Strumpet's Diary - Welcome to Planet Strumpet!!!

strumpet

Halifax have really annoyed me!

They sent me a letter saying they were changing the conditions of my bank account "to give me a better service and more readily attend to my banking needs".

Before, it was a moneyback account which gave me cashback whenever I use my debit card - worth about £65 a year to me.

Instead, they are going to pay me £5 a month if I pay in more than £1000 a month - easy as my salary goes into this account.

But then, "to give me a better service and more readily attend to my banking needs", instead of charging me debit interest on my overdraft (about £3 a month), they are going to charge me £1 A DAY for every day my account is overdrawn which will cost me £25 a month at least = £300 A YEAR!

How does this "give me a better service and more readily attend to my banking needs"???

T*ss*rs

Horace

Sorry I misread your posting, I seriously thought you had put on 15 stone over christmas:eek: Mind you I bought some bathroom scales the other day (a woolies purchase) and jumped on them - I too am on a diet as I have put on over 2 stone in 18 months:eek: :mad:

Oh dump the Halifax they are a bunch of nincompoops - switch to First Direct as they are a much nicer bunch and they may still be offering money to open an account with them. Plus you get to speak to a real person 24hrs a day 7 days a week and 365 days a year:j They offer a free £500 overdraft of which the first £250 is free of charges go over that limit then you will end up being charged some interest. They have some nice savings accounts too - their new e-saver account has a good rate of interest and offers more than their bonus saver account. Have a look see https://www.firstdirect.com Oh and any interest that your accounts earn can be swept into a savings account etc.

Brrr...I can't wait to go on my holibobs on Friday, I am off to Spain for a week using up the free flight voucher that I won last January, accommodation is in my OH's dad's appartment (basic but free).:j

MrsPorridge

Strumpet - I echo what H said "ditch the Halifax"

I am jealous of your pressure cooker and your subscription to BBC Good Food. Have you used the pressure cooker yet? My Mum used to have one back in the 70's and I was terrified of it as if the pressure built up too much then it would "blow its top" - literally the weight would shoot up - I was terrified it would hit me on the head (although I never saw it happen).:eek: My Dad still uses the same cooker now.:eek: I saw Jamie Oliver use one and wanted one, but the one he sells was around £100.:eek:

Looks like we're all on a diet then - we'll have to help each other along. I have put my goal in my siggy to help me along.:D My first weigh day will be Monday morning about 7am in my nightie:D

strumpet

MrsPorridge wrote: »

I am jealous of your pressure cooker and your subscription to BBC Good Food. Have you used the pressure cooker yet? My Mum used to have one back in the 70's and I was terrified of it as if the pressure built up too much then it would "blow its top" - literally the weight would shoot up - I was terrified it would hit me on the head (although I never saw it happen).:eek: My Dad still uses the same cooker now.:eek: I saw Jamie Oliver use one and wanted one, but the one he sells was around £100.:eek:

Looks like we're all on a diet then - we'll have to help each other along. I have put my goal in my siggy to help me along.:D My first weigh day will be Monday morning about 7am in my nightie:D

Morning Mrs P.

My pressure cooker is going to get its first outing this weekend - I feel I need to read the instructions properly to avoid it blowing up as you suggested it might! I remember my mum having one that had an emergency seal on the top to release the pressure if it exceeded the saftey level. It used to literally howl as the air escaped. My colleague Carol swears by hers. A very efficient way to cook. It only cost £29.99 from Argos too cos mum left the price on it!!!

Weightwise, I am 15 stone and wish to lose 2 stone or 28lbs just like you. My aim is to do it by the time we go on holiday (which we haven't booked yet). My problem, is that I also want to get fit in the gym and get all my muscles back that I lost when I was very ill back in 2005. Unfortunately, muscle weighs more than fat so I could get fitter, look better but still lose no weight!

Indeed, using the body mass index chart, folk like Linford Christie show as being clinically obese as they weigh so much for their height. But it is all muscle and no fat. We should be looking at our body fat % instead but this requires specialised equipment to measure.

I am sort of following Paul McKenna's 4 rules:

1. When you are hungry, eat
2. Eat what you want, not what you think you should
3. Eat slowly and consciously
4. When you think you are full, stop eating (even if your plate is not empty)

Oh, and Mrs P........make sure you weigh yourself post morning poo!

MrsPorridge

strumpet wrote: »

Oh, and Mrs P........make sure you weigh yourself post morning poo!

That goes without saying:D

strumpet

Has anybody tried the WeightWatchers points diet thing? I tried it once about 5 years ago but it seemed rather cumbersome.

MrsPorridge

Yes I have tried that. It was several years ago though and may have changed. I far prefer Slimming World because you can eat larger portions. They have green and red days. Green being the sort of veggie option where you can have loads of carbs. unlimied potatoes, pasta, rice etc., but you have to weigh the amout of meat or fish you have. Red being the meat eater version where you can eat unlimited meat and fish but have to weigh the amount of carbs you eat. Both versions restrict bread.

Strumpet what sort of things do you like eating? Do you prefer larger portions or prefer snacking?

Rosemary Conley counts the amount of fat you eat and puts a lot of emphasis on exercise!!

All of the above publish magazines so it might be an idea to buy one of each (cheaper than the classes) and have a look through and see which you prefer.

As you can tell - I am a serial dieter:eek:

Horace

No I havent used the weightwatchers points thing - miy mum once gave me one of their points booklets (gawd knows where she got it from because she doesnt need to lose weight) and the only thing that I would eat was fizzy jelly. Take one lime jelly (I prefer it to anything else) and half a tin of diet lemonade. Make jelly with half water and let it dissolve then add the diet lemonade, it fizzes like mad and looks odd but let it set and its yum. I have no idea what I did with the booklet probably chucked it out:rolleyes:

I think I will follow Paul McKenna's thing as you have kindly written it down - it also helps if you use a smaller plate because you think you are eating more when you're not.

I ventured out this morning - on went my old walking boots and a pair of red walking socks (never worn before), thick tracksuit bottoms, t-shirt (yes that's right an ordinary summer weight short sleeved t-shirt:eek), my skiing jacket, balaclava (purple fleecy thing with built in neck warmer) and ski gloves and headed off for the bus. The parking area outside the flat is treacherous as is the pavement although by the time I came back a lot of it had melted:j I had to go to the eye hospital to pick up my new reading glasses - now I can read the paper at a normal distance without holding it 2 inches from the end of my nose:j Once I am happy with them, I just need to contact the optician at the eye hospital again and he will sort out my distance specs when I will get another £54 off because I will qualify for another NHS voucher:j :j : (my reading specs cost me £26 for the anti-reflective coating - the frames and lenses came to £54 exactly which made them free).

Oh Strumps - ditch the Halifax - I closed my account with them in 2003 but they still think I have 57p sitting in the account but I no longer have a debit card with them so cannot withdraw it as it is the only way they will let me withdraw it:mad:

strumpet

I might just stop using it but leave a penny in there so that they still have to service the account at great cost to them. My boss did that with an MBNA card. They seriously cheesed him off so he took out a different card and overpaid MBNA by 10p so now they have to keep sending him statements telling him this at great cost to themselves. Consumer power!!!

Alliance & Leicester are offering £100 to open one of their accounts so I might do this instead. Can't do it until 09/02/09 though or I'll lose the cashback I've accrued so far. Watch this space!

Dieting:
I'm trying to do my best with this but it doesn't happen quickly enough for me. I don't see results fast enough so I struggle to keep it going. Good to know we're all on board though. Going to the gym tonight - small but sure steps!
The Paul McKenna thing sounds good and the book is very helpful and sounds logical but it relies on subjective judgements a little too much. Knowing when you're full for instance. I suppose it just takes practice to recognise the signs. Will keep it going for a month and see if I can spot the difference.

Lunch today: Chicken breast salad with red grapes!
Dinner tonight: Pork Loin steak with chantenay carrots and half a parsnip!

Horace

I managed to do a lot of walking today and I mean a lot - walked across to the bank which is next to the gym (I never set foot in there) then I got a bus into the city centre. I walked from the Radisson hotel all the way to the other end of Broad Street and beyond (about 2 miles) had my meeting at the chamber then walked back - hung around for my mate Glyn who had arranged to meet me for lunch at midday (he had better not try and use the excuse that he was there early because my meeting ended early and I was in the meeting spot at 11am and hung around til 12.30:mad: ).

Had lunch out - posh bangers n mash (not v. nice either ) and some hot choc. Walked a mile back to bus stop, came home, came into flat dumped my stuff and then headed out again for another half mile walk to the local railway station to get a timetable and find out when the station cloes at night. Now when I return from my holibobs next week the latest I can get a train from New Street is 11.30pm because the station closes at 11.55pm:eek: I might have to make other arrangements to get back from the airport instead of relying on the train.:rolleyes:

Glyn was supposed to be getting a christmas/birthday present combined today - it is a tie by his favourite designer Paul Smith but as this is the second time he has stood me up I have a good mind to give it to a more deserving cause (I cannot take it back because I don't have time now and it needs to be taken back by 11 Jan) so what do I do with the beautiful silk tie that is stripes in shades of blue?