WWW's six week ten years younger plan, WEEK FOUR

[WideWebWitch]

Good morning all, welcome to week 4! A reminder of the rules:

Be as happy as possible. The odd night of booze and chocolate is fine
It's not a diet, it's trying to eat healthily and well, eat fruit and veg
Lots of water, aim for 2 litres a day
Some exercise, walking is fine
Use sunscreen at ALL TIMES
Take your make up off before bed
Get enough sleep, aim to be in bed by 10, 10.30 every night
Use handcream and join the horned hoof club on their thread if you have vile feet

Suzywong is Harvey from Fit Club and will pop in every now and again to say Good Luck to You but in her absence: Good Luck To You.

Lets see how far I get in two weeks.

reasonable day - thou' not enough water...
No booze!! (how about you granarybeck?)
Got a foul cold and feel bl**dy awful...

I have been told to come on this thread, am I allowed to start late?

Since I am on a diet anyway I am doing rule 1, I need to drink more water. Exercise is fine, I go to the gym at least 3 times a week (I'll try to go more) Being in bed, hmmm am I allowed to watch TV in bed? I am usually in bed by 10.30 unless ER or another good show is on.

Sunscreeen is a problem, what do I do? My normal moisturiser have UVA factor 15 is that OK< or do I need use proper sunscreen? considering I spend ALL DAY in an office and bearly see fresh air every day help me here please.

Night time makeup, that will be a good one for me, I am 36 and STILL go to bed wearing makeup!! However I only wear it once or twice a week, so it isn't that much or that bad surely.

I do have vile feet, so I will give myself a proper pedicure, or get one done, and use hand cream.

Is it OK to join for teh last 2 weeks :) Please :) Or am I already too young and georgeous to need this :)

Thank you WWW.
After reading William Leith's assertion in 'The Hungry Years' that he never felt hungry on a low GI diet,I can say that this is true.
Three weeks of sticking to wholegrains and pulses has been easy (I like this food anyway) but last night I had some home made shephers pie and I did feel different afterwards...sort of searching for something else to nibble on.
Can only conclude it was the potato playing havoc with me blood sugar......

Convinced that lots of oily fish,nuts,avocados and Vitamin E has made a difference to my hair,skin and nails.

Thirty ninth birthday is looming (I'm perfectly happy to be 39,just want to be a presentable 39) as is ds's second birthday.
A whisker away from fitting into pre pregnancy trousers so am happy about that.

Crunchie,I go to the gym x3 a week.Unless you are shortly to shoot a video for your latest single,feel that any more is somewhat unrealistic.....

Welcome crunchie. I do think I'm a carb addict moondog, may have to give low gi a try.

WWW,I started using wholemeal/brown rice and pasta and moved on from there.

I love bread,love love love it.
Trying to stay away now though.
Never had a problem with puddings,sweets or snacks though.
Just bread,cheese and wine.

Blackduck, yup no alcohol so far this week. Didn't buy any in sainsburys on sunday. If its there i'll drink it. If i can make it till thursday, will be really pleased.

Am drinking more water today. I find i drink much more water at work (don't work mondays), maybe cos nothing better to do!

Moondog - I have felt much better since (loosely) following GI too. My cupboards are full of beans and lentils and I have a number of recipes which have now become staples. I am weaning myself off mashed potato and hardly have any bread (when I do I have the soya and linseed one). As result of not eating bread I don't eat much cheese either which is excellent as I am rather too fond of it.

I am now off to do an exercise video!

if you are all very very good I may share my recipe for minestrone with silverbeet, borlotti beans and chorizo

Thanks www. I am sure I am a carb addict too, I am doing Slimming World though and you are allowed loads of pasta, potatoes and rice, but I am trying to eat smaller protiens of those.

Moondog I may go to the gym 3 times a week, but it is in my lunch-hour which means about 1/2 hr max actually working out. My goal is to go every lunchtime I am not out of teh office, plus do Davina's 30 mins DVD if I can.

Can I offer two additional suggestions that are well worth doing, one as a present at the end of the programme?

Firstly L'Oreal Microdermabraison removes AT LEAST 5 years of dead skin off the face (and hands) It is without doubt the best face product I have tried in a long time (one proviso don't use it on sensitive skin) I found this really freshens up the face.

Secondly buy one new item of clothing that is totally fashionable FOR THIS SEASON, and it mustn't be black. Bright coloured wedge shoes, Skinny jeans (if you are skinny), 'City' shorts (eg long smart shorts, worn with heels if poss) etc etc. It should be bought in a place that you would not normally shop in like Top shop or New look (depending on size) and should be totally frivilous.

Are these OK ideas or should I just bow down to WWW here :o

I am kind of sticking to the Path of Virtue but not sure if the one and a half chorizo in the tomato/green bean thingy DP made last night (with baked potatoes - I don't do No Carbs) tips me off it. I had just swum 60 lengths.

Today I have so far consumed organic wholemeal toast with hummus, espresso, a pear, an orange - then stood around in the cold with DD1's Class Visit to the local museum - and came back to home made veg soup, another slice of toast with a small amount of grated cheese melted onto it (with dijon mustard, yummm) and two kiwi froot.

Crunchie - Moondog and I are fans of the ReFinish too. It really is fantastic stuff. I keep telling DH to "feel my face"!!

I'm hoping that this extends beyond the six weeks actually as it has been incredibly motivating. Perhaps we could do it in blocks of six weeks and reward ourselves at the end of each block?

Excellent ideas crunchie.
Yoyo,I 'refinished' dh once. He was a new man by the end of it!

MI,it's not 'no carbs' though (I think that is bollocks),it's no refined carbs,which is of course what the nutrition gurus have been telling us for years.

SW,was about to counter with something arch re your soup but actually i won't because it sounds great.

I must have been Chinese in another life as I am big on textures.Hell for me would be some sort of sloppy sandwich filling (egg mayo?? on white breag.
Bleargh!!

Popcorn good for texture munching,also biltong,that South African dried meat.

How is Re-finish for sensitive skin? I have quite dry/sensitive skin so have been wary of trying it.

GB, it is not that good for sensitive skin, I am sure there are some old threads on this where people haven't liked it.

If you have the money I would go for a facial or something and ask. Do you use other exfoiliators? The other one that always gets votes from beauty editors is Origins (can't remember the name sorry) but it isn't bad. I just don't feel it removed the layers of skin that the L'Oreal one does.

Anyway, off to wasjh my face and have another glass of water, and get to bed, I am far too late :)

GB - I actually have very sensitive skin and don't have any problems with it. I massage the T-zone well and pay less attention to my cheeks. I bought it for DH who has problems with ingrowing hairs but as he didn't use it decided to give it a go and have been very pleased.

Hmmm, plodding along in a faux-virtuous way here - although I won't switch to brown rice (my mum is Indian and it's just not an Asian thing, OK? And in any case DP, who is also half Bangladeshi, has threatened to leave me if I produce brown rice, and then I would be really tedious for you lot to contend with). Ate prawn curry (made by moi, v little fat) and rice (see above) and carrot raitha made with fat free yogurt last night. Will swim again tonight. But will not be able to swim again for ages on account of DP's t'ai chi weekend and rare Night Out next Monday...

Have felt sightly demotivated so far this week, though haven't been too awful food, exercise and sunscreen wise. A few incidents of overeating which did include a minor chocolate binge but otherwise remained broadly healthy. Bike and busyish work schedule has come to the exercise rescue though- just can't seem to motivate myself to get out for a walk/run first thing or in the evenings atm. I'm hoping that warmer, brighter weather might help with that. I'm finding it really hard to keep on top of the water intake too. Have had a couple of early nights on the trot though- telly has been crap!

Love the idea of purchasing some brightly coloured wedges, crunchie.:) I think I can do that... Is there a difference between microdermabrasion and Refinish?

Hi mi.:)

Today I have promised myself I will Be Engergetic and get off mumsnet by 9.30am and I am going to clean the house and do some washing AND go for a walk (with sunscreen of course) before school pick up. Repeat after me 'I will not waste whole day mumsnetting'...Was ok food wise yesterdy but drank lots of wine, today is the day (I know I keep saying it) I have to do without. I have to find other ways to deal with stress AND of getting past wanting to open a bottle at 8pm - I can easily resist before, any ideas anyone?

I feel slightly ashamed of how crap I've been really. Batters, no news yet, hence stress.

ScummyMummy - ReFinish is the name of L'Oreal's micro-dermabrasion stuff.

WWW - do your shopping at 8 pm!

Very good day yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed doing my exercise video. Not aching too much today either.

Going to knock back some water now, change beds, do the ironing, bake a cake (schoolfriends for tea - not for me!), unload machine, and take DS swimming (don't get in with him). Don't know what I'll do this afternoon though.

very wise MD, best not to get arch with me about my recipes

www, didnt you say you were going to give up wine for 6 weeks?????