Meet My New Love

Yes folks I have a new love.  A bond that cannot be broken, ever.  A love that praises me when I'm doing well, keeps me on the straight and narrow, as well as helping me share my progress with everyone.  What is this new love I hear you cry?  My Fitness Pal.  Absolute genius.


My Fitness Pal is an app to help you with your weight loss.  It's available for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry phones and it's absolutely free.  If you don't have one of those phones, fear not, you can still use it free at www.myfitnesspal.com .  It's not just a calorie counter, oh no, it's so much more than that.  You set your goals (weight loss, maintenance etc) and then are given a calorie allowance to aim for.  If you exercise, you can put that in there too and you can earn extra calories from exercising which is great when you fancy a bit of  a treat!

What does it look like?  Look!

It's one of the healthiest approaches to weight loss I've seen in a long time and you know how many diets I've done in my time!  It's really working too.  I've lost 9lbs in three weeks and that's without exercise (that's next on my list!).  If you want to add me on there my username is shrinkingviolet23


Current weight...

14st 6lbs

You know how much I want to be out of the 14s before my birthday (23rd April) and I think I may actually do it this time!  I've been trying for over 5 years and I'm quite confident I will cry when I see a 13 on the scales.


Here's an update on the progress of my goals which I forgot about...

Weight

• Get to 14st 7lbs
• Be under 14 stone

Fitness

• Be able to run for 5 minutes solid without stopping

Clothing

• Be able to fit into my size 16 jeans again.
• Be able to fit into my polka dot pencil skirt

Nice to cross some off the list.  Here's to crossing some more off soon!

Milk and potatoes? You know you want to...

Sorry folks, had a bit of writer's block recently (hence the lack of blogness) but inspiration arrived on my doorstep recently.  When I was little, I was fascinated by a book called Everything Within that my mum had.  It's a book from around the 1920's/1930's that is packed with tips on pretty much everything (hence the name).  I loved the stuff in there about fortune telling and superstitions and the beauty tips were fascinating.  Fast forward a good few years and this wonderful book, the exact same edition as the one my mum had, crops up on ebay for 99p!  I ordered it for a bit of nostalgia and I can't put the thing down!


One thing I never noticed before were the diet tips in there.  For those not lucky enough to own this delightful read, I've included some of the gems for you:


The woman who would have a clear fresh complexion and a slender figure must remember that diet is of the greatest importance.  Nothing whatsoever should be taken between meals, and those who would lose weight should make the chief meal of the day the midday one.


Seems pretty sensible to me.


Brown bread is better than white, both for the complexion and the figure, and wholemeal is best.  Butter is not fattening, and is essential for the nervous woman.  In fact, butter is a nerve food and should not be omitted from the daily menu even when a reducing diet is taken.


OK so the bread thing is still talked about today with GI Diets and what have you but butter being essential for the nervous woman?!  What the hell?!  I must remember some Lurpak for my next job interview.


The stout woman should take tomatoes and grapefruit.  A glass of hot water, to which the juice of a lemon has been added, taken first thing in the morning in place of early tea will help.  At least a pint of hot water should be slipped before going to bed.


This one is still in use today, although I'm not sure about the obsession with tomatoes and grapefruit.


Milk and Potato Diet
This diet was at one time considered excellent for reducing, and for those whom it suits it certainly is.  It consists of taking nothing but milk and potatoes on two days a week.  The allowance is 1lb of boiled potatoes and 1 quart of milk for the whole day.


The first 1/2 pint of milk is taken at the usual breakfast hour.  The second at eleven in the morning.  The third is taken at lunch with 1lb of potatoes, boiled and eaten without butter.  The last 1/2 pint is taken at six in the evening.  Nothing whatsoever may be taken on the milk and potato days except what has been mentioned.  On other days, the usual foods are permitted, omitting those regarded as flesh forming.


Milk and potatoes?!  Really?!  Who knew?


There is no doubt whatsoever, that the most fattening meal is the one taken in the evening, and it is becoming more and more the rule with women who are keen on reducing to have only a light meal of eggs, cheese and fruit at night.


Interesting.  Eggs cheese and fruit for tea?  At once?  What a culinary delight.


All spirits, sweet wines and cocktails, and beers and stout must be avoided by those eager to lose weight.  Lemon and water, or lemon squash may be taken but best of all drinks for them is plain water from the tap.


Damn, I'll have to give up my evening pint of stout (do women drink that?  They were lushes in those days from the sounds of things!)


The latest slimming diet from Hollywood consists of hard-boiled eggs and tomatoes.  For this 3 days are set apart on which the chief meal of the day consists of 2 hard boiled eggs and 2 tomatoes.  This is the midday meal.  The tomatoes and eggs are eaten without condiments of any kind, with a little rye bread and butter.  For breakfast on those days, tea and a slice of thin toast is all that is allowed, and for the evening meal only fruit such as grapefruit, apples or a couple of tomatoes.  No afternoon tea is allowed.  This diet has been found to be very successful, and has the advantage that on other days, anything that is fancied may be taken


This is amazing.  Comforting to know that first of all, Hollywood has always been full of wacky ideas and secondly, I can have anything I fancy on the other days!  Surely that is a comfort after living on egg and tomato for 3 days.  No?  Oh.


It's interesting to see that despite all the stuff in the media these days about, ironically, the media being responsible for making women obsessed with their appearance, it's completely untrue.  The stuff in this book is immensely crazy and it's nearly 100 years old!  I love it though.  It's endearing.


Coming up soon...old school guide to exercise.  You don't want to miss it!