off a diet will resume bad habits etc.

So, one shouldn't diet, but change one's eating habits completely - it's more about adopting a lifestyle than being "on" a diet.

This all rang very true with me, and echoed what other Alizonne people have said on the forum - the ones who have stuck with the principles have kept the weight off, those who reverted to old eating habits piled the pounds back on. The Alizonne plan helps to reset the factory settings of your body as it were, but it's up to you to then maintain the body in good order afterwards.

So, the things I'll be sticking to are:

• eating little and often - 5 times a day (every 3 hours) suits me, and means I don't get the mid afternoon dip I used to have
• eating mostly fresh foods - I haven't eaten anything out of a packet in 7 months, so I'm not going to start - most of the stuff I've been making is just as quick and generally cheaper anyway
• limiting my carb intake - I haven't missed bread, pasta or rice, so I think I can generally do without them. And when I do have them, I'm going to limit them to mornings
• cutting out the drink - have I missed a drink in the last 7 months? No. Have I missed the hangovers and jaded feeling? Definitely not! So I'm going to stick with only planned glasses of wine for special meals (calorie counted of course) and just drink water the rest of the time.
• Planning meals - because of being on sachets I've had to plan in advance - where will I be, do I need to take food with me, will I miss / delay a mealtime etc? So, I'm going to carry on this and plan my meals in advance - OK, it may not be the full low down much in advance and my list might say "white fish and veg" rather than "cod, spinach, 100g tomatoes, 100g beans" until the night before when I'm working out my calorie allowance for the next day
• Preparation - I've also been preparing meals in advance so that there is always something "in" or handy for emergencies. If I get delayed getting home I know there is something healthy I can have at the drop of a hat that means I won't have to deviate from the plan. Definitely going to keep that up.

Oh yes, I'm going to get a MUCH bigger fridge too!

Christmas comes early

I spent yesterday "doing Christmas" at our house, as Alizonne have asked me to come up with some ideas for Christmas menus.

Rather than just do the Christmas Dinner, I've done a plan for the whole day, starting with a Bucks Fizz substitute and ending with chocolates in front of the telly.

I think it's important to be able to join in with everyone else, especially at Christmas, to minimise the feelings of being differnt or left out. So I've basically taken my usual Christmas day and Alizonned it up!

I'm most pleased with the praline truffles (in the picture) they taste amazing too! Tonight I'll find out how well they keep and thus whether they can be made in advance. Once I know that, I can write up all the recipes and a plan for making things ahead.

Funny thing is, I'll be phased off by Christmas and can eat what I want (within reason obviously) but now I feel as if I'll be missing out! How weird is that?

Night at the Ball

Here's a better picture of me just before going to the Halle Ball on Friday. We had a lovely night - I felt fab, and got lots of lovely comments and surprised looks from people I hadn't seen for a while.

I was good and stuck (almost) to plan too! It was cheese and onion tart for starters, so I ate a bit of the filling, but not the pastry and left my bread roll.

Main course was lamb with roasted veg (carrot and parsnip) so that was all on plan, and I left the potato. I didn't have dessert, just some tea. Drank water all night and had a good dance.

Watching everyone else eat really doesn't bother me though, which still surprises me. I'm sure it's helped by the fact I had an afternoon snack about 2 hours before we went, so I wasn't really hungry anyway.

Still, more parties to come, let's see what else happens before Christmas.

Big Style Event

Getting ready for the Big Style Event today - can't belive how many bags I have to load in the car. So that will be the first job before having a shower and getting glammed up - can't go to a style event looking like a bag of washing now can I?

I will go to the ball...

Off out now to a black tie event. Feel fab in my red dress and sparkly shoes. Thanks to Angel for the fur lendses!

Photo shoot

Will post more pics later, but thought you might like this in the meantime. This is Vivienne from Alizonne sharing my trousers.

And face done

And now with make up. Feeling great so far. On way to photographer's now. Nervous!

Hair do

So  here's my new hair do. Love it.I'm sure it will look better when my make up is done (I think I'm a bit scary without any face on!).

Big thanks to the lovely Hannah at David Anthony in Wilmslow for the red streaks and the choppy style at the back.

Ready for the day

Today is my makeover day, marking the end of my Alizonne journey. I'll post pics as I go along today if I can.

Here's the first, ready at the hairdressers for a hair makeover.

Oooohhh nervous and excited!

weight

23/11/11 - 12 st 3 - over 4 1/2 lbs off this week, so my home scales aren't barmy after all.
That puts me just below my target weight of 12 st 4, so I'm very happy with that. Plus, a few pounds below target will give me a bit of leeway over Christmas, which may be handy!

Happy days!

Wish me luck

I'm at the clinic waiting for my weigh in. I'm in the phasing off process, so in theory I should just be maintaining my weight now. However, when I got weighed at home this morning I was 4 lbs lighter than yesterday! Weird! Will be interesting to see what the scales here say. Will keep you posted.

Are you coming?

Are you joining us for the Big Style Event on Saturday?

If so, why not let us know you're coming (then we'll make sure we have enough refreshments for everyone!).

You can still come even if you don't RSVP, but it would help us predict numbers.

RSVP to Wardrobe Angel Steph, info@wardrobeangel.co.uk and we'll look forward to seeing you there!

Can't wait,

 

Busy day

In the run up to the Big Style Event, the party season and Christmas, it's been a busy old day today!

I've taken two days off work - yesterday I went to Trentham with mum and sis and a friend to do some Christmas shopping - got a few bits for my hubby, so good work there!

Today started with a pamper session - I'm having my makeover on Friday and then I'm at a charity ball in the evening - this all calls for some much needed maintenance, especially as my new party shoes are peep toe courts! So order of the day was a defuzz (which is much more difficult now my arms have actual pits and not flat bits underneath!), then a scrub and an application of tanning moisturiser.

And then the painting of toenails - hello! Red toes! Now that does not happen very often, ever since a fight with my dad about painted toes when I was 17, but that's another story...

Buffed, scrubbed and remade, it was then off to Media City for my radio interview with Becky Want. Thought that went well - the look of shock on her face when I showed her my old big trousers was priceless!

I was also talking to one of the staff on Becky's show about another project - he asked me how much weight I'd lost so I replied "about you", guessing he was about 9 stone. Just imaging carrying a fully grown man around with you EVERYWHERE, EVERYDAY. Not surprising I was tired with sore feet!

A quick bit of retail therapy and I now own some jeans (hurrah) for weekend mucking about in flat shoes and a lovely new jacket. Back home for a quick dinner of veggie chilli with monkfish and spinach and then back to Media City for an evening at the Lowry - Mitch Benn is on the bill tonight, so I'm looking forward to having a good old laugh.

What surprises me most though is that I can do all this running about, including some intensive shopping, all in heels, and without getting tired! At one time, if I had to walk more than about 500 yds I'd have pulled my face - now I park anywhere and enjoy the walk (especially when it's sunny like today was). Still, I'm not carrying that man around anymore!

On the rails

And here is a selection of the better stuff - suits, evening wear, coats, jackets - and everything less than £20. Too good to throw away, all these things need is a new home.

Again, lots of them still have labels on, or have only been worn once - there's a beautiful black evening dress perfect for posh Christmas parties, long evening overjackets, suits for work...

I will be glad of the room after Saturday though - at the moment I can't move in the spare room!

It's in the bag

I've spent today sorting out and bagging up clothes for the Big Style Event.
Each of these bags is just one size, from 16 - 28 (that big green one is size 22!) and each one contains trousers, skirts, tops, dresses etc. None of these are very posh, there's no labels or the like, so we'll be selling them for £1 - £2 each. There must be over 100 pairs of trousers alone, and the same of T shirts and tops.

OK, so they weren't all mine (some belonged to sisters) but I still can't believe how many clothes I had. Don't think I'll be going there again - my new plan is buy fewer things and get my wear out of them. There are things in these bags that still have their tags on!

So, if you fancy a bargain, come and join the Big Style Event - see https://sites.google.com/site/bigstyleevent/ for more details.

Radio Star

I've been invited to BBC Radio Manchester on Tuesday for an interview with Becky Want!

We contacted them about the Big Style Event, and they've asked me in for a chat. Worryingly they've also asked me to bring my "Big" trousers, so heaven knows where that pic will end up!

I'll be on about 2.30 in the afternoon, so if you can, tune in  - I'll try and get a copy of the interview (if it goes well) so I can add it on here.

Wish me luck!

Marinated Tuna

This is a really tasty tuna steak, marinated in herbs and chilly and then seared on the griddle pan.

I had it on a bed of spinach with a veg medly of pan fried corguettes, shallots and tomatoes (200g) with green pepper. Nice, easy quick dinner and very, very tasty!

I think seared tuna is one of my favourites, after scallops of course!

Where are my knees

I found this blogsite through some contacts on twitter - it's a group of 5 ladies in South Wales who are all dieting. They share success stories, tips, recipes etc.

I've just written a guest blog for them which should be posted tomorrow (it's about the Big Style Event and getting outfits sorted for the Christmas Party season). But if you're looking for some inspiration, tips or hints, why not check them out.

http://wherearemyknees.blogspot.com/

Thin Dish

I read an article today about a service in California called Thin Dish. It's a website that lists the dishes of local restaurants that contain fewer than 600 calories. Users can print out a voucher for the dish and then get a discount for it at the restaurant. If you'd like to know more, here's the review I read - http://www.springwise.com/food_beverage/a-guide-restaurant-dishes-600-calories/

This got me thinking that this would be really useful - at least a roundup of the dishes somewhere in a list. I know that the calories of dishes for restaurant chains are published (if you look hard enough or get a big calorie bible) but often small independent restaurants don't have this information.

That,of course, assumes you've got 600 calories to "spend" on your dinner.

Now, when's by Medgem test so I can find out how many calories I'm allowed...

Landmark Sachet

This is a bread muffin I made today - and more importantly it's the last sachet of my plan! I move onto the next phase tomorrow, and re-introduce more "real" food.

So, from tomorrow, my new regime will be:

• Breakfast - weetabix with yoghurt or bread with ham
• Mid-morning - an orange or 3 satsumas
• Lunch - Salad and 80g ham / cottage cheese / tuna etc
• Afternoon snack - Alizonne bar
• Dinner - veg with meat or fish

So still eating 5 times a day, which I'm going to keep up when I'm finished anyway. Since I started this plan I haven't felt hungry or had that afternoon dip in energy levels. I've had fewer headaches too, so there is clearly something else besides the weight loss going on which suits me.

And next week: I get to have an apple! How exciting!

Fish and chips

Who says you can't have fish and chips on a diet?

Swede chips are lovely (I think they have more taste than potatoes and will be sticking with them when I'm done on this diet). Spinach instead of peas, which I'm not allowed yet (too much starch in peas and beans) and pan fried fish using my oil allowance - which is 1 Tbsp per day and is actually plenty.

A squeeze of lemon juice and a big glass of water, and tuck in! Yum.

Weight

14-11-11 12st 7 - almost 2lb off this week.
I get weighed in kilogrammes, so it's sometimes a bit confusing when I convert the weight to pounds, and obviously round up or down, no point doing it to 3 decimal places, even I'm not that geeky!

Anyway, more weight loss, even though I'm phasing off and will stop losing weight any time now. Very happy though - if I lose a few more pounds that will be fine, and if I don't that will be fine too!

Let's see what happens this week, as I move into Phase 5 on Thursday and start having protein at lunchtime (tuna / cottage cheese etc). Should be fun.

Big Style Event

I'm very excited - full plans are now in place for a Big Style Event - Nov 26th, 5-8pm, Prestwich.

This started off when I was trying to decide what to do with all my "too big" clothes, and with the help of the Wardrobe Angel we came up with the idea of having a fashion event.

So, there will be clothes (not just from me, but other slimmers and a dress agency), styling advice from Wardrobe Angel, tailoring advice from seamstresses, accessories, facials, bra fitting, lifestyle coaching and all sorts of things!

We've set up a website with more details and directions etc, so keep your eye on that for updates.

We're doing goodie bags for the first 50 people on the night too, so come along and bag some treats as well as some great fashion buys and tips!

More details can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/bigstyleevent/

Sizing things up

Yesterday, I went clothes shopping for new gear, especially for work as I'm running out of borrowed clothes that fit. So, I met my stylist, the lovely Steph (Wardrobe Angel) and headed off for a small boutique on the edge of Stockport. As I'm investing in a new wardrobe (being at my target weight, give or take a couple of pounds) I wanted things that would be a bit different and a bit quirky - like me perhaps.

Armed with a rail of clothes, I headed into the changing room for the "Great Trying On Session". After chosing a few things that fit lovely and look great, I had a bag of finds. But I still have no idea what size I am. I have 12s, 14s, L and XL. But at least I've had a lovely shopping experience and a cup of tea (thanks Tracey!).

We head of to Boundary Mill (I love this place - lots of brands under one roof, discounted pricing and some of the lovliest staff in retail). With a shopping trolley full of items, it's off to the changing rooms again - and again I am confronted with a myriad of different sizes! In some brands I'm a 12, in others a 16. I know I'm pear shaped and definitely at least a size bigger on the bottom (so shift dresses are out for me) but surely a jacket is a jacket and the size should be standard. Grrrr. It just wastes too much time trying on three of everything to find the right size and is demoralising when you think you're a 12 and turns out you're a 16 for some brands! Hmph.

So I think there should be a conversion chart somewhere, that takes an average sized woman (I believe a size 14) and lists her size in all the brands so you can see what the equivalent size in brand is. Who's with me?

Dressed to Kill

So, really dressed up for a night out last night - a burlesque caberet at the Lowry. Compared to some, I was under-dressed, but felt great. Loving this black velvet skirt (TK MAXX) and the silver silky jacket. Felt very slim and elegant.

Oh yeah, I've got red hair too - had it coloured on Friday and it's a mahogany red. I'm getting used to it now, though it was a bit weird at first as it's quite a bit darker.

The burlesque was fab - I'm a bit jealous of all those pert bits, but then those nubile young things haven't had the life I've had. Ah, youth - it's wasted on the young!

weight

9/11/11 - 12 st 8 - over 2lbs loss this week.

As I'm so close to target AND so close to Christmas, I've decided to start phasing off now, as this will give me time to stabilise before Christmas. At my doctor's review, he agreed this was a sensible thing to do, and so now I have a finishing plan.

Over the next 3 weeks I'll be introducing more foods (citrus fruit this week) and then will have 3 weeks to introduce carbs and maintain a stable weight.

At the end of that process, I'll have a medgem test (to work out how many calories I personally burn in a day) and that will give me my calorie allowance for the future.

Then it's down to planning, calorie counting and maintaining the figure I've now got - so basically, I've now reset my body's factory settings, and it's up to me not to mess it up again!

Now, where can I get an orange...

Shopping

I went shopping with the Wardrobe Angel after work on Monday. For a big change, I was actually looking forward to it - I used to loathe clothes shopping.

When I met Steph, she had a rail of clothes lined up for me to try on - and all in a size 12. I had a bit of a panic attack - thought this was heading for a changing room disaster... but virtually everything fit.

Some of it didn't fit well admittedly - but some (like the black fit and flare dress, which I did buy) fit lovely. I'm a bit booby for a size 12, so anything that draped (or rather gaped) over the bust was a no-no, but the other things made me look super slim, especially around my waist which is now tiny.

I tried on lots of things, getting the feel of different brands and shops I'd never been into in my life. All very exciting (and would have been very daunting without help). I still have a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I don't "belong" in some shops - my psyche still thinks I'm a big girl who won't find anything to fit in the likes of River Island or Zara - but it's not true anymore, and I'm having trouble getting my head round it.

When I got home, a work colleague of my husband's was there. He told me that he'd done a double take when I walked in, because he though my hubby had got a new woman! And I suppose, in a way, he was right!

Fresh Tuna - Lovely

Tonight's dinner - fresh tuna, seared and served with thai spiced veg (carrots, leeks, red onion, green pepper, corguette).

I briefly marinated the tuna in sherry vinegar and the thai 7 spice, just to give it a bit of extra bite on the outside. Pan fried for a bit less than 2 mins each side, just to sear it.

It was lovely, melt in the mouth stuff, and made a nice change.