Accountability Anyone?

A few weeks ago I was researching weight-loss competitions, figuring since I'm losing weight anyway, some friendly competition might provide some extra encouragement. In my googling I came across Ashy Bines Bikini Body Challenge, with mixed reviews.

Ashy Bines

Many girls praised the program while others said it was useless. Curious, I had a look myself and apologies to the non-believers but her program actually looks quite reasonable and actually works off of the same theories I developed.. you know the ones that have helped me lose nearly 35 kgs. She encourages portion control mainly at dinner time, which I know works like magic for me, and exercise, not just extra time spent in the gym, but quality moves to develop not only a smaller figure, but a womanly hourglass.. just a small, toned one ;)

Not only that, but her program also appears to be based more around sugar control instead of low-fat, which is marvelous! I've been waiting for someone to let that one out, since sugar is actually the diet destroyer, and low-fat foods are usually full of it.

So yes, Ashy Bines Program gets the tick from me!

Remember though, to always use caution, if you read something you don't agree with, research it yourself, don't ever go into these things blind.




Now those non-believers, I've always wondered whether or not they actually followed the diet programs they dismiss. Most diet's work off of the same concept- controlled calorie intake versus calories expended, as well as emotional well-being while dieting. Yet so many people start these diets with the idea that all they have to do is spend a certain amount of money, and they will lose weight. All I can say is take responsibility for your own actions, you are accountable for everything you eat and do or don't do. Believe it or not, but bought programs are just a helping hand, it is still hard work. Its much the same as someone saying the treadmill they bought hasn't helped them lose weight yet, when they haven't been on it in 3 months. Losing weight takes time, it won't happen in a day, it may not happen in a week, especially if your close to a healthy weight, but if you just keep pushing, regardless of results, it will happen!

Remember, eat clean, exercise and moisturise!
Good Luck!
Rosie.x

How did those classic beauties do it?

Hollywoods finest, they are the weight loss inspiration for many. Even those deemed "Curvaceous" are often still perfectly toned. In the 70's and 80's, in the hey-day of Jane Fonda, many women opted for intense cardio and weights, gym's were filled everywhere with new classes and gym-goers often went on crash diets since that is the common stereotype of a celebrity- that they don't eat.


Ofcourse, in some cases this is true, present day young starlets have become sickeningly thin, to the point where they either look ill and emaciated or 12 years old.


So obviously, anyone advising you to "not pay attention to celebrities, do not use them as a guideline for what is "normal"" would be very right in saying so, but then, these people are human, many of them are technically normal, and many struggle with their weight! The difference between us and them is that they have to lose weight very quickly, their livelihood depends on it, while we can take the more healthy route of slow and steady.


In saying that, it isn't necessarily bad to look on someone who has had a goal in mind, and achieved it, as inspiration. While I wouldn't condone trying to "be" someone else, I find many stars who look good while still maintaining a womenly appeal and healthy weight, very encouraging.


So today I've been looking around finding some of my favourite older and more recent stars who I find most inspiring for beauty.


1. Sophia Loren 

While very small, you can see in her arms that she is not underweight, or unhealthy. This classic Italian star of hollywoods golden age has maintained her beauty and weight well up into her 70's.
In her book, "Women and Beauty" she explained the range of exercises she did to keep that svelte waistline. A very similar set of exercises can be found here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/380060-exercise-for-curves/


Her current figure has incited endless praise, especially after appearances made in 1999 at the academy awards, showing how good 64 can get. "Loren opts for daily exercise: 45 minutes of stretching and abdominal crunches and a one-hour walk. She also keeps a lid on la dolce vita (the sweet life). She eats European style: a light breakfast of decaf and an English muffin, mid-morning sandwiches, a large lunch (usually pasta, chicken, salad and fruit) and little, if any, dinner. "She weighs now what she did years ago," says Hollywood fashion designer and friend Nolan Miller. "I don't think it would ever enter her mind to be a size 6.""


but ofcourse its not all exercise, 


"Loren's beauty secrets? "A lot of rest. Good thoughts. Exercise," says the star. She rises most days at 5 a.m. and usually goes to bed by 8 p.m. In between, her daily beauty rituals are decidedly low-maintenance. She washes her hair with baby shampoo and colors it herself when necessary. (Lately, she has been road-testing blonde streaks, "because every teenager does that," she says.) She does her own manicures and her own makeup, using products blended to her skin tones by a movie-makeup-artist friend from Italy. Her only indulgences, she says, are the potions—such as an eye cream containing vitamin A and a rosewater face lotion." 




If you would like to read more about this inspiring beauty and praised actress:
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20128361,00.html




2. Vivien Leigh

If you've seen Gone With The Wind, then you'll this as none other than Scarlet O'Hara, the minx like southern belle who in a time of civil war, still rose to success through sheer stubborn will, and looked gorgeous throughout!


The petite Vivien Leigh herself was a strikingly beautiful screen and stage actress for most of her life, constantly challenging herself and her craft.

"Miss Leigh still has her Scarlett O’Hara figure. “I love food.” she confessed, “so I do not give up the pleasure of eating to make my clothes fit. When I must I go on a quick five-day diet. The secret is not procrastinating. A brisk walk Is my favorite form of exercise. We must use our muscles to keep them from getting stiff, and walking does this.”"

"To be assured of a flat stomach, Miss Leigh does this routine daily. Lie on your back on the floor. With straight knees raise your legs to a 45-degree angle, lower them slowly almost to the floor then raise them again. Balance yourself with palms under your spine. Make three minutes your ultimate goal, but work up to this limit slowly."

If you would like to know more about this timeless beauty and very talented actress: http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeschooling/2010/06/twenty-interesting-facts-about-vivien-leigh/comment-page-3/

So far, what I've found from my research is that these women have both left an impression everywhere they went. Beauty isn't simply being "thin", it is being in proportion: not focusing on only one part of your body, and, Taking care of yourself: Don't neglect your skin, exercise and diet are great, but ensure you drink plenty of water and are getting adequate vitamins and minerals to keep that glow about you, a little moisturiser doesn't hurt either. Remember: Its easier to prevent problems with skin then to cure them. 

 My last and final choice of inspiration is..

 3. Dolly Parton

Always smiling, this charming singer and songwriter dubbed "The Queen of Country Music" was and still is an icon of beauty for women the world over. Some may call her fake or gaudy but whenever I've seen her she has been nothing but ladylike and respectable, ofcourse that isn't to say she doesn't put on a good show! Delivering hilarious interviews, and awe-inspiring concerts with the unique twist that only comes from a unique personality. Over her multi-decade career, dolly has maintained her figure and looks without the help of trainers and nutritionists. She has never sugar-coated her diet and exercise regime, or pretended it was easy. “It’s a bitch any way you look at it. You either starve or you get fat. ”The singer admitted that her exercise regime is basically “a tiny little bit of squats and sit-ups.” But she is still conscious of the scale. “I’m very short, so I just have to watch my weight because I have a big appetite,”

In many articles the "cabbage soup diet" appears to be the main weight-loss secret for this bombshell, and although I wouldn't usually encourage strict or short-term diets such as this, it doesn't appear to be too extreme, and according to many comments and other articles, others have found it quite effective also. http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/soup/vegetable-soup/dolly-parton-diet.html. I personally am quite happy with the diet I'm currently on, but this soup could be a nice addition sometime, always tweek your diet to suit you.

Tips from Today:


* Don't be jealous or discouraged by others achievements, be inspired!


* The above women were chosen based on their overall appeal, not just dress size. I appreciate beauty on someone who has made the effort and put aside the time for it,  not just starved until they were "the right size", there is no "right" size for anyone, but there certainly is a healthy size. They also behave confidently and respectfully, that could make anyone attractive, hence "beauty is on the inside".




Exercise, Eat Clean and Moisturise!


Rosie.x

and just like that, I'm Back!

I haven't had time to write in a few weeks! I was worried that if anyone had been reading my posts they might have taken that as a sign of my giving up, but rest assured I haven't lost sight of my plight.

The last time I posted, I was on Celebrity Slim and bouncing up and down between 68 and 71 kgs, if you're just tuning in Celebrity Slim is a meal replacement diet plan, and it worked quite well, but unfortunately whenever I got to the 68 kg mark I always lost it and would go back up. 

Since then I've given up on Celebrity Slim, it was great while it lasted, but it seems like I was spending a lot of money on something that I wasn't taking all the way. I've wondered why this is, I always feel a bit physically small when I go below 70, but isn't that the point? I think in my case CS made it too easy (Crazy? I know!), and therefore it was all too simple to say yeah, eat the cookie, you'll lose it again easy enough, but when you think about it, doing that means you never actually get anywhere, you just go up and down!

So what am I doing instead you ask?

Well, I know CS was effective so I'm taking some tips from there. 

Diversity, its tempting to say I'll just eat these 3 or 4 foods each day and thats it!.. You can't do it, I can't do it, you gained weight because you like food remember? One, eating the same thing day in, day out, is boring, and two you'll miss out on all those vitamins and minerals which actually help you feel like your not depriving yourself. Obviously I need to keep it reasonable with my grocery bill and everything, but a few options doesn't. and from this I've devised these basic guidelines.

Breakfast: I personally love breakfast and when you eat a substantial one, morning being the only time you really can with gaining weight, it helps you feel full for the rest of the day! My breakfast of choice is a nutty, seed and grain filled cereal, as I don't tend to get much of these healthy carbs from my other meals. When trying to come up with meals, think about what's healthy and missing. 

Lunch: I split lunch up into 2 meals, morning and afternoon tea, in between these I drink Green Tea to help control my appetite and keep me all energised and buzzing. If you've read any of my previous posts (which I would certainly advocate lol) you'd know I act like this stuff is a gift from god, but it does have its merits, its not too heavy on caffeine, just enough to help curb the cravings and keep you awake, but the flavonoids (only the ones found in green tea) assist with fat oxidation, basically controlling the amount of fat you can absorb. My morning and afternoon tea options are usually any of these: Low-fat low-sugar yoghurt (flavoured not natural, taste is a factor here lol), Low fat cottage cheese with 2-3 vita weats (seedy grainy wholemeal crackers), an apple, a banana, cornthins with peanut butter (if I'm seriously hungry). 

Dinner: Now this is the important one, I always go light on dinner, regardless of what you've eaten during the day, dinner is the meal that really determines how much you'll lose or maintain. My dinner options are: a low fat fish fillet with a side of brocolli, carrot, cucumber (or whatever you like so long as its of the veggie family), a ceaser salad (I'd never liked salad before but then I tried some of the ceaser dressing and fell in love, you can't hate it if you've never tried it), and ofcourse soup! Any soup, I prefer instant, so long as its below 100 calories, a few vita weats and a small can of flavoured tuna, and then thats it! I don't eat anything after dinner, which does take a few days to get used to, but once you have, you'll wonder why you weren't doing it before! 

Snacks: Noone's perfect, so if you get hungry: blueberries, strawberries, a few pieces of ham, a few slices of cheese. 

This is the diet thats been working for me for over 2 weeks now! and when I say working, I mean it took me down from 73 to 69 kg!

Exercise ofcourse is important, for me I find it more important than dieting, everyone is different. I've been experimenting with weight training lately since I had always avoided this due to a fear of bulking up. Along with my usual hour and a half of cardio (either Zumba, other dance workouts or elliptical), Ive been doing half an hour of deep stretching plus half an hour of Ab work, leg lifts in all directions and jazz style arm work, all against the resistance of my own body, no weights required, and the results really blew me away!  After a week I was noticeably more toned, everywhere! The internet is filled with example of these types of exercise so start searching, Diet.com has some really great video tutorials which I've become quite fond of. 

As always, moisturise your whole body, cocoa butter is my favourite, it really does make a difference, eat clean where you can and make exercise worthwhile, never put less than 100% into it! 

* Devise a diet that works for you. 

* Exercise the way you like, but always exercise. 

* Moisturise to help tone your skin. If your losing weight loose skin can become an issue, so moisturise!

* Research! look up new exercises, diets, recipes, mantras and tips. You never know what you'll find!

I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't know it worked!

Good Luck, 

Rosie.x

Taking my own advice!

If you've read any of my previous posts you'll know that when it comes to weight loss, the exercise side of things is where I excel while dieting I don't just fall off of the wagon.. I fly off, roll down a hill and land in a volcano.. But as I always say, there is hope! I've decided rather than moaning about how I can never diet for more than a few weeks, I'll persevere and do it anyway.. you never know!

But where does an uncontrollable eater start? In the past my diets, although successful were short lived, they were incredibly hard and truth be told I was constantly hungry, but what is hunger exactly? Our body telling us eat now or you'll die before you make it to the fridge? or is it just our bodies response to running on its own fuel? Regardless, health is my main focus, we know what kinds of foods we need and how much is too much, when it comes to dieting I am all about balance, not starvation.

Funny Story.. Alright so not "haha" funny, but I find it a little interesting. So for about 6 months last year I hovered on 80 kgs, I was working out as always, and had even cut my calories down further (to around 800 per day, very hard!), but there was no weight loss, not even a gram, this led to me giving up and over eating again because it seemed like there was no point, but then I decided no, I'd already lost 20 kgs, I could do that again, I just had to do something different, completely different. From my bouts of lone dieting I had a reasonable understanding of portion sizes for snacks, which ones were filling, which ones were light, etc. Remember: Trial and Error, we're all unique and what works for me might not work for you, so we all have to do our own experiments.

Celebrity Slim was the answer for me. This is a meal replacement Program whereby you replace two meals per day with a Shake, Soup or Bar from the Celebrity Slim product range, then eat 2-3 allowable snacks per day and one balanced meal. The product range is very extensive as well, there are lot of convenient pre-packaged snacks you can purchase as well as other little things to help you along the way.

I did this for around 2 months and lost about 8 kgs, but as I said before, I was hungry, incredibly hungry, and not cheating was insanely difficult as well, but what diet isn't? By the time I'd gotten down to 72 kgs I started thinking, wow this is hard, and I'm pretty close so maybe I can go it alone now...

Well that was 3 months ago, and I only just lost those last 2 kgs, so clearly going it alone doesn't work out so well, especially for me, in my brain this always ends up meaning your technically free to eat anything.. a la the cookie disaster (see previous posts). Reward systems work for some people, the idea is that you diet exceptionally well all week then reward yourself with a treat, but that can't be the answer for everyone, especially not impulsive eaters like me who once they have the treat, they can't stop, for me it has to be all or nothing!

Celebrity Slim has served me well in the past, and I believe it will again. I know I'm capable of maintaining my weight, I've been doing it for weeks! So I just need a little help losing it.

According to The Maltz Principal, it takes 21 days to make a certain behavior a habit. This could be applied to making regular trips to the gym, remembering to take medications, and even dieting! The idea is that basically by Day 21, only eating what is allowed on the program will become a natural fallback rather than something that must be consciously enforced.  So this is what I will do, afterall dreaming and hoping is only a small part of the journey, planning and taking action makes up the rest! 
And Day 1, starts today! I'll tell all about it tomorrow so don't forget to tune in!!