Chrissy's World - Stolen Moments in Time...

Random ramblings

  • About
  • Arts n Crafts
    • Cards
    • Pottery Painting
      • How to get a perfect rim on a plate using a banding wheel
  • DIY
    • Give your furniture the rustic weathered look
    • Garden SOS – Beach themed landscaping
    • Danny’s Beach Bar – The Build!
  • Shed Times
    • Danny’s Beach Bar features in Readershed Blog
    • Danny’s Beach Bar – The Build!
    • Crafty Monkey at the Beach WINS Garden Office Category in 2015 Shed of the Year!
    • Crafty Monkey at the Beach Garden Office entry into Shed of the Year 2015
  • Upcycling
    • PechaKucha and the Art of Upcycling
    • How to transform an old piece of furniture using crackle paint.
    • Gumtree and Max McMurdo bring us #Beetlemania
    • Danny’s Beach Bar – The Build!
    • I was raised to upcycle!
    • Turn your hand at upcycling – I did!
    • How to make a shelving unit out of salvaged apple crates
    • Upcycled light shade from a wicker waste paper bin
  • Reviews
    • Bzz Agent Product Reviews
    • L’Oreal Infallible Nail Varnish
  • Travel
    • Emails home from around the world trip
      • Beiruit: July 2000
      • India – August 2000
      • Nepal: September 2000
      • Thailand – September 2000
      • Laos: October 2000
      • Vietnam: November 2000
      • Singapore-Sumatra-Malaysia-Singapore: Nov/Dec 2000
      • Bali, Lombok and Gili T: December 2000
      • Sydney, Australia: Christmas, New Years 2000/01
      • From Sydney to Auckland: February 2001
      • North Island, New Zealand: February 2001
      • Australia: Spring 2001
      • East Coast Australia: March/April 2001
      • NZ – South Island – April/May 2001
      • Fiji – a taste of tropical paradise – 2001
      • Hawawi onto Canada – June/July 2001
    • Western Australia: March/April 2005
    • Zimbabwe to Capetown on an Overland Truck: February 2003
  • Life’s Journey
    • Weight Loss
      • Diets don’t work for people with disordered eating
      • Fat Fighters Here we Come!
  • Wedding
    • My Handmade Travel Themed Wedding

My Handmade Travel Themed Wedding

Posted by chrissyjbrown on July 12, 2017
Posted in: Wedding. Tagged: big day, bride, global, groom, handmade, homemade, maps, proposed, themed, Travel, Upcycling, wed, Wedding, world. Leave a comment

myhandmadewedding

Well it’s been a while since I last posted and there’s a reason!

In September 2016, my then boyfriend proposed to me while travelling around Myanmar.  Not wanting a long engagement we got married in June 2017. You could say I’ve been rather pre-occupied planning the wedding and of course upcycling and making as much as I could for it.  I was wanting to post as I went along but decided to keep the plans under wraps until after the wedding as wanted everything to be a surprise for the guests! I now wish I had at least written them at the time…!

So the theme of the wedding was Travel, simply because I’m a bit of a traveller and since my newly acquired hubby, Danny, met me he’s become a bit partial to it too!  The theme was also perfect because we’ve quite a lot of friends of different nationalities and origins so it was a great way of celebrating that.  Plus, the other theme option was cars (Danny’s passion) and I wasn’t going to have that!

I’m just going to keep this blog post short and should be back very soon with more but in the meantime if you look at the title picture you can see pictures of some of the things I made.  If you want a nose at some pics from my wedding then my cousin who is a wedding photographer and was there as a guest couldn’t resist snapping a few pics which you can view on her website: https://lesleythomasphotography.pixieset.com with the password: Bennett. Simply search for Chrissy & Danny’s Wedding on 17th June 2017.

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PechaKucha and the Art of Upcycling

Posted by chrissyjbrown on July 3, 2016
Posted in: Upcycling. Tagged: 20x20, chalk paint, concise, creative, creatives, images, junk, kucha, night, pallets, pecha, pechakucha, pictures, presentation, reclaim, reclaimed, repurpose, repurposed, repurposing, reuse, scaffolding, st neots, tokyo, upcycle, upcycled, Upcycling. Leave a comment

PechaKucha – The Art of Concise Presentation

So I was recently asked if I’d like to do a talk at the St. Neots PechaKucha night, Vol6. I had heard of PechaKucha but hadn’t yet been to one. I really liked the concept so was up for the challenge.pechakucha st neots.jpg

For those that have never heard of PechaKucha it’s coined as ‘The art of concise presentation’ that originated from Tokyo in 2003.  The idea seems to have taken off worldwide as PechaKucha nights now occur in over 900 cities. For those that know me, being concise is really not one of my strong points, in fact I’m the complete opposite.

pecha kucha

I liked the idea that you show 20 images and each image is shown for 20 seconds before switching to the next one.  As the saying goes ‘pictures can say a thousand words’. Also your talk can be about anything so because I’ve been currently beavering away upcycling stuff I thought that could be the focus as I had plenty of material plus it’s pretty on trend at the moment so may be of interest to some of the audience.

There are also other speakers on the night which I liked as it would mean I wouldn’t be the whole focus of the night (don’t want people to have a wasted journey!) which I liked but also I was interested in listening to others.

Preparing it was pretty easy but timing my talk to the images was a lot harder than I envisaged, it took a lot of fine tuning and also meant I couldn’t ad-lib as I went along and go off at tangents which is something I am really good at!

Anyway to keep this blog post concise, here is the fruit of my labour and is posted up on the PechaKucha website for the whole world to watch – eek!  I just about survived it and should now run a competition to see how many times I said ‘Erm…’!  Several hundred times too many!…

at pechakucha.jpg

Enjoy and if you have a subject you’re passionate about then why not talk at the next PechaKucha night near you?

 

 

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Upcycled light shade from a wicker waste paper bin

Posted by chrissyjbrown on June 22, 2016
Posted in: DIY, home decor, Upcycling. Tagged: bin, decor, guide, home, homemade, interiors, lampshade, light, lightshade, natural, paper, repurpose, reuse, shade, step by step, texture, upcycle, upcycled, waste, wicker. Leave a comment

Wicker lightshade

If you’re new to upcycling then this is a very simple, yet effective way to make a lampshade that requires virtually no skill at all!

If you’ve read my previous posts you’ll know I’m a bit of a hoarder and habitual upcycler/reuser/repurposer that doesn’t like to see anything going to waste – including old waste bins I’ve had for too many years to mention!

I’ve recently repainted our bedroom and changed the colour scheme so out with all the duck egg blue fittings and fixtures and in with the naturals – old fruit crates, shelf made from scaffolding boards and a scaffold plank to name a few alterations, so I needed a natural light shade to suit the scheme.

I’m not one to splash the cash when there’s cheap or even free alternatives so I decided to put an old wicker waste paper bin to use.  I love the textures of natural materials and knew it would tie in great with my new decor. Plus it was a one minute job that basically involved cutting a hole in the top of the bin! Simples!

Not that you’ll need it, as it’s pretty self explanatory, but here’s step by step guide on how to make your very own lampshade!

upcycled lightshade.jpg

To keep up to date with my other DIY/Upcycled projects then please feel free to follow my blog.

 

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How to transform an old piece of furniture using crackle paint.

Posted by chrissyjbrown on June 12, 2016
Posted in: Upcycling. Tagged: acrylic, alfreshco, b&Q, blog, chest, chest of drawers, crackle, distressed, DIY, drawers, furniture, furniture wax, graffiti, grain, grey, guide, gumtree, how to, martha stewart, old, paint, preparation, prepare, project, repurpose, repurposing, reuse, revamp, sand, screen silk, spray, spray paint, stencils, step by step, transform, undercoat, upcycle, upcycled, Upcycling, varnish, wax, white spirit, wood. 3 Comments

Gumtree recently asked if I would do a guest blog on an upcycling project and I gladly accepted. It gave me just the motivation I needed to get around to upcycling an old set of drawers I had on my ‘To do’ list.

The concise blog is on the Gumtree website and below is the full version which includes all the waffle!

Enjoy!


title upcycled chest of drawers

Ooooh, I do love a bit of upcycling, in fact I’m sure it’s in my blood.  I’m the one that goes to the tip with an empty car and returns home with it full of other people’s junk yet after a bit of titivating and a bit of TLC, it becomes my treasure!  ­­­

When I moved into my house, the previous owners left a chest of drawers in one of the bedrooms. Being varnished pine it wasn’t to my taste. It was dated and had quite a few scratches and marks but it fitted perfectly on the landing and what’s more it was full of useful drawers to store all the stuff I accumulate from not being able to throw things out (I think the official term is ‘hoarder’!).  I knew I could let my creative streak loose on it to breathe new life into it and bring it up to date!

before.jpg

Most the time when I upcycle I can visualise how I want something to look but this time I had an array of changing ideas of what I could do with it.  A big factor for me is doing it low cost. It’s all very well thinking you are saving money by picking up something cheap or even free (have you checked out Gumtrees freebie section?) to makeover but with the trend of ‘upcycling’, the DIY stores have jumped on it and market high priced products to convince you with their clever marketing that you need that product and before you know it you’re spending a fortune on doing it up. I however generally find cheap alternatives.

I had intended to use my homemade chalk paint (old emulsion or tester pots are good mixed with some plaster of Paris and water) that is a fraction of the cost of chalk paint and in my eyes just as effective, however after seeing the Alfreshco stand at the Grand Designs Show I was so impressed I had to experiment with their spray paint intended for graffiti artists! And what’s more, their prices are brilliant with a 300ml spray can starting at £3 and a range of over 180 colours – a lot of which are currently on trend and not the garish colours you would expect from graffiti spray paint…AND…they have some special effect one’s such as crackle, marble and texture.

Now I don’t know about you but I am a bit partial to the old crackle look, it’s a great way of making something look vintage and distressed, another look I love and on trend at the moment, so I decide crackle is the way forward. I’ve also recently got into grey and it’s many tones! It seems grey is the ‘in’ colour. Who would have thought that grey, the colour associated with being boring would be so popular – I wonder if EL James is to blame with her 50 Shades trilogy!

Anyway I have a bit of a plan, crackle paint, grey and I also have some Martha Stewart screen silks that I recently purchased for Crafty Monkey, my pottery painting studio, so thought I’d give them a swirl on furniture!

So a long story short, this project, like a lot of my projects, was a bit of experimentation, and here’s what I created:

finished

Below are the steps I took:

1) Due to using spray paint I decided to complete this project outside so pick a good day where no rain is forecast and little to no breeze! Cover the area in decorating sheets or tarpaulin. Spray paint travels – the bigger the breeze the further it travels.

2) Remove drawers and handles, my friend Bosch helped me! And who knows you may find something you didn’t expect – I did – someone’s lingerie! Don’t worry I’ll find a use for that!

step 2

3) Preparation is key and a good sand down will always create a better result. I got to try out my new sander which really is a great investment and will save you so much time and energy! A grit of 80 is probably optimum but I used a 60 then a 120. After sanding I wiped the dust left with the lingerie then used a jay cloth and white spirit and gave it a good wipe all over. Don’t forget your protection mask too!prep 2

4) The plan was to use the graffiti paint to spray a base layer of white but I was so excited by the visit to Alfreshco that I forgot the white! Being impatient I wanted to get started NOW so I used a bit of old quick drying paint for wood that I took from the tip on my last visit! It was quite thick and a bit lumpy but because it’s a base coat and I want to create a distressed look I wasn’t too concerned. I paint two coats on and wait 45 mins or so for it to dry.

painting unit

montana grey crackle5) Next, I spray Montanta Crackle, Grey Squirrel colour in a sweeping motion over the piece and wait for the magic to take place… and wait….ummm…while a bit of cracking did occur it seems you need an oil based undercoat for optimum results. Instead, after drying a couple of hours, I decided to give it a light sand, dusted it down then used white spirit on a cloth and wiped it in the direction of the grain and hey presto got a great distressed effect.

6) For the drawers however I went out and got some white spray paint intended for wood and the crackle worked a treat! I must say though that the Montana spray seems much better quality than the more expensive one I got from my local DIY chain. The fun part is next…watch your furniture crackle!  The more paint you spray on the bigger the crackle!

step 5

7) I decided to use one of my Martha Stewart screen silks for the top of the piece to give it a bit of character – stencilling takes me back to the 80’s but it seems to be having a bit of a resurgence. I use some white acrylic paint I had knocking around and an old ruler to push the paint into the stencil.

step 6

metallic spray paint8) Houston, we have a problem! The handles are a gold antique colour which is not the best match for grey but don’t despair as I found this great spray in my local B&Q and one blast instantly transforms them into chrome coloured handles, I even screw all the screws into an old bit of wood and give them a spray up to! (Notice the use of the lingerie again!).

Step 7

9) Now the piece just needs a couple of coats of varnish or furniture wax to protect it. I opt for wax as I prefer the finish. The wax will darken the colour – see the top far left drawer.

step 8

10) and…voila!

finished

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Give your furniture the rustic weathered look

Posted by chrissyjbrown on June 7, 2016
Posted in: DIY, Upcycling. Tagged: beach, benches, chalk, decking stain, exterior, furniture, garden, outdoor, paint, pallets, pressure washer, protecting, protection, revamping, rustic, sander, stain, theme, Upcycling, varnish, weathered, whitewashed, wood. Leave a comment

title revamp

So the sun is finally here, well for today anyway, and it’s that time of year when you want to be spending as much time outdoors as you possibly can. I’m a big fan of BBQ’s for dinner and sitting outside in the evenings.  So how has your outdoor space and garden furniture fared over the winter months and is it all ready for the summer months? If not then what are you waiting for?

My garden furniture consists of upcycled pallet benches and a side table and a bigger table that I made out of old fruit crates. Upcycling is all the rage at the moment and I’m a big fan of making furniture out of pallets. In fact I’m surprised there’s not a shortage of pallets in the UK with the amount of things you can make out of them! If you’re a bit handy then there’s heaps of youtube videos and blogs where you can see how to make some fab furniture out of pallets for no cost at all. Pinterest is also a good place to get ideas.

So once you have made your pallet furniture how are you going to protect it? If you want to go for the natural look then a good two coats of clear varnish for exterior wood is the way to go – this is what I had intended for mine but was in a rush when buying the varnish and it had a tint to it. We carried on and covered the furniture in it as we had already opened the tin and I didn’t want it to go to waste but I had never been happy with the look as the colour looked like that old yellow/orangey pine so this year I decided to give them an overhaul.

before bench.jpg

Being a big fan of the rustic weathered beach look and because I have a beach themed garden to go with my award winning beach themed garden office, I thought I’d have a play around with some pastel beachy coloured chalk paints I had laying around but before I did this I did a bit of prep work.

Because the bench had been painted with coloured varnish previously I thought I’d give it a bit of a rub down.  But first I pressure washed them – Oooh I do love a pressure washer and it’s great at making a start at stripping off the varnish (see the right hand side of the bench in the picture above so see how the pressure washer had stripped the wood of the varnish!).  I then put my electric sander to work on it but I wasn’t overly concerned about getting every last bit of varnish off as the beauty of the look I was going for meant it wouldn’t matter if some bits were still varnished. Also chalk paint is great at covering varnished wood.

Once the prep work was complete and I gave the benches and side table a good dust off (white spirit on a lint free cloth is good for this), I then started applying different colours of chalk paint, using one colour at a time and when I switched colours I just blended them in together.  The colours I used were white, turquoise, pale blue, pale green and a straw yellow and the paints were more crafting chalk paints but you don’t need to buy fancy chalk paint as it would work just as well with emulsion or even acrylic paints and with some of the colours I watered them down to get a more whitewashed look.

garden furniture.jpg

To finish and to add good protection for the summer and winter months I added two coats of clear varnish – in fact being the cheapskate that I am I had some decking stain left over that was a white wash colour so I actually used this.  Yes, it will work just as well and is actually designed to be hard wearing.  Don’t be fooled by all the clever marketing by all the makers of the different products you can buy.  DIY stores will have you believe that you need a special paint for certain jobs – usually high priced ones.  Save yourself money and use cheap alternatives that will also work!  A lot of time it’s a big marketing ploy to get you to part with your cash!

So the final result is here…ta dah!

finished bench.jpg

What do you think?

 

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Clubbercise it off! Whoop Whoop!

Posted by chrissyjbrown on May 21, 2016
Posted in: Random. Tagged: #thisgirlcan, 45 minutes, 90's, aerobics, all abilities, all sizes, anthems, cambridgeshire, class, classes, clubbercise, clubbing, coordination, craze, dance, disco, ernulf, exercise, fitness, floorfillers, free, fun, gain, glow, hall, instructor, jazzercize, lights, lisa hilliers, loss, moves, night out, no, no hangover, old school, old skool, phenomenon, rave, scene, school, self conscious, slimming, sports, st neots, sticks, strobes, sweat, tunes, warm down, weight, workout, world. Leave a comment

clubbercize not just for weekend

So as part of my fat club journey which is basically an attempt of being proactive at a healthier and more active life for a while, I decided to try out this new fitness class I’ve heard people rave about – pardon the pun!

For those who have not heard of this new phenomenon then Clubbercise is basically an exercise class that emanates an old skool rave!  Started in early 2014, the Clubbercise website sums it up on their home page:

If you like the idea of a fitness class that feels more like a night out than a workout you’ll LOVE Clubbercise®

Fun, easy-to-follow dance fitness routines using rave glow sticks to club anthems from 90′s classics to the latest chart hits taught in a darkened room with disco lights.

I had seen it on Facebook as a few people I know had tried it out and said how much fun it was. I mentioned it to a friend Rach a few weeks ago – probably while out drinking high calorie alcohol and gnawing on a bar of lard so obvs before I joined fat club. She had tried it out before on some fitness weekend I think and said it was great fun and was keen to come along to the St. Neots class near me.  It just so happened that we decided to go the week I joined fat club (Slimming World) – I really should stop calling it that – so quite good timing!

Now before I go any further I think it’s important at this point to stress that I really don’t like aerobics classes – am I showing my age there as I think they may be called fitness classes these days.  Don’t get me wrong I have really tried to like them and throughout my life have done a lot of them and keep trying to like them but the long and short of it is I really don’t think I do.  I still try to persevere with them every now and again as can see all the benefits and know there are millions of people who really do love them. While on this subject I feel the same way about exercise machines although I don’t mind weights but before you think i’m against exercise, I do enjoy getting out in the fresh air, riding bikes, riding my sisters horses, swimming in the sea and lakes and I quite like team sports as I’m quite a competitive person, but to be honest, I am a bit lazy and of late my exercise regime has really just consisted of walking the dog!

One of the main reasons I don’t like aerobic classes is because I am really really bad at the co-ordination thing so if anything is anymore complicated than a side step I struggle to cope with it.  I’ve never been any good at playing an instrument (apart from the recorder and I play a mean triangle) where you have to do different things with each hand like play the guitar or drums and with drums you then have to use your feet too so forget that!

So basically I spend the whole exercise class looking like a buffoon trying to work out the steps and just as I think I’ve started to learn it the move changes. I just end up frustrated and feeling that I haven’t really got much exercise as too busy trying to do the moves!

I’ve recently been reminded by my lack of picking up moves by going to dog agility which I love but we have to learn certain moves and when I have to think about what I’m doing it all goes horribly wrong.  Once I get it, I can then subconsciously do it and am fine but it’s when I have to think about it. Oh well I guess we can’t be brilliant at everything! (that is a joke for those that don’t know my sense of humour)

When younger I would feel really self conscious and I’ve just had a flashback of a time I lived in Birmingham and my good friend Shivon thought it would be good fun to go to this dance class she saw advertised!  Now Shivon was Miss Sri Lanka one year (she hates me telling people that but I’m proud of her achievement) and she was pretty good at choreography and of course beautiful and slim (may I say she radiates with inner beauty too which is what is important and why I was attracted to her as a friend) and I….well I must have looked like the ugly duckling and a heffalump next to Shiv but the great thing about Shiv is she is so full of love and acceptance of people that she has this great aura that makes you feel great in her company.

So we turn up at this dance class she had convinced me to go to, despite my reservations and…OH MY LIFE.  I don’t think there was anyone there who was over 15 years old, we must have been about 25/26 at the time, and they were all very good dancers and as beautiful and elegant as Shiv is it really was like a scene from a French and Saunders comedy sketch.  At one point we had to go one by one across the middle of the dance floor prancing about – the pubescent, size zero, girls looked like beautiful, graceful swans and me…well you can imagine!  Even Shiv who was able to do the moves looked totally out of place. Honestly, it was like the twilight zone and still to this day I’m not sure if it was just a bad dream or if it actually happened! Luckily we saw the hilarity of it all and I am always thankful for moments like this as it’s another great memory and experience to store away for when I’m old and can look back on life and think ‘Yes, I did live’!

Anyway, I was up for giving this new sensation of Clubbercise a go if only to hang with Rach as it doesn’t seem to matter what we get up to, we always have a laugh. Even when life hands Rach lemons, her reaction is to make great lemonade to share around.  Rach is a great friend and like me is always up for anything.

lemons tequilla
lifegiveslemons_fullpic_artwork
when_life_gives_you_lemons_by_killerblood900-d7855gp
whenlife
when-life-gives-you-lemons-224454_w1000

So off we trot to Ernulf School sports hall, about a minute before it started, I really should try to be on time more, the hall was darkened and strobe lights were in play making it atmospheric. We popped to say hi to the instructor and to get our FREE glow sticks! Yes, you get free glow sticks on your first time and I was already impressed as I was expecting the one’s you have to bend to activate, but no these one’s were posh and you could change the settings to get different colours and a flashing mode, they were almost like mini light sabers with wrist straps which I guess were for health and safety reasons in case you got a bit overexcited!

clubbercise-dance-workout-glowsticks-3

The instructor was lovely and very welcoming.  She was very bubbly and enthusiastic but in  a genuine and positive way and certainly not an annoying way. She made sure we were fit and healthy to take the class – I’m certainly not fit or healthy but I had no conditions, other than Lazy-itis, that would prevent me from taking the class. She then told us to find a space and she hoped we enjoyed the class.

lisa hillier

Lisa Hillier, the instructor but don’t worry you can just wear normal workout gear!

It was obviously really popular with lots of ravers, I mean people, ready for the fun to begin, but there was still heaps of space to move around so you don’t feel like people were on top of you.  We picked a space in the centre with a good view of the instructor who was on a stage at the front and the great thing about it being a big class it being dark is that the spotlight is not on you.  I was also thankful that there were no floor to ceiling mirrors as I’m still in denial that I’m not actually a 6ft, size 10 supermodel so didn’t want to burst my bubble! Mirrors, like reality, really can be evil you know!

Anyway, I hadn’t really taken much notice of the people around me as I was so chuffed with my glow sticks so was surprised when someone tapped me on my shoulder.  I turned around and it was the lovely Steph Harris.  I’ve known Steph for quite a few years and she’s been bringing her children to Crafty Monkey pretty much since it opened.  Now Steph is a bit of a guru when it comes to exercise classes and has been running Jazzercise in the local area since 1992 but has recently handed the reigns over to Lisa Turner, one of her long standing instructors (Don’t despair though as Steph still teaches the Sandy class – that’s commitment for you).

I remember doing Jazzercize back when I was 18 in St. Ives and to this day I’ve always thought it’s the most funkiest aerobics class I’ve been too, I’m sure that is still the case as they have kept up with the times but for me it is just a bit too funky and getting a bit confused with the side step doesn’t equip me well but for those who love fitness and dance then I would deffo recommend it.

Steph told me she had come along as she likes to keep up with what is going on in the industry but secretly I think she wanted to relive her clubbing days and probably like me just couldn’t resist the glow sticks.  She was also there with a good friend of hers,who I also know so think they had come like me and Rach for a bit of a giggle too.

Anyway, as much as I know Steph is lovely and as much as I knew Steph would be looking at the instructor’s moves and not my moves or even judge, and we were in the dark, I did feel conscious that I had an expert behind me and the pressure was on to perform – or even to not fall over would be good!  It was actually a good thing I felt pressure as it made me concentrate a bit harder than I would have done and also not slack off as much.

So the Clubbercise website reads:

After checking in you’ll be given a set of flashing rave glow sticks, these are reusable so much more environmentally friendly than the single use ones. We darken the room, get the disco lights going and start with a simple warm up routine. Then we work up a sweat dancing to floorfillers from 90′s rave to recent dance anthems. The routines are easy-to-follow and always have high or low impact options. It’s all about fun, not about perfection. Take it to your level, keep it simple and enjoy the music.

…and can I say that it did exactly what it said on the tin and all I can say is what a good job it wasn’t about perfection with me there!

The moves were all basic aerobic moves that have been around for years making it easy to pick up so good for someone like me and what I loved about it was that it wasn’t too strenuous for too long and even when they did the high impact bits you could take the easy route with the low impact.  I also liked that there were a few breaks to swig a bit of water (the more breaks the better for me! ;)) and before you knew it we were on the warm down.  I had thought it was an hours class so was over the moon to realise it was just 45 minutes – a real bonus in my books as that’s about just as much as I can handle of aerobics, certainly no reflection on this class or the instructor!

The instructor was actually more than good, she was ace and had a lot of energy.  In fact someone remarked ‘I’d like what she’s on’!  The hall was not full of pubescent girls with a perfect 10 figure but of all shapes and sizes and all ages and there was a great atmosphere with everyone seeming to be having fun!  The disco lights, the glow sticks and the dark is what made it different to your normal aerobics. And yes I will admit, it was fun and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t really like aerobics but also I never really liked clubbing neither!

It hasn’t changed me into a Clubbercise fanatic overnight and my mind did wander half way through as I had a profound thought and came to the realisation that I don’t think I have a very good attention span but this was in no way a reflection on the class and is just the way my brain is.  This blog post is a prime example on how easily I get distracted and go off piste, as it was only intended to be a few paragraphs about Clubbercise and not a life story!

So back to the subject intended,  I would definitely do it again and it’s a great thing to do as a date with friends.  And if there’s one thing that sells it then it would have to be the glow sticks!

I also love all the merchandise they sell and sayings that surround it and how they call it glowing rather than sweating! Great marketing there!

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But on a more serious note I LOVE the fact that they donate money made from training instructors and the merchandise to a worthwhile cause:

EVERY TIME an instructor completes our training course we make a donation to Oxfam so that they can provide safe drinking water for around 10 people in some of the poorest places on the planet.

Not only this but I also LOVE that they are backing #thisgirlcan campaign to encourage women to exercise without fear of judgement.

I came home feeling fresh, awake and happy and got all the benefits from exercise. Not only that but we had a laugh too and it was lovely to see everyone else enjoying themselves in a non judging atmosphere.

Overall, It has a big yes vote from me. I think it is such a fab idea and it seems to be attracting a lot of people who wouldn’t normally be up for fitness classes which is always a good thing as it’s reaching out due to the emphasis being on having fun and that it is open to all ages, sizes and abilities.

If you live local I would highly recommend checking out Lisa Hilliers classes she runs and judging from her 5 star feedback on her Facebook page for the St. Neots class, I am not alone in recommending her!

I would love to know if you have tried Clubbercise and what you thought or your thoughts and comments…

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Fat Fighters – Week One!

Posted by chrissyjbrown on May 14, 2016
Posted in: Life Journey, Weight Loss. Tagged: bloat, calories, diet, dieting, fat, food, foods, free, fruit, gain, gas, health, healthier, healthy, herbal, lifestyle, lose, loss, sins, slim, slimmer, slimming, syns, tea, unlimited, vegetables, weight, world. Leave a comment

So as you’ll recall from my previous post about joining fat club (Slimming World), I thought I would blog my progress as I think it will make me more accountable and I’m going into this with a positive mind that I can do this and blogging for some reason I think blogging will help.

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So my first week has been great as finally my body has started to experience what real food is like again, you know the kind of food that gets yanked out the ground or falls off trees or the types of foods that have minimal packaging and you actually need to prepare it. Yes folks, I’m talking about vegetables, fruits, beans, pulses, lean meat, and some dairy that on this diet you can eat unlimited amounts of.  Yes, you heard it here first – well that’s probably a lie, not the fact you can eat unlimited amounts but that you heard it here first. But you really can eat unlimited amounts of them and in fact the more of the fruits and veg (there are a few exceptions) you eat then the more you will supposedly loose.  It just seems alien to whatever society has told us about diets as diets are supposed to be about suffering but it works.  Fill yourself up on all these foods and you’re less likely to reach for all the high calorific, full of sugar and fat foods.

Now I actually prefer eating healthy and would love a diet of all this stuff however it does require a bit of extra work like food shopping which is really not my favourite pastime, preparing and cooking, so really that’s what’s been holding me back but now spring is here it’s a fabulous time for new starts and also to come out of hibernation plus I know eating healthier and cutting out alcohol is only going to give me increased energy etc so i’ve started this at a good time.

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First week was pretty easy, although the first couple of days were a tiny bit hard as we didn’t really have much food in the house so it’s hard to eat a lot of the ‘speed’ foods when you don’t have any!  Now, I’m getting technical, yes speed foods which mainly consist of fruits and vegetables are supposed to speed up the weight loss so effectively the more you eat the more you loose! Yes totally my kind of diet especially when these foods are full of nutrients.

I was pretty motivated all week and really didn’t need to even think about going off piste and synning!  Yes there is a thing called synning which allows you to eat what you want but it has to be measured and all foods that are not free have a syn value.  You’re not supposed to go over 15 syns a day but if you do then you can always make up for it the next day by having less or no syns.  Personally, I don’t like how they are called syns as it’s putting negative connotations on foods and some of the foods actually happen to be really good for your body such as avocado, nuts and seeds but due to their fat content they are obviously not going to aid weight loss.  Anyway, this synning lark is great for people who feel deprived by diets as it does allow you to eat any type of food but it just means you can’t eat a lot of it to stay within your synning limits.

Even on a night out I felt motivated and was still able to enjoy a few drinks but I just planned ahead and instead of glugging on the vino I switched to dark and stormy’s (rum, ginger ale and lime) as these are a much lower syn value and it meant I could have quite a few drinks and still keep within my daily syn’s.  It wouldn’t had really mattered if I’d have doubled my daily syns as I hadn’t really had any all week.

So first week kind of flew by with me eating probably more than I would normally as when you are on a diet you have to think more about what you are going to eat etc rather than just reach for anything.  Also I don’t know if you’ve seen the slimming world paraphernalia but it’s just full of pictures of really mouth watering dishes which doesn’t help although it’s great that there is so many dishes you can choose from and all the traditional dishes you were brought up on – spag bol, chile con carne, shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, a fry up and Sunday roasts are all on there but obviously their recipes are the lower fat and sugar versions and actually are much tastier to me than shop bought sauces etc.

So day of weigh in, note to self, DO NOT EAT BAKED BEANS ON WEIGH IN DAY! Yes, I learnt the hard way and had a can of beans in the morning which left me bloated all day and I know you shouldn’t weigh yourself in the week but I had been doing on a daily basis and I’d literally put 3lb’s on from eating the beans!  I had 3 hours to take it off so was drinking different herbal teas – chamomile, peppermint, ginger etc that help de-bloat, I took the dog for a good walk – exercise helps to get rid of the excess gas and had hot water with lemon squeezed in.  This all did the trick and after making a deposit on the throne I’d managed to get rid of that extra 3lbs!

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So step on the scales at fat club and oooosh! 5 1/2 lbs lost in my first week!  Yes I’ll have that and committed to loose another 3lb for next week.  Now I know it’s not healthy to lose more than about 2lb a week but to be honest the first week or two is usually a lot of water retention you are losing so after week 3 I’ll be happy if I can then lose a steady 2lb a week!

Also not only did I experience a decent loss but I had been suffering with dermatitis on my arms for the past few years on and off and it’s completely cleared up, plus my skin is a lot more hydrated and not as dry due replacing alcohol with water!

Right best get off and do some online shopping for the week ahead – yes highly recommend online shopping as less tempted to get things that you don’t need!

Will see you back here soon for the next update!

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Fat Fighters Here we Come!

Posted by chrissyjbrown on May 6, 2016
Posted in: Life Journey, Uncategorized. Tagged: association, bar, battle, body, bulge, calorie, calories, club, control, damaging, diet, dieting, disordered, drink, eating, fat, fighters, flab, food, free, guilt, health, healthy, high, loose, lose, loss, negative, obese, piled, pounds, relationship, slimmer, slimming, snack, success, weight, world. Leave a comment

So you may have read my previous post on disordered eating and my battle with the bulge throughout my earlier years where I assert diets are damaging and create a negative association with food. I also said how I have accepted myself for who I am and have broken the chains from this negative association with food and now I eat freely whatever I like and refuse to feel guilt or go on a diet.

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Well guess what I still stand by all the above and I’ve joined my local fat club (Slimming World)! Now you may see this as a contradiction but stay with me as I explain.

So nearly three years ago I met my man.  Like I’ve heard in a lot of new relationships, when happy we can put on weight. I guess with happiness and acceptance of each other, comes that extra poundage!  For me the weight has gradually gone on probably due to being wined and dined and I’ll occasionally join him in his love of snacking crap in the evening  in fact thinking about it he does like to snack quite a bit. But perhaps the biggest culprit is that social glass or two of wine in an evening that I wouldn’t have had if I was living on my own. So all in all over the first couple of years I think I put on a stone (14lb’s) so not anything too much and certainly not anything that really bothered me.

However, it all started to go a bit pear shaped or perhaps my body did when I thought it a good idea to build my man a bar in a shed in the back yard.  Not being big drinkers and just enjoying a social one here and there, I didn’t really think we would use it that much but how wrong was I.  Thcompilatione bar was a novelty at first and it was like being a kid in a sweet shop.  Not sure about you but when I was a kid I loved playing shop and it was a bit like that only playing barwoman. Anyway I think we all know where this is all going…the more we used the bar the more we started to get even more cuddly than we were.

Neither of us were that bothered to do anything about it until my clothes were literally screaming when wearing them and I really didn’t want to buy a new wardrobe of clothes and be mistaken for a beached whale when at the seaside.   Yes we could have just decided to cut down our drinking and ate healthier but I think we both needed a bit of discipline about it.

Now during the same time it seemed that nearly everyone I know were members of Slimming World and they were really raving about it and had lost significant amounts of weight, Danny too knew of people.  I had tried it out when I was 18 and quite liked it as they have big lists of ‘Free’ foods  which incorporates most veg, most fruit, grains, beans and lean meat and by ‘Free’ it means you can eat as much as you want.  I liked this as I’m not into restricting myself and measuring out a pea sized portion like some diets. I viewed it more as a healthy eating regime that shouldn’t end once the weight is off.

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Over the years my tastes have changed too so the types of foods I crave these days happen to be healthy foods rather than junk so being able to eat an unlimited amount of all the foods I love wouldn’t really feel like I was depriving myself but just being kind to my body by feeding it the much needed ingredients it needed.

So a couple of weeks ago we rocked up to our local fat fighters club and so the journey begins…

I’m intending to give updates to my weight loss journey as it will make me more accountable and also it will be a bit of a journal as I’m interested in seeing how being on a ‘diet’ has any negative effects to my relationship with food. Will I start obsessing over what I can eat? Will I start labelling foods as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ again? Will being on a diet make me think more about food?  Will I feel deprived? Will I feel guilty if I eat something I shouldn’t? How will I feel if I put on weight one week? and Will it work?

If you are interested in following my dieting journey then pop your email address into the box above right and you’ll be emailed when I post a blog!

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Everybody loves a She Shed…

Posted by chrissyjbrown on April 30, 2016
Posted in: Shed Times, Uncategorized. Tagged: affirm press, amazing spaces, beach bar, camera, cave, creative, davina mccall, den, design, female, film, filmed, george clarke, he shed she shed, hen, her, interview, itv, journalist, magazine, man, national, own, papers, photographer, press, private, project, pub, publicity, publisher, radio, reader, she, shed, shed of the year, shedaholic, sheddie, space, tele, television, tv, wales online, women. Leave a comment

…or so it seems!

I’m loving all the attention my lovely little beach retreat, ‘she shed’ and now a new term, ‘hen den’ is getting and it’s near to a year on since I entered it into the Reader Sheds competition which led me to win the Garden Office Category in Shed of the Year competition that was broadcast on George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces.

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Around the time of entering the ‘shed of the year’ competition, I was contacted by a reporter for the Sunday Express magazine who interviewed me and a couple of months later, and after sending out a photographer, a whole page dedicated to me and my shed appeared in this national magazine.

she shed.jpg

I also got to meet a lady who I’ve always admired – Davina McCall when my shed featured on a pilot show she was working on. An ITV camera man and his assistant came out and filmed me and my shed and I was later invited to go to the show in London which is where I met the lovely Davina and yes she was just as lovely as she appears on our screens!

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Next I found out I had become shortlisted for the final in my category so the local radio stations and newspapers were around to take pictures and interview me – all very exciting stuff.

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Once I won, I thought that would be the end of the short lived fame but it seems not as I was then randomly approached out of the blue by a Melbourne – yes Australia – publishers  called Affirm Press, who were compiling a book called She Sheds to celebrate women’s spaces all over the globe and they wanted to include my one.  This all happened a while back but it should be published any day now and so looking forward to seeing my shed in a book.

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Then another bolt from the blue came when and American TV show contacted me saying they were doing a series called ‘He Shed, She Shed’ and they wanted to feature my shed, they wanted me to send some photos and they interviewed me via email and get this – they are going to provide a voice over for me! That reminds me I must see if it’s appeared on TV sets stateside yet!

While all this has been going on I had already completed my next shed project which was a beach bar for my long suffering partner so he has his very own man cave so entered that into this years shed of the year and have been having a regular browse of some of the fabulous shed entries. I was thinking with the new 2016 years entries into Shed of the Year that my shed will fade into the background but only the other day a lovely lady called Joanne contacted me on twitter and wanted to feature me in an article she was writing on she shed’s – of course I said, I would be delighted and a few days later here is her fab article which you can find on on the WalesOnline website! I’m loving her reference to She She’s as Hen Den’s as I’ve never heard that term before but think it could take off!

So people, be careful if you decide to build yourself a home office at the end of your garden, you may receive all sorts of attention! 🙂

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Diets don’t work for people with disordered eating

Posted by chrissyjbrown on April 27, 2016
Posted in: Life Journey. Tagged: bad, calorie, change, comfort, conscious, counting, crave, destructive, diet, dieters, dieting, disordered, disordered eating, don't work, eating, embrace, esteem, fat, fear, food, good, healthier, healthy, insecurities, insecurity, lose, loss, love, negative, obsessive, self, self fulfilling prophecy, slim, slimming, thoughts, weight, wisdom, world, worth, yo yo. Leave a comment
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So I’ll start by saying I don’t believe in diets.  Obviously I’m not saying I don’t think they exist as that would be plain silly but I don’t think they are healthy for us. I’m not talking about healthy in view of what you eat on them but more for our mental health.  In fact I think they are quite the opposite and quite damaging so have avoided them like the plague.  diet cycle

I could qualify this statement by saying that diets don’t work for people who suffer from ‘disordered eating’ but I’d probably argue that if you did not suffer from an eating disorder and had a healthy relationship with food then you are unlikely to ever need to go on a diet.  Yes, believe it or not, there are some people out there that naturally regulate what they eat, so if they have a lot of food one day they cut down the next or perhaps they will just eat what they need.  It reminds me when I took my niece, 13 years old at the time, on a cruise.  Now for those that have been on a cruise you’ll be aware that you can virtually eat 24/7 and have a massive buffet with so many attractive looking foods available. Despite this my niece seemed to eat portions according to how hungry she was and not according to how many foods she wanted to try!  I was astonished as remembered back to when I was 13, I would have HAD to try a bit of everything!  But I can now see that back then was around the time I developed disordered eating.

For those that have not heard of this new fangled condition – there’s certainly nothing new about it but it’s now been given a name, there’s a great blog post that sums it up in a nutshell:

 Disordered eating–the less serious, but much more common version of an eating disorder–is an unhealthy, obsessive relationship with food. Disordered eating is so common that it’s arguably, and unfortunately, “normal.”
I challenge all of you to click onto this blog post and read up about it and see if you associate with it.  I certainly did and notice the past tense. Yes, it is possible to get over as I now don’t allow myself to waste my time obsessing about food.  Life really is too short and is for living rather than living in fear!

Quotation-Toni-Sorenson-yourself-self-help-self-awareness-belief-self-esteem-Meetville-Quotes-191098I made a conscious decision years ago to accept myself for how I am and accepted that my weight can go up and down and that I am not defined by how I appear on the outside but who I am as a person. With this acceptance actually led to weight loss and to me eating much healthier and ditching the negative connotations I had with food. Yes, I still put on weight if I consume too much but I also lose weight, it’s never more than a few pounds either way but this is not a conscious effort and just happens.

We need to go back in time to look at my journey. I was very fortunate to grow up in the era where most things were homemade from raw ingredients so very little over processed or packaged food for me. We were also lucky to have a decent size garden so we grew a massive range of fruits, vegetables and herbs and we kept chickens so nice fresh eggs. Genetically modified foods were not around and none of this pumping water into chickens malarky went on.

I remember when packaged sandwiches were introduced to the world back in the mid 80’s and even remember that they were about 60p. I was 13 at the time and remember thinking what a weird thing to do and I don’t think anyone thought they would take off.  It just seemed such a silly idea when it’s so easy to make a sandwich at home for a fraction of the price.  Little did I know that the world was evolving and people were to grasp onto these ‘time saving’ solutions, despite them being costly options and quite often not as nutritionally good for you. Grated cheese was another one but look today at how these two items are so ingrained into our society! But life has definitely got quicker and a lot more demanding, more women have careers which they balance with keeping a happy household and let’s face it, motherhood is more than a full time job so something has to give and quite often nutrition does as we find time saving solutions in the guise of ready meals, sauces, takeaways etc.
So growing up, I was a healthy and slim child, always out climbing trees, playing football, riding horses and later on I took up BMX racing. I ate what I wanted and had a pretty balanced diet and most of my dinners were prepared lovingly by my mummy. Then out of the blue puberty hit – oh what a jolly time that is – NOT!
I’m not sure about the rest of you but all those hormones swirling around in me seemed to warp and knock my self-esteem and I was suddenly concerned what people thought of me. I developed a need to be liked and be popular – probably what every kid wants but I think some more than others.  It would be unfair to solely blame hormones as other factors werequotes-about-success_12695-1 at play.
Outside I came across as confident and took on the role of entertainer at school which looking back emanated from my need for peer approval.  I messed around and did what I thought was cool and it was almost like I put on this big bubbly persona because I wasn’t confident being me. I had a negative self image and didn’t think people would like the ‘real me’. I was quite insecure probably like most teenagers but I was very good at hiding it.  I think the reality was that I was well liked and popular at school but deep down I didn’t feel it because of my low self esteem.
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My way of coping with adolescence and puberty was to comfort eat.  Luckily, I was growing and quite active so was able to pack away a fair amount and not suffer the consequences of weight gain…at first! But as time went on, I started to put weight on and became less active. Putting weight on further knocks your confidence so to comfort myself, out came my friend the chocolate bar or my other mate, big fat cream cake!  The problem was these friends that comforted me also caused the weight gain so they were not in fact very good friends.

Looking back I blamed the weight gain for making me unhappy but I can now see that I was wrongly linking my body size to happiness.  Being young and gullible I  believed the media that tells us to be happy and have the perfect life you have to look like those women on the front of the glossy magazines. Strong societal values are also at play telling imagesyou that you should look and be a certain size. The media lies and tells us that it’s all about outer beauty and it seems being a kind, caring person with inner beauty is nowhere near as important as looking the part! So when you don’t measure up to that image then you are in some way a failure or not good enough. What a warped lie, yet a very powerful one and it’s no wonder that there is such a big incidence of adolescents that suffer with eating disorders when this is what society is telling them.

Now over my lifetime I’ve had an eclectic mix of friends including some that look like the girls on the magazines and I can tell you that looking like a model does not bring happiness and doesn’t mean you will have a better life – if anything it would probably mean that you’ll be more at risk of attracting false people who want to be with you because of the way you look and not because of who you are as a person. Even writing this now , it seems incredulous that there’s some people out there who put all the value on looks and not who someone is as a person.
ea9e220a63088e9971c919cb0b8632e3Talk to any tall, slim, attractive girl and see if how she looks has made her happy.  I think you may find that they have their own problems from looking that way. I’ve had friends who’ve struggled to make friends as other girls would think they were ‘up themselves’ or ‘who does she think she is’ just based on how they look. People who think these things are obviously insecure and not at peace with how they look but still it’s not exactly their fault if they have pretty faces and lovely figures.  I’ve also known girls to be bullied because of being ‘too beautiful’.  So the grass is not greener on the other side.
Let’s face it girls are socialised into being so critical of each other and we are our worst enemies and unless you have a very healthy self image we are all likely to suffer with some insecurities about ourselves. It is a cultural thing and a first world problem. Look at other cultures where being overweight is a sign of health and affluence and is a good and attractive thing!
As my weight began to creep up, my relationship with food got worse. Society again is to partly blame by attaching connotations to foods.  How many times have you heard of a food being referred to you as ‘bad’ or ‘good’ and I’m afraid most diets are based on this negative vocabulary so if you eat something we label as ‘bad’ you then get the associated guilt and feeling of failure or being told you can’t eat certain foods as they are bad for you. This can make people want them more so when they eventually cave in and have it, they feel like a bad person.
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I used to try and hide the fact I was fat by wearing tents. I thought by wearing a tent people download (2)would not see that I was fat – in reality, when you are bigger you actually look slimmer by wearing more fitting clothes!  I remember one period of my life, probably early twenties when people would ask if I had a boyfriend, I would look at them in disbelief that they had asked a question like that and would think ‘Look at me, of course I don’t’ but outwardly I’d make a joke of it by saying ‘No, I haven’t found anyone good enough for me yet’ or ‘I’m far too happy being single, I don’t want to be tied down’. I really did believe that no one would want to go out with me because of the way I looked. In reality I gave off the ‘I don’t want  a boyfriend vibe’ and ‘Don’t come near me’ so there were guys interested but I acted like I wasn’t bothered by them so they didn’t pursue me.  Them not pursuing me was my affirmation that they didn’t find me attractive.  Now I look back and see how silly my line of thinking was and how warped my outlook was but back then it was my reality. Self fulfilling prophecies really do have a lot to answer for.
My weight was also something I could not talk about to anyone. The thought of talking about it mortified me and I saw my unhealthy obsession with food as a weakness. We can’t be seen to be weak now can we?  I didn’t realise that showing weaknesses actually is a very attractive trait and also a very brave and strong thing to do.  No I was British and was born with that stiff upper lip.  Luckily with time, things become saggy, so my lip has now relaxed.  As for writing this blog post, posting it and being exposed to the whole world… Well even telling one person in confidence back then would have been mortifying so there is no way ever I could have done this, but the key is that it no longer has any power over me. Being overweight is just a fact to me now and it luckily does not have all the attached and associated baggage with it.
So how did I get from where I was then to where I am now?
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With age sometimes comes wisdom but also I’m quite an introspective and a self analysingimages (2) kind of gal and I consciously made the decision that I wasn’t going to let food control me anymore and I decided to be nice to myself and give myself a bit of acceptance and self love.  I decided that if people didn’t like me because I was fat then that was their lookout. And in reality, I’d suspect there are very few people in the world that would not like someone due to their size and if they were that shallow then why would I be bothered what they thought anyway?  Ahhh…but you do when you can’t see the wood for the trees.
In reality, most people didn’t really view me as fat and probably saw my size as quite normal.  They viewed me as a kind, caring, funny and a good friend and dare I say it -attractive.  I had obviously brought a dysfunctional mirror as this was not what I saw  but do not underestimate the power of the mind and how destructive negative thoughts can be.
manifestWe can be our own worst enemies and critics – why do we allow that?  Just think of all that wasted energy you spend on criticising and hating yourself, where does it get you?  Why not focus our energies on learning to love ourselves as we are and gaining acceptance of ourselves?
People moan about putting on the years and getting older, but for me years brings wisdom and self acceptance and the confidence to be yourself so I embrace it.  So what if you don’t look young anymore – age has given me the confidence to quite frankly not give a s**t! In every laughter line is years of smiles and good times and in every wrinkle is wisdom where I’ve learnt from my worrying experiences, a bit of extra weight is where I’ve lived life and not spent it in fear of what I’ve ate!
I now allow myself to put weight on and not care and as a result my weight usually682b0e0f5f87cb81f0d6f0f2b846071e naturally goes down.  If I fancy eating a bar of lard for breakfast I will and I refuse to feel guilty for doing so (although I can safely say I don’t get the urge to), if I want 5 plates full of buffet food at that party I will have it and guess what I may feel a bit full and wish I hadn’t ate quite so much but do I feel guilty and start counting up all the calories I’ve consumed? NO because let me tell you this, I prefer to live my life to the full and not waste my time on all these insecurities and fear.  As a result I have a very healthy self esteem, I like myself (mostly, it wouldn’t be human if we didn’t have the odd wobble here and there) and above all I am a pretty healthy size. I don’t know whether it’s an age thing but the foods I’m attracted to now has completely changed to what I craved before, so now the thought of a nice healthy salad is far more mouth watering and attractive than a chocolate bar.  They say you get out what you put in so feed your body with great nutrition and you’re going to get more out of it than feeding yourself with crap!
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Bit of a long way of getting here but that’s why I don’t think diets will work for someone suffering with disordered eating.  To lose weight you first need to accept who you are and stop letting your size determine who you are as a person.  Instead of wasting time calorie counting, be constructive and spend the time learning to love yourself for who you are and put the value on who you are as a person and not on what you look like in the mirror! Break your negative relationship with food and you may just find you start choosing healthier options and will naturally lose weight. Or let me throw you a curve ball, you may even start to love and embrace yourself for who you, rolls of fat and all, and realise that you do not need to define yourself by your size anymore but who you are as a person!  Your  new found inner confidence will then ooze out which is what people will be attracted to!
If you take one thing away from this please let it be: Be kind to yourself as it’s hard to be happy when someone is constantly putting you down and criticising you – you wouldn’t be like it to others so why be like it to yourself?
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I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and perhaps picked up a bit of wisdom. I’d love to hear your views and comments below.

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