Louisa's Weight Loss Blog

This is a typical dieter’s dilemma: I’m trying to lose weight but none of my clothes fit! It seems pointless buying stuff when it probably won’t fit in a few weeks…

Limited Collection Tunic from Yours Clothing

If you’re a regular visitor to Total Chunk, you probably have seen a banner for ‘Yours Clothing’. They’re a fantastic retailer of clothes made especially for women from sizes 14-32. Not only are their clothes cut and designed for bigger women, the prices are excellent. Now is a fantastic time to visit their website as their sale is still on but the spring lines are already out!

I piled weight on a bit over Christmas but sensible eating seems to have levelled everything out even though I’d still like to be firmer. I am a UK size 12-14 on my bottom half (UK size 8-10 up top – I’m a typical British pear-shape) It means that the stuff at Yours Clothing is now too big for me. whilst this IS exciting, it’s frustrating because they stock a lot of fantastic stuff that is the right price for a ‘transition wardrobe’

There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t take pride in your appearance, particularly if you are in the process of trying to lose weight. They’ve got some fantastic items in that will certainly contribute to helping to boost your confidence and get the compliments rolling in!

Take a look and let me know what you think of this ‘find’… just don’t try and stay bigger so you can keep shopping here!

Twitter Can Be Used To Track Your Weight Loss

Yes you read it right, you can use Twitter to help with your weight loss plan!

If you’re not familiar with Twitter then you can write short messages called “tweets” and these are left on your profile for all to see.

So why not tweet about your current weight?

If you tweeted everyday just saying how much you weighed then you’ll have a fantastic record of how you’re doing when reaching your goal size. You can get your friends and family to “follow” your twitter profile giving you a bigger incentive to work harder at losing pounds.

Don’t become too obsessed with your everyday weight, it can fluctuate around plus or minus 2 pounds per day. If you aim to lose 2 pounds a week (a good target) then compare your current weight to the tweet you made the week before.

So here’s the tips for losing weight with twitter:

1. Tweet your weight everyday
2. Get all your friends/family to follow your tweets
3. Compare your weight WEEKLY not daily
4. Keep tweeting until you reach your goal weight!

You can follow Louisa on Twitter here.
We’d love to see your “daily weight tweets” so make sure to follow TotalChunk on Twitter!

Jonny is my lovely boyfriend. Jonny and I are trying to lose a bit of weight but Jonny likes beer. We have realised that this is more problematic than we originally thought.

Beer is hugely popular but not good for calories counters

Bless him, he gave up beer for only a couple of weeks and he lost 7lbs with no extra effort. Unfortunately, he’s put the weight back on and this makes him sad which in turn makes me sad. I don’t like being sad so I’m on a fact-finding mission…

Anyway, I’ve found a website called Aleuminati  (I’m waiting for my membership to be confirmed) but once I get on the forums, I’m hoping to be able to source the best beers for dieters. After all, we should all get to enjoy a little of what we fancy as long as we don’t take it too far and get ‘rat-arsed’ every night and drink 1000 calories in the process!

Watch this space – I’m hoping to find out what the tastiest beers are that are diet-friendly too!

Will surgery really help you to lose weight?

Going under the knife seems like a drastic method to lose weight, after all, anaesthetic can be deadly and things could go wrong if you pick the wrong doctor…

Z-list celebrity Kerry Katona infamously put herself through thousands of pounds worth of cosmetic surgery to acheive her ideal body after having four children understandably took its toll.

The trouble with Kerry was that she wasn’t willing to put in the hard work to keep the weight off, so she piled on the lbs as her life continued to spiral out of control.

Are you thinking about liposuction?

There is no shame in turning to a surgeon for help when it comes to losing weight. If you have turned to diet and exercise and lost a lot of weight but the last few lbs are tough to shift then lipo really could be for you. The only problem is if you don’t change your diet and exercise programme accordingly, you are likely to put weight back on and waste your time and money.

There are two types of liposuction:

• There is a more aggressive form where a tube (called a cannula) is inserted into the fatty area and pushed in and out whilst a vacuum literally pumps out all the fat in the required area. This is done under a general anaesthetic and can be painful. Patients are required to wear structured underwear for a few weeks otherwise remaining fat could become lumpy and uneven.
• Tumescent Liposuction is much simpler and more for those who can’t shift stubborn pockets of fat. A solution is injected into the problem area and over time the fat dissolves. There are less side effects and the recovery time is considerably quicker than traditional liposuction.

Do I approve of people who choose liposuction as a weight loss method? I don’t approve of liposuction for people who need to lose a lot of weight and have not tried other options first, however, I am practical enough to understand that these treatments are available and are the right choice for some people.

Cosmetic treatments like this aren’t the easy way out as keeping the weight off is YOUR job, not the surgeon’s. If you are contemplating a treatment like liposuction, ask yourself the following questions first, the correct answer should be obvious:

1. Can I achieve the same results without treatment?
2. Is the doctor I’ve chosen fully qualified and experienced?
3. Do I like and trust my doctor?
4. Is this my decision or am I under pressure from someone else?
5. What are the risks involved?
6. How long until I can resume normal activities?
7. Will I be reviewed after the treatment?
8. Will I need pain relief?
9. How frequently does the doctor I have chosen carry this procedure out?
10. Will there be any added costs?

A few weeks back, I wrote a post about how singing could help you lose weight. If you’re sat in a car on a long journey or you’re in a traffic jam with precious little else to do, it’s no substitute for the gym, but it’s worth a shot to pass the time! Sit up straight, pull your stomach in and belt out those notes!

Anyway, Jonny likes to watch The One Show at 7pm when we’re eating dinner because he likes to pretend that he likes presenter Christine Bleakley. In reality, he is a bit of an old man at heart and enjoys the inoffensive banter and the nature sections they include. Well, today they included an item about how singing lowers your cortisol levels which I thought mildly interesting… (more…)

For those of you out there who want to lose weight but feel overwhelmed about the amount of diet and exercise plans out there, don’t despair just yet.

Yes, there are hundreds, possibly thousands of different diets out there, but don’t delay trying to lose weight even though you aren’t sure about which plan to follow. How on earth do you know which one is the best for you? After all, can you possibly contemplate a life without carbs? Do you love cabbage so much that you’d be happy to follow the cabbage soup diet but live with the flatulence?

There are so many diet methods out there to try, yet no matter what anybody tells you, there is no “correct weight loss method”. Anybody who tells you that there is only one method to lose weight is probably trying to sell you something and will probably hinder your progress more than help it.

All diets follow the basic weight loss principle: if you reduce your intake of calories and increase your exercise, you WILL lose weight.

Go on a diet, lose weight. Simple!

Weight loss plans pretty much all follow this principle – they just take a different route. As you will already be aware, everybody is different and different plans work for different people. Will Atkins work for me, Louisa? Heck no! I love carbohydrates and when my IBS royally kicked off three years ago, I temporary had to give up gluten and dairy. This meant no bread, milk, cheese and pasta – everything I love! I lived off chicken, veggies, oat milk, porridge and gluten-free pasta and pesto. I mean it when I say that this is pretty much all that I ate for months. I lost weight but at what cost? I was generally unwell and miserable. Would I enforce that kind of diet on myself again? No, there has to be a better way that I am happy to live with where I don’t feel denied anything I’d like from time to time.

Dieting is a lifestyle choice. Once you reach your goal, are you going to go back to your old eating habits? No! You need to be happy with the diet you’ve chosen otherwise you’ll resent your decision and will be less likely to stick to it… and get fat again.

Slimming aids

A side note for those contemplating taking slimming aids like the acai berry products or Hoodia – you need to realise that

a.) They will not work unless you eat a healthy diet and exercise too

b.) The clue is in the name – they are slimming aids!

You can’t eat rubbish and expect to lose weight. Again, anyone who tells you that pills makes weight loss easy has ulterior motives. This means that you still need to choose a healthy diet plan, they are not a long-term solution but the right one could certainly help you lose weight and keep it off in the long run. As you know, I recommend Proactol.

Choosing the right diet

For fussy eaters and those with food allergies, how do you choose the right diet that lets you eat the foods that you like? Over the coming months, I intend to ‘Showcase’ a selection of diets and not just write a bit about them, but give an honest account of what it’s like to follow these diets. Soon, I will be publishing a piece about the South Beach Diet – make sure you look out for it!

2012 - better on the big screen I suspect

Last night, Jonny and I went to the first showing of the new film 2012 staring John Cusack and the only other name I recognise, Thandie Newton. I won’t give the plot away to those who haven’t seen it yet, but it wasn’t the greatest film I’ve ever seen. Yes, it’s rather predictable in some places, the acting leaves much to be desired and there are plot holes that should be better explained. However, if you enjoy general chasos, death and devastation and if you like to watch famous monuments crumble such as the Washington Monument, the Cristo Redentor in Rio de Janeiro or the Vatican in Italy, this is definitely something you might like.

Anyway, standing at the cinema I was appalled by two things. The price of food (£6.50 for a crappy frankfurter hotdog and a massive sugary fizzy drink) and the quality of the food and drink on offer.

There was a Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream stand, a huge kiosk for pic and mix sweets and the aforementioned hotdogs, nachos and the obligatory popcorn.

Considering this kind of thing is crammed with salt that is deliberately intended to make you thirsty and quaff gallons of the expensive fizzy drinks, I do feel somewhat outraged. Why does this make me so cross? Most cinemas have a policy where they do not allow you to bring your own food in.

This is wrong for a few reasons:

1. Their portions are gigantic and they encourage you to buy a medium rather than a “small” drink by reminding you that it is only 20p more.
2. You don’t realise how much you are eating when you’re sat in a cinema and in my teens, if I had popcorn it was usually eaten by time the half an hour of ads finished before the film started!
3. They actively encourage you to buy food by making the food stands more prominent in the lobby than the box office. By time you’ve waited 10 mins to buy your movie tickets, you’re hungry because your brain has been bombarded with images of food!

How can you get past this?

Take a big handbag to hide your snacks of suitable portions. Drink water instead of a litre of evil fizzy drinks. Do you remember my blog posts about fizzy drinks?

Total Chunk Top Tip: Cinemas are a business like everybody else but dieters need to be aware of their underhand money-making techniques. Until cinemas are offering diet-friendly snacks for those dieters who really enjoy a little munch when watching a film on the big screen, my advice is to take your own food and do not apologise if you are ‘caught out’. Dried fruit, rice cakes or a small packet of crisps are all OK in moderation but if you’re really trying to lose weight, get used to not eating whilst distracted with a good movie.

The Daily Mail printed today that fat people were voted among the worst people to sit next to on a flight.

15% of respondents said that they didn’t like sitting next to fat people. To be brutally honest, I think that this percentage would be higher if people were more forthcoming with their honest opinions. We can all be rather impatient when we fly and our tolerance levels towards other people are likely to be far lower than usual. The poll also cited that people talking on their mobiles, those who recline their seats right back and swearing also ranked as highly annoying and rather rude.

What the article failed to mention was the percentage of respondents who resent being sat next to a ‘lively’ family. I don’t mind children but I don’t particularly like other people’s rude and badly behaved brats. Without wishing to sound like an old woman, when I was a child I sat down still and was quiet. I did not yell or scream in public and neither did my sisters. I have more patience with the elderly than I do with children who cannot/will not be quiet in public. My neighbours either side are both young families and I have been known to bang on the walls yelling at them to shut up because the toddlers have so many monumental tantrums that they distract me from my studies.

Would you want to sit next to him on a plane?

Back to the overweight, I can really see why this would be an issue on an economy class flight. The seats are small and the leg room is frankly, stingy. At 5ft 7″ tall I have a short body but stupidly long legs. It’s a curse, not a blessing I promise! I have to sit on the aisle seat so I can stretch my legs into the gangway when no one is walking past as I find it hard to stand on a plane. If an obese person is spilling over into my seat, this reduces my elbow room and makes me even more uncomfortable. Excuse my bluntness, but airplanes were not made with fatties in mind.

If you are overweight and a frequent flyer, is it time that you thought about losing some weight? Not only will YOU be more comfortable sitting in a seat that you fit in without having to request an extender for your seat belt, you will be at less of a risk of DVT and your fellow passengers will be more comfortable as well. It’s a win-win situation!

Today is Saturday and I’m feeling much better today. I’m still a bit snuffly and tired and weak but I fully intend to be starting the diet again PROPERLY on Monday. There is no point in doing anything half arsed. When you’re trying to lose weight, you should never resent your choice to improve your life. You should always feel in control of your decision. Once you have decided something in your life has to change you have to decide what must change and how you will change it. People who write down their goals and share them are more likely to achieve them. Ask yourself the following questions and write down the answers, stick the answers on the fridge as a constant reminder of why you are doing what you are doing.

Why have you decided to lose weight?

How will your life improve when you hit your target?

Losing weight and keeping it off is not dieting, it is a new life style choice. You must be ready to embrace these changes. Are you prepared to make the changes necessary?

Take your time and think about it. If your reasons and motivation aren’t strong enough, every day of your diet will be hard, you will resent it and you will probably fail. Don’t torment yourself, be prepared and determined to succeed.

The relationships that we have with other women are more vital than you may think. Could Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte have got through their lives on SATC without each other? I doubt it! The support your friends can offer is invaluable when you’re on a diet. Why? Because women are so good at supporting each other. When I have been on a diet, my friends have helped me avoid ‘naughty’ foods, they have taken my mind off eating and they will always compliment me on losing just a tiny bit of weight because other women notice these things. Your male friends will only notice your appearance if you’re wearing a low cut top!

Your girlfriends may even go on your new diet with you for moral support. Dieting can be the most isolating and lonely experience of your adult life but a friend’s love, support and guidance changes the experience from a negative one to a positive one. Women are usually happy to discuss most things openly with each other. If you have a friend who you’re dieting with, you can discuss your meal plans, how much weight you hope to lose, your fears about losing weight and of course, all of the sexy clothes you’ll be able to wear once you’re slim! Did you know that cravings usually last 20 mins before they pass? That is just a short telephone (or text!) conversation with your friend that will get you through those darker moments. Losing weight isn’t easy and nobody expects you to do it completely on your own.. and why would you if you have good friends?

Louisa’s Top Tip: Tell your friends you’re on a diet. Good friends will help you stick to the diet and they will remove temptation from your path. They will take your mind off your cravings and might even exercise with you if you ask nicely!