2 posts tagged “health”

Oh it's here again, the already slim brunette staring at the skimpy red swimsuit and wondering 'how can I fit into a bikini like that?'.  Now, I am sure any intelligent person would say 'buy it in the next size up dear', but apparently this is not the answer.  Apparently it is easier for an overpriced cereal to form two thirds of your diet for two weeks.  Well, although I think this is incredibly flawed and stupid, I cannot help but be intruiged as to whether it works.  I am feeling a little self concious about my wobbly bits at the moment and feel the urge to do a big journalistic piece so I'm going to give it a go.

Before I go ahead with this, I want to explain that i am not in to faddy diets, nor do i see any benefit in crash dieting and I know that really the only way to stay slim is to be constantly healthy, but that doesn't halt my curiosity about the whole affair.  Besides, one of the joys of study leave is that I can now eat breakfast and lunch at home, so cereal is something I can actually eat at other times than at breakfast.  Goodie.

In researching this plan, I have come accross some amusing discoveries.  Firstly, there are 112 calories in a bowl of special K, 6% of an adult woman's daily allowance I am told.  Therefore, if two of your daily meals only come to 224 calories, I can hardly say i'm surprised that you would start to lose weight.  However, the box says you can 'even have your normal snacks and drinks' so perhaps they rely on you snacking to prevent complete starvation.

To make the whole plan seem more credible they have backed it up with research from Loughbrough University.  My second cousin went there, she got anorexia.  They don't have my full trust as an institution for promoting safe weightloss (and yes it was as a result she became anorexic, I shan't explain how as that is her business).  Still, my sister's old housemate Emma swears by it, saying that as long as you switch between the different flavours it's not too boring, and she is very slim, so perhaps it has worked for her.

I am taking my precautions with this, especially given that it is exam time.  I aim to do the full two weeks, but if it affects me too much I am giving up straight away.  The box also says you should be over 18 to do the plan, but I choose to ignore that piece of advice.  I have stocked up on tea, diet coke, multivitamins, cod liver oil and fresh fruit to try and keep general nutrition levels up.

Will report back in a week or so

     It may seem ridiculous that I, a 5’7’’, size 10 15 year old, want to lose weight.  And I don’t want to give the impression that I am in any way one of the following:

• Anorexic
• Messed up
• Self loathing
• Vain, hoping to receive lots of ‘you’re reaaallly fit’ remarks.

     Thing is, right now I don’t feel fat in terms of the world, just in terms of me.  Looking at photos from even a few months ago I get nauseous, having spent my entire childhood being chubby, when I began to shed the weight aged thirteen or so I was overjoyed, and for the next two years I felt as comfortable as could be with my figure.  My boobs were about the right size, my hipbones stuck out nicely and my jaw was well defined.  I pretty much feel as if I had the perfect figure.

     However, too many drunken nights and subsequent trips to the chip shop soon saw to that.  I joined a gym but, well, like everyone I don’t really go all that much.  I have now developed a double chin, love handles and, worst of all; I don’t fit into many of my clothes from last summer.  This is something that makes me feel completely out of control.
    I just don’t feel quite comfortable with my current figure.  I don’t like the fact that in photos I’m constantly jutting my head out ridiculously so as to avoid a double chin or worse, the huge hunk of fat that makes it look like you have no definition between the collar bone and the jaw.  I don’t like the fact that fat sticks out from the top of my jeans, something I believe is known as ‘muffin top’.  I feel that my entire personality is caught up in being skinny, it just doesn’t work.

     However, for all my ranting, I cannot confess to the existence of a method I wish to follow to carry out my wishes.  My mother has always warned me against yo-yo dieting, saying that unless your personality can manage a consistently healthy lifestyle then it will never work.  I would love to be a diet snob and agree with her, but the sad truth is that I don’t think my personality can manage a constantly healthy lifestyle.  My nocturnal existence/ insomnia means that I am often up snacking into the late hours, my job in a sandwich bar means that most Sundays I am surrounded constantly by fatty sandwiches and cakes, and don’t even talk to me about the gym.

      What we can pretty much conclude from this exercise is that, like a lot of people, I crave the best of both worlds.  However, this is a very unsustainable lifestyle.  That is why, from Monday, I am living a healthy lifestyle so that I can get back to the figure with which I feel most comfortable.  Well, until Wednesday at least.