Frump to Fab 2018 - Fabulous Dahhhhlings

lessonlearned

Don't know if anyone saw an article in the Daily Mail, I think it was Friday. Apparently the average waist size for a woman is now 30. They showed pictures of several celebs who look very slender but who had surprisingly large waists. Even bean poles like Nicole Kidman 27.5"and Gwynneth Paltrow 29". Even pocket rocket, kylie 5ft came in at 25", the smallest waist size of all the women.

Compare with Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and a young Liz Taylor, all 22". so yes it seems we are all getting bigger, even those who are not fatter.

We do know that an apple shapes is the most dangerous and that your waist size is a good indicator of your risk factors of heart disease and diabetes. A woman is at risk if her waist is over 34" and a man if his is over 37".

Toni'sfriend

I think it's all about moderation - nothing wrong with the occasional "treat" but they have to be just that.....occasional treats and not the daily norm

I think that's it in a nutshell. Wise advice. I actually came home from holiday a few pounds lighter than when I went away (probably due to a fair bit of walking) but I know that I was eating all the wrong things. Today I have to start eating healthily and cut out the alcohol (full of sugar) so it's off to Aldi in a little bit to buy lots of fruit and veg.

maman

humptydumptybits wrote: »

Sounds like a lovely experience. I love my library but it isn't as exciting as yours. I'm hoping to visit the library I used to go to when I was a child when I visit my birth city soon. It is a listed Victorian building and although I have driven past it I haven't actually been in it for over 40 years. It was such an important place to me when I was a child and it was threatened with closure but saved which has triggered me wanting to visit it again.

I love it when sugarbaby shares all the exciting things she's doing especially as many of them are free or very mse.:money:


My DH has been involved with our local library, mainly arranging events to increase the footfall and raise funds. We're delighted that the local council is now prepared to pay for refurbishment of the building and funds raised by the 'friends' will pay for new seating etc and total refurbishment of Children's Library.:D It's hard data that impresses the council so the footfall is very important.

Toni'sfriend wrote: »

I think that's it in a nutshell. Wise advice. I actually came home from holiday a few pounds lighter than when I went away (probably due to a fair bit of walking) but I know that I was eating all the wrong things. Today I have to start eating healthily and cut out the alcohol (full of sugar) so it's off to Aldi in a little bit to buy lots of fruit and veg.

:T that's brilliant TF. Well done. I agree that it's fine to have a few treats as part of a balanced 'diet'. It's when the treats become part of everyday eating that the problems start.


I haven't read widely into nutrition but I do know (from DH's GP) that there is some cholesterol that responds to diet while other can be genetic so won't necessarily respond. My reasoning was that eating the healthy food, having some exercise etc. is good for you whichever type of cholesterol you have.


I'm going to have the shellac taken off my nails this week, cut them short and left 'au naturel' for a few weeks. While I love the shellac, it does encourage me to not look after my nails properly although I do use hand cream daily. When they're not painted I take a lot more care with cleaning them:o, shaping them, buffing them, oiling cuticles etc.


The weather is still glorious here. Hoping to get out for a walk later.:)

sugarbaby125

Hello Ladies,

I forgot to mention that on Wednesday morning I went to my local Odeon cinema to watch the film Searching. It was all about a father looking for his missing daughter and how he ultimately uses her social media accounts to make a major breakthrough. You are able to see exactly what the Father does on the cinema screen. It was so fascinating to see how someone could potentially use social media and IT skills in such a positive way.

The film had 2 really good plot twists that really added to my enjoyment of the film. It had very believable flawed characters that drew me in and kept me wanting to know more. I would personally give this film 9.5/10

I used my Odeon Premier points to purchase my cinema ticket so this was completely free for me :T

seven-day-weekend

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Best not to read the article in today's online Daily Mail of "Why gaining weight is the secret to a lean physique" - with attendant photos of the nutritionist saying that at 4 different weights. I think she looks best at 72 kg myself and translated that into "How on earth does she look that good when she weighs over 11 stone?"

One answer being - she's 6' tall - so that 11stone plus is spread over more inches of height. But I knocked off 4 lb per extra inch of height to myself and I'd look like a right dumpling at an equivalent weight. I guess it must be true that muscle weighs a lot more than fat then. Her figure is absolutely perfect at any weight. #sighs

I sympathise with LL though - as one does like to lose at least 2lbs (or half an inch off the waist in my case) each week - so you know you are making noticeable progress. Certainly I know some of my clothes are still so worn that they need replacing badly - but I can't do so until down to my proper weight (so as not to waste my money). When you're bargaining on a dress, for instance, being £50-£80 you are not going to "waste money" by buying one that only fits for a few more weeks...

Both WW and Slimming World say up to 2lb a week is about what you should aim for....anything more could possibly be losing it too quickly (although not necessarily, there are many variables).

Don't sympathise with LL, she doesn't need your sympathy, , any weight loss is good

seven-day-weekend

lessonlearned wrote: »

Good morning lovely ladies

There's a paradox at work though. Weight is not always the culprit, thin people have heart attacks, strokes and get diabetes too. The reason being that thin people can have a lot of visceral fat. The stuff you can't see without a body scan but which wraps itself round the internal organs.

It's a bit of a myth that stress causes heart attacks. Stress won't damage a healthy heart. The human body needs a certain amount of stress - ustress (good stress). The body was designed to cope with acute short term stress, ie the fight or flight mechanism that allowed our cave dwelling ancestors to outrun their predators and catch their food.

It is when stress becomes chronic and when the body is malnourished that stress becomes a problem. Fat people can be malnourished and thin people can have damaged hearts. It's all very complicated and scientists are learning all the time.

Thin people might seem to "get away"with eating junk but give them an MRI and you would probably see a very different picture. literally.

The science of nutrition has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years and we are now learning so much. The old accepted notion that fats are bad and carbs are good has been turned on it's head.

When my mother was first diagnosed with diabetes some 40 years ago she was told to follow a low fat high carb diet, to eat lots of pasta, potatoes, bread. Now we know better.

Fat is not the demon but sugar is. Sugary carbs are lethal. If it's white it's deadly. Rice, pasta and white potatoes, white bread are sugary carbs.

The only way to control blood sugar levels is to ditch the sugary carbs. The quicker the better. Of course the problem is they are highly addictive, even more so than cigarettes or heroin. Going cold turkey with carbs can be too much for some people (carb flu) so some people find it easier to take it slowly.

I think it helps to remember that cakes, biscuits, crisps etc have no nutritional value whatsoever, they are just empty calories. I also think that if you struggle then it's best not to have them in the house. I have found that has helped me. I still alllow myself the odd slice of cake or biscuit. If I go to someone's house and they offer me a biscuit then I will eat one but I won't buy them and I no longer bake.

If they are not in The house then I can't eat them.:rotfl:

Controlling cholesterol is a little more complicated because there is good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. Clear as mud :rotfl: but in simple terms olive oil is good, you should eat some every day. Even butter and our old friend lard (:rotfl:) are not demons. The real bad guy is trans fats.....the stuff you find in commercially baked goods and convenience foods. Banned it from your diet as much as you can.

A cake you make with butter will be far less damaging than the cake you pick up from the supermarket. At least the fat is healthy and you can often sweeten with fruit or honey, even carrots and beetroot can add sweetness.

High blood pressure is also a bit more complicated but we know that eating too much salt is bad, so switching to lo sodium salt will help, as will reducing sugar and banning tans fats from your diet.

I think it's all about moderation - nothing wrong with the occasional "treat" but they have to be just that.....occasional treats and not the daily norm.

Feeling good this morning, had a full 8 hours sleep.

Sun is streaming through the window, blue skies all the way.

Another great day.

Absolutely terrific post, LL, and very helpful for those who don't know much about nutrition.

I used to wonder what slim people were doing going to the gym....I thought they were there to show off and make overweight people like me feel bad about ourselves.

It's only been relatively recently that I've realised that slim people can have high cholesterol and fatty organs. Thin people need to 'keep fit' as much as overweight people.

As for high blood pressure, mine is totally weight-related, I do not add salt to most of my food (tomatoes are about the only thing I add it to. And chips on the rare occasions I have any!).. I do not add it to cooking either.

I don't keep cake or biuscuits or chocolates in the house now. My husband has had to stop eating these too due to his reflux. The ones we got for last Christmas we gave to the Foodbank!

Thank you again for such an informative post.

moneyistooshorttomention

lessonlearned wrote: »

Don't know if anyone saw an article in the Daily Mail, I think it was Friday. Apparently the average waist size for a woman is now 30. They showed pictures of several celebs who look very slender but who had surprisingly large waists. Even bean poles like Nicole Kidman 27.5"and Gwynneth Paltrow 29". Even pocket rocket, kylie 5ft came in at 25", the smallest waist size of all the women.

Compare with Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and a young Liz Taylor, all 22". so yes it seems we are all getting bigger, even those who are not fatter.

We do know that an apple shapes is the most dangerous and that your waist size is a good indicator of your risk factors of heart disease and diabetes. A woman is at risk if her waist is over 34" and a man if his is over 37".

I think we can count Audrey Hepburn out of it - because wasn't she malnourished in World War 2 and never quite "recovered" from it so to say??

I read that article and thought basically peoples waists looked okay until they got to a couple of (label size) 14 people. As I recall they had 30" waists and I thought "Yep....plump waists....they're too big" and yet they were smiling confidently as if they were attractive. Errr....no. Yep....agreed Gwyneth Paltrow's waist is too big.

I know very well that my waist is too big at the moment - hence the dieting:rotfl:

lessonlearned

My pleasure SDW. I do wonder sometimes if I come over as "pontificating" but If I've helped someone then great.

Like your husband I too suffered from GERD and IBS, as well as having had a duodenal ulcer in my teens. I was stick thin then. For me it wasn't weight that caused the stomach problems, they were just something I had grown up with. I can't remember ever being "normal" :rotfl:

My doctors did what they could but ultimately I was the only one who could help myself. I had already begun to realise that most of my problems were dietary related and began to experiment. It was hit and miss at times. I gave up wheat and that helped.

I eventually took myself off to see a nurtritionist. I paid privately. It was probably the best £80 I've ever spent. She really helped me, gave me loads of information and directed me to several good books.

Have you heard of Dr Michael Moseley. He's on the tv quite a bit. Although a GP and not a gastro specialist he knows an awful lot about gut health and as a skinny ex diabetic with high cholesterol himself he has written at length about the role of visceral fat.

I remember you saying how ill your husband had been. He is wise to try and avoid Cakes, biscuits etc because they can lethal for gastric reflux. And reflux has to be dealt with or it can cause scarring and narrowing of the oesophagus.

Everyone is different and I think you just have to Learn your triggers. For me it has been trial and error. But seeing the nutritionist really helped. I went because at the time, although my IBS and GERD were more or less under control because I had stopped eating wheat, my adrenals were trashed and my thyroid wasn't working. I was having repeated fibro flare ups and my arthritis was giving me gyp.

Now as long as I stick to paleo and eat clean unalderated good food I'm pretty well fine. I don't take any meds.

It's funny but now, when I walk down the cake and bread aisles in the supermarket just the smell of commercially baked goods makes me want to gag. And when I do eat it all I can taste is a metallic chemical twang. So avoiding them is easy now for me.

I do indulge in a little good quality chocolate now and then. Just a square is enough to satisfy. Now I find most cheap milk chocolate, cakes and biscuits are just too sweet. It can take a while but I think you can retrain your taste buds.

I have bought a box of Florentines for Christmas because I can't touch mince pies or Christmas puddings.....I would be in agony. A florentine with a good cup of coffee will be my Christmas treat. :rotfl:

humptydumptybits

I think corsets used to have alot to do with slim waists. Have a look at Scarlet O'Hara getting laced into her corset in Gone With The Wind. It wasn't just when they were wearing the corset, if you wore them enough they did change your shape. Long ago in a previous life I was a corset fitter.

lessonlearned

Yes I seem to recall that Kate Winslet had a thirty inch waist but then she has also has a generous bosom, curvy hips and a tendency to stocky thighs ....like Nigella. I think both of them have to be very strict with themselves.

I was more surprised how many of those discussed were sort of straight up and down though, with not much of a waist. Small boobs, small hips and no clearly defined waist. I do think body shapes have changed over the decades, waists seem to be disappearing.

Although I wonder how many women in the past relied on corsetry. I remember the females in our family and their "girdles". . I've never worn one in my life and I dont intend to start now. Although corsets are very fashionable now.

I could be wrong but I would imagine relying on a girdle or corset would encourage lazy stomach muscles.

Audrey did indeed starve during WW2 as did Sophia Loren. It may well have affected their permanent health although Sophia did have curves. Audrey was also a classically trained ballerina and had a typical dancers body, lithe and lean. Professional dancers rarely get fat. You only have to look at Fred Astaire and Bruce Forsyth. Lean right to the end.

Maman always says that dancing is terrific exercise.