Frump to Fab 2024

2Scratters

@helensbiggestfan thanks.
I bought the foot detox removal pads from the T*mu to try them out. The other night whilst sat on my lap top my feet were sore. I did put them on ready before going to bed and the pain had reduced dramatically. Yes they were gungy in the morning. I'm not prepared to pay silly money for them as they are all made in China anyway. I would buy some more tbh.
I am seriously contemplating buying a grounding sheet for the bed. It is likely to help DH as well as me. Anybody got experience of those and an opinion please?

2 Scratters xx

Wednesday2000

I have some of those feet things too. I bought them from a charity shop and haven't used them yet.

I'm going to get my hair done today and so I'm going to look around the chazzers before that. 

thepurplepixie

I finally got the report from Consultant about my osteoporosis/osteopenia.   Quite good news, they gave me 5 readings, spine and both hips overall are still at osteopenia stage, neck of femur on one side is also osteopenia and on the other side the neck of femur is just into osteoporosis.  Consultant doesn't recommend medication and she also said the reduction in bone density over the last 5 years is actually lower than the average.  I feel quite positive about it.

helensbiggestfan

Good afternoon lovely ladies 

Good news Pixie, or at least nothing too nasty.   

Well here we are another weekend just whizzed by.  Last week was productive, chiro and a spur of the moment haircut.  

On Saturday it was grim here, a lot of rain so I spent a happy afternoon finishing tidying out my wardrobe.  

Fabbing wise I am still using the tretinoin cream.  Obviously it's a long term thing and it can take several months before the real benefits show but at 4 weeks in I can say it's definitely doing something.  One of my pigmentation patches is looking much better (sun damage) and overall I think my skin looks brighter and plumper.  It feels smoother too. Definitely going to stick with it.  

Have a great week everyone.  Keeeeeep fabbing,  

thepurplepixie

Hope everyone is fab.  I've decided I need to lose 14lbs, this is a new experience for me as I've never been on a diet but since hurting my back in December I've put on weight.  I really was very inactive for months and I've discovered one of the issues with not being active is you have more time to eat while you are burning fewer calories.  Result is all my summer clothes are tight to say the least so I need to lose 14lbs, not sure how.  I had a look at slimming world but it didn't feel a good fit for me so as a first step I'm cutting out sweet stuff.  I have a very sweet tooth and eat too much chocolate and too many cakes so I reckon that should make a difference in itself.  Living in Devon there is always the danger of a nice cream tea but I think they are out for this summer.

I can't do the 8/16 diet as my blood sugars fall and it triggers a migraine.  I've learned how to manage my migraines and going too long without food or getting dehydrated are big issues, I can't eat much cheese and citrus fruits are a bit no no.

Any experienced dieters with tips I'd love to hear from you.  Positives are I don't drink alcohol which I understand is high in calories and my back and hip are getting close to 100% so I am definitely more active.  Negatives are the sweet tooth and a husband who likes big meals so I am cooking a lot.

We have visitors this week so will have to do meals for them and cooking nice food will be tempting.

Fingers crossed that I lose a pound by next week.

helensbiggestfan

Good Morning Lovely Ladies 

Hello everyone, hope you are all feeling Fab-u-Lou's. Isn't the weather glorious.  At last!!!  It was a long time coming but worth the wait in the end.......

Pixie......I am afraid I am the last person to give dietary advice, I too am struggling with weight gain at the moment. I really need to get a grip. Good luck. All we can do is try.  

I have made some more lifestyle changes recently, more sleep and doubling down on my efforts to eat more healthily.  Still not enough exercise but pain levels have been pretty bad this week.  And now, I have a lurgy......sore throat, chesty cough. 😱😂.  Oh well. It will pass.  

Anyhoo..........I decided it was time for a serious "glow up" as the youngsters call it.  

I have started with a hair cut and a trip to a dermatologist.  

As you know I recently decided to try using a retinoid treatment.  Discussed it with the dermatologist and he said it was the best thing I could be doing, so now that I have his seal of approval I shall continue. It does take several months apparently to reap the full benefit but after 4 weeks I can say my skin looks and feels much better.  Brighter, smoother texture and some discolouration from the sun is definitely fading.  

Now, I know not everyone approves, but I decided it was time to try a little bit of Botox. 😱😂.  An early birthday present, from me to me.  I am glad I did.  Again it takes a couple of weeks for it to take full effect but already I can see a marked improvement. Not younger, just better.  Rested, and less tired. I understand Botox is sometimes used to treat headaches. I have always been very headache prone. (I used to have terrible migraines when I was younger)   Anyway I haven't had a headache since having Botox, so that's been a nice bonus.  

I have also added glucosamine and chronditin to my regime.  It's been about two weeks and my knee does seem a little better. 🤞. And I have started drinking golden milk (turmeric in milk) at night. It's all trial and error so I'll just have to wait and see what, if anything, works to ease my joint and muscle pain.  Chiro next week and I'm considering acupuncture for my shoulder. 

Picked up a couple of bargains from the chazzer.  A pistachio green fine knit sweater, some DVDs, and a brightly coloured tin tea caddy. I am stocking up on knitwear as and when I see it.  I also have my eye on a jacket on eBay.  I might have a little splurge.  I sold a handbag this week so technically the jacket would be cost neutral. 😁.  

Right time to get cracking. 💕

Wednesday2000

I get the same thing PurplePixie as I realised that I had five migraines in the past month and a half (I marked them on the calendar to try and work out the trigger) due to eating less and being out walking in the hot weather. I couldn't work out what it was, but then I thought yesterday that I kept getting the dizziness/shaky hands/migraines when I tried Intermittent Fasting a few years ago. 

It is annoying as I want to lose weight too. I gained two stone since I moved here and have lost one stone this year, but would like to lose at least a stone more.

Helen - I had botox for my TMJ a few months ago and it did work a bit, I do have less pain.

I have theTaylor Swift concert tonight. I have been so excited about it! I am just doing a hair treatment and packing my bag for the hotel now. 

Wednesday2000

helensbiggestfan said:

 And I have started drinking golden milk (turmeric in milk) 

I used to make that, but I haven't had it in ages! It is quite nice and meant to be very good for you.

thepurplepixie

Well the weight thing sounds like a challenge.  I think I did well yesterday but cooking for guests today and it is Sunday roast followed by an apple pie I am intending to make served with either cream/custard/ice cream not to mention having two old policemen here (DH and his old colleague) meant a full English for breakfast which I did resist but it's tough when you are the cook.  We had bulgur wheat with roast veg and chicken yesterday which is one of my favourites and we had some of the bulgur wheat and veg left over so I had a small bowl of that for breakfast and it was really useful as it meant I could resist the full English even if it is a strange choice for breakfast.

I suspect this week will have to be counted a success if I don't gain anything.  Being realistic is good I hope.

If botox stops migraines I might have to look at that, mine are much better than they used to be a. because I figured out the importance of not letting blood sugar get too low, keeping hydrated and trying to avoid getting overtired and b. because there was definitely a hormonal link and menopause was a blessing.

Off to do my impression of the hostess with the mostest.  

Makingabobor2

Hope you've done a covid test @helensbiggestfan. I felt like that the week before last and mine was covid, very nasty and apparently this new variant is taking off fast and there is a summer wave  of it. Hospital admissions are up 30% last week,  So take care and do check.