My Fitness Story... - Sharron

Welcome to another episode in the My Fitness Story... series. Today's guest contributor is Sharron, who doesn't have a blog but who does tweet and is lovely with it. Sharron has decided to talk about the time she followed the Marine Diet in order to lose weight fast, a fact complicated by the fact she is a vegetarian and the diet prescribed eating steak! Sharron's experiences will probably chime with many who have desperately looked for the magic bullet that will deliver substantial weight loss over a short timespan. 


Over to Sharron to tell her story.....

Me and the Marine…

I started the Marine Diet purely for quick results, and to kick start me on a strict healthy eating regime.  I had never wanted to be a size zero (good job) or a Marine come to think of it (actually wanted to be a Charlie’s Angel but that’s another story).  My goal was to fit into my clothes comfortably and not be conscious of hanging out of or over what I was wearing.  I’m not hung up on how heavy I am, weight was never a driver other than being the numbers on the scales to indicate my progress.

A work colleague explained she was being considered as a bone marrow donor, but had had to lose weight quickly to meet the criteria and had been given the Marine Diet.  This was a two week diet of grapefruit or eggs every day for breakfast and a concoction of other foods to be eaten strictly at each meal which included the delights of cottage cheese, steak and spinach.  No changes were to be made as the diet relied upon a chemical reaction to help you shed the pounds.  No tea or coffee was allowed and definitely no alcohol.  As my colleague had done so well with it, I was very motivated to get started and enjoy saying goodbye to the stone I would obviously lose in the next two weeks.  I knew it had worked for her and that the strictness would stop the naughty grazing habit I’d got into.  Walking through the kitchen had become almost impossible unless I had something to nibble on.  Naughty I know and I was glad of a remedy!

So shopping I went and packed up my fridge with all the necessary ingredients – well sort of.  I don’t think they expect Marines to be vegetarians so some meals were not quite exact but as near as I could get them (how do you substitute steak?).  I also gave myself some leeway in attending a friend’s birthday gathering at the weekend and enjoyed a visit from the wine fairy.  The diet had not been easy, I had become a diet bore and felt less than healthy with headaches and constant tiredness.  After the two weeks I had lost an amazing 12lbs despite having to tweak it and my little cheat.  I had regained regular meal times again and lost my picking and grazing habit.  My clothes fitted much better and I found things in my wardrobe that I could wear again (and some things I could but common sense told me not to as some fashions just don’t come round again!).

As the diet was only 2 weeks long (strict orders not to do for any longer), I tried to keep my new eating habits but without a plan to follow (I’m not daft but I do like a plan), I soon drifted into my old eating habits.  The fridge witch started throwing olives and cheese at me again, and the wine fairy had repositioned herself to my shoulder so she could whisper ‘pinot’ in my ear.  Eventually the lost pounds were ‘found’ again and my hard work was all undone.  All of that boring talk of grapefruit and spinach, enduring those nasty headaches whilst I went cold turkey from lack of caffeine and proper food, and the looking at a plate of food and thinking “let’s just get this meal over with” – all for nothing.

I have realised since then (I make it sound like it was a light bulb moment, not so unless the light bulb was at one end of the Chunnel and me at the other) that long term weight loss is not so easy or quick! It’s unfortunately about lifestyle changes.  I’ve learnt to look at my diet and choose the good things to eat.  I’ve also learnt that exercising regularly is important and doing this with a friend or two is much more productive for me (I admire people who can drag their ass to the gym or go for a run without someone chasing them up – how do they do this?).  Whilst all this is about as riveting as taking the Christmas decs down (much more exciting putting them up), it does work.  Slowly slowly catchy monkey…  Don’t worry about trying to catch the Marine, he’s a bit of a devil.

I'd like to thank Sharron for sharing her story with us today. Although she writes humourously about her experience, she makes an important point - weight loss is for the long haul. Trying to lose a stone in two weeks is not only hard work (and can be dangerous), it rarely stays off - largely because it doesn't teach you to adopt new habits in that length of time. In fact, because crash diets can mess with metabolism, the danger is that you'll put it all back on fairly quickly - and with added interest.

If you'd like to tell your fitness story, please get in touch with me, either on Twitter or via the email address on the About Me page. Please feel free to share your experiences via the comments below if you prefer.

Silent Sunday: The height of fashion?

You can find more Silent Sunday posts at Mocha Beanie Mummy.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

The innocent victim of the Sky sexism row

I'm sure you've read blogs, columns and articles aplenty about the sexism row that led to Andy Gray's dismissal and Richard Keys' resignation from Sky. We all have an opinion on whether they should have been made to go (cos believe it, the words mean nothing - I suspect Keys got the nod to go), and I don't want to focus on that in this post.

Because, in the middle of it all, lies one innocent victim of all this.

That person is Sian Massey, the assistant referee officiating at the Wolves v Liverpool match, who ruled Fernando Torres correctly onside for Liverpool's opening goal, thus displaying her knowledge of the offside rule, something that Gray and Keys had questioned in off-air comments before the game. It was her second match in the Premier League. She'd worked her way up to this and to be running the line at a Premier League match is pretty close to the top of the pile - although she has officiated in international matches in women's football. She turned professional only last year, leaving her other job as a school teacher, and obviously did a good job at her first Premier League match, at Sunderland v Chelsea over the Christmas period.

I'm sure she was offended and upset when she heard about the remarks. What I don't think she could have predicted was the negative effect that it was going to have on her. She received apologies from the two men - if you believe Richard Keys, he rang her and apologised to her personally. I suspect she thought that might be the end of it.

If she did believe that, she was wrong. The PGMOB (Professional Game Match Officials Board) withdrew her from the next match she was due to referee, a League 2 game between Crewe Alexandra and Bradford City. The PGMOB said it was because they believed the attention on her would detract from the match itself. But then, yesterday lunchtime, the PGMOB withdrew her again from a Conference North match between Corby Town and Eastwood Town. This time, the PGMOB, in its infinite wisdom, withdrew her a second time because of the large number of requests for access from the media. In other words, the press want to be there when she next runs the line.

So, two guys lose their jobs for making these remarks and this poor woman, who has done nothing wrong, is having her career negatively impacted as a result. Let's be clear about this - whenever she returns to refereeing, there's going to be a media scrum. That, I'm afraid, is inevitable. Whether it is now, in one week, or in one month, they will be there and yes, she will be under scrutiny. For that game. By denying the press their photo opportunity, the PGMOB are making things worse. It's creating more of a frenzy. When will they realise that they can't play the media the way they want to? They will have, to some extent, dance to the tune of the media for a little while, give them what they crave - and then they will lose interest. After all, they can't follow Sian Massey around in that sort of number forever but I believe they won't stop until they get that moment.

How many more matches are they going to "withdraw" her from? I'm assuming she's lost out on two lots of match fees so her main source of income is being denied to her. For being a woman, for doing nothing wrong. How long do the PGMOB seriously think they can go on withdrawing her?

I learned from this post that there are only 850 women out of 26,000 active match officials in England. I make that about 3%. I guess that women will probably never achieve parity due to the smaller numbers of women regularly involved in football but the PGMOB need more women to train and work their way up through the ranks like Sian Massey has. If they are to do that, they need to be seen to be supportive of their match officials across all genders, races and creeds. I believe, in this case, they should be helping her deal with the media madness. I accept they might believe that they are protecting her but they are not. Actually, I bet they don't think that way - they appear more bothered about how football looks and how it might create bad press for them. Believe me, that's already happening. After all, the Corby manager was quoted as saying that he didn't mind if it was a "man, woman or elephant" refereeing as long as they did it properly. Clubs appear supportive (although I accept that Corby might have struggled to accommodate all the media requesting access - but they could have restricted access to a small number), I suspect her colleagues are supportive, and I suspect most of the general public are too.

If the PGMOB don't handle this the right way, and they have not covered themselves in glory thus far, they could lose Sian Massey. I would certainly not stick around in a job where I didn't feel I was supported, particularly if I had not done anything wrong - in fact, I did just that once. Football would lose a talented referee and gawd knows they struggle to get anyone to be referees these days. I believe it would also send out the message that being different makes you a liability, even if you do your job well and that when your difference becomes part of the story, your employers aren't prepared to back your ability and allow you to continue. I mean, as someone pointed out to me on Twitter yesterday, did they withdraw Howard Webb after Ryan Babel tweeted a picture of him in a Manchester United shirt? No, they did not.

I really hope that it doesn't come to it. I hope that the PGMOB gets over itself soon, and allows Sian Massey to get back on the pitch, or rather along the edge of it. Accepting there will be a media scrum is an important part of that - it will happen come what may. It's sinful that, in withdrawing her, they have almost allowed the sexists to win. After all, the dinosaurs out there - possibly including the two that made the remarks in the first place - didn't want her there in the first place.

By keeping her from doing her job, they are giving the sexists exactly what they want. No women on the pitch, that's progress. It gives the Kick It Out campaign, which is funded by the governing bodies of football, a hollow ring to its messages.

Sian Massey has been treated pretty disgracefully all round. I hope she gets support from the right people soon, as well as from the rest of us.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Chinese Ribs

I decided to blog this recipe when I mentioned it on Twitter and immediately got a request from The Coffee Lady for the recipe. It's not your average slow cooker recipe - it doesn't need as much cooking but it is a "bung it all in and leave" type thing, with some grilling at the end. I have two variations in the recipe book I got this from - the other is maple glazed ribs, but this is much nicer. The original recipe suggest eating it with some coleslaw but rice is nice with it too. In the pic below, I cooked some rice with a bit of stock and some coconut cream, and stirred in some soy sauce and petits pois near the end of cooking. The cooking time is listed as 5 to 7 hours but I would imagine it could be cooked in less time than that as the meat is falling off the bones and the bones disintegrating.

Chinese Ribs
Serves 4

1.25kg/2.5lb pork ribs
1 onion, quartered
1 carrot, thickly sliced
2 bay leaves (entirely optional)
2 tbsp malt vinegar
1 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp salt
1 litre/1.75 pints boiling water

For the glaze:
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp light muscovado sugar
juice of 1 orange (tho I often use about 2 tbsp of freshly squeezed orange juice)

Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on high for 5-7 hours or until tender. Mix the ingredients for the glaze with about 100 ml of stock from the slow cooker pot. Drain the ribs, transfer to a a grill pan lined with foil (preferably on a rack) and preheat the grill to high. Cover the ribs with the glaze  - I use a silicon pastry brush for this but you could spoon some over each rib. Grill for about 15 minutes, turning once or twice. I often take them out every 5 minutes and brush more glaze on as they cook, continuing until all the glaze is used. They're done once they are browned and sticky all over.

My Fitness Story... PhotoPuddle

Today's story in the My Fitness Story.... series is by a lady known to many as PhotoPuddle, who blogs at It's all about the photos, which contains some stunning photos taken by her and others. PhotoPuddle wanted to tell her story of how she lost over a stone. That doesn't sound like a huge amount, but it's all relative, isn't it? Anyway, over to PhotoPuddle, who has decided to call her story:

Weight loss – the everywoman’s tale

When Kate said she was after people to guest post about fitness and weight loss, I was quite excited as last year, I finally lost the weight I’ve been meaning to shift for years. I really am very proud of myself so wanted a place to shout about it and my own blog wasn’t really the place (It’s a rather nice blog about photography though, so do come check it out!)

Anyway, this is my story. I’m not exactly slimmer of the year but I hope I can be a bit of inspiration to someone who just wants to shape up a bit. I’ve never been fat exactly but slowly over the years, my weight just kept creeping up and I really wasn’t happy about it. I’d tried dieting before but to be honest, I really lacked motivation. I’d lose a couple of pounds but then I’d be back to my usual snacking ways. I even failed to get motivated to lose anything before my wedding or before a holiday in the Caribbean.

So what happened this time, I hear you ask? Well it was the way people often decide they need to lose weight – a holiday photo! I just looked at this particular picture and thought enough is enough.

I started the way I usually do when I go on a diet and that was by keeping a food diary. It’s really the best way to shock yourself into realising just how much junk you shovel into your mouth in a day. My problem has always been snacking. I’d come in from being out with my daughter and cram a few biscuits in to my mouth. I’d be out at coffee with friends and always order a cake to go with my drink. And evenings would be the worst. I’d have dinner and then an hour later, be tucking into a bag of crisps or some chocolate. So the snacking had to stop and this time I meant it! And you know what, something inside must have clicked because I did stop snacking. Now if I do want a snack in the day, it’s a rice cake or a piece of fruit.

And I am proud of what I’ve achieved because it’s not been a diet - my whole relationship with food has changed. I really don’t feel the need to snack on rubbish any more. I realise that it was just boredom or habit that made me eat in that way. I had final confirmation that my eating had changed over Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day I decided that there were no calories and I could treat myself to whatever I fancied. And you know what, I really didn’t fancy much at all. I was a bit naughtier than usual but the day I imagined with my face in a tub of Celebrations just didn’t happen.

So the result? We’ll I’ve lost over a stone which, as I said, isn’t a huge amount but it’s what I needed to shift. I’ve also gone down at least one jeans size which is actually a little bit annoying as none of my jeans fit me any more so I’ve had to have a bit of a shopping spree on that front. But it’s amazing how much more confident I feel about myself now.

So there you have it. That’s my story. I know it’s not a dramatic weight loss and I know I could still eat better but I thought I’d share simply because I think many of you out there can relate it. There are so many people out there saying they want to shape up but never really get round to it. It’s simple really - eat less (and exercise more of course!). By that I don’t mean make food the enemy, just stop with the pointless snacking and huge portions. Start enjoying your food and making what you do eat count.

Oh, and I still don’t think there are any calories on Christmas Day. Or your birthday in fact! Result!

Thanks to PhotoPuddle for sharing her story with us. I totally agree that food diaries are a great way to start becoming aware of just how much you're eating - and not just in snacks; many people underestimate their portion sizes and actually eat way more than they realise. I also think that getting your state of mind right can be critical to your success or failure. Sometimes, things do just click mentally - I think starting off with a goal in mind, but not expecting it to go overnight helps a lot. Weight loss is not a sprint, it's a marathon and there are no prizes for coming first, everyone who crosses the finishing line wins. 

If you'd like to tell your fitness story, please get in touch with me, either on Twitter or via the email address on the About Me page. Please feel free to share your experiences via the comments below if you prefer. 

Baby Face

Tara from Sticky Fingers set us an easy one this week. The prompt for the Gallery was Children. Now, as you know, I like to post copious pictures of Monkey and Missy Woo given the chance, but I feel it's wearing thin, so I thought I would do something slightly different.

Unusually for a third child, I was the first grandchild in my dad's family. This is because my elder sisters are half sisters and had a different dad. Now, I'm sure you all know that a first grandchild is often a much treasured thing by immediate family and the attention lavished on said grandchild is akin to the same sort you'd give to visiting royalty. As a result, there were tons of photographs taken of me, compared to my younger sister who arrived 18 months later, even in the long-before-digital era. If I also remember correctly, I was also the first great grandchild - which is amazing as both my paternal grandparents were from large families - and I believe my great-grandfather changed his will to make me sole benefactor. However, he had a change of heart before he died and left it all to a cattery or something when he died a few years later. (There was a suggestion that he was "targeted" by one of his carers, but I don't think anything was proven and after all, it was his choice. I don't think it would have made me rich, he was not well off at all.)

When I was in my late teens, my now late uncle gave me a green plastic wallet. In there were several photos of me in the back garden of my grandparent's house - I can tell by the pebble dashing and the layout, it's ingrained in my memory. I had never seen these photos before but my uncle had taken them, had them developed and kept them to give to me to keep when I was an adult. I still have those photos in the same green wallet, stashed away in my file of important things. This one is probably the cutest - some of them I am pulling some embarrassingly horrible faces. I look like I have quite a tan there (note no sunshade too - who'd heard of skin cancer back in the 60s?), so I'd say it's summer time and therefore I'm about 6-7 months old.

Stop sniggering at the back there. Where's YOUR baby pic then, eh?

(Please take a look at the Gallery and visit some of the other entries, they are always brilliant.)

What do your kids eat for breakfast?

Do you insist on only healthy options? Or do you take the view that anything is better than nothing? Do yours even HAVE breakfast?

I know, that last question sounds shocking but I went to a event called Snap, Crackle and Blog at Kellogg's UK headquarters last Friday, and they revealed that 1 in 6 children do not eat breakfast, 1.7 million of which are children under 6. I think that last statistic shocked me most - babies and toddlers, with tiny tummies and who need to have food regularly, going without breakfast. That's awful - I can't believe all of those 1.7 million children don't want to eat in the mornings. On top of that, school children spend £646 MILLION pounds on the way to school buying snacks and drinks. That's over £3.5 million every school day.

Kellogg's are obviously the market leader in the UK breakfast cereal market. Their market share is way ahead of their nearest competitor - something like 40% with the next biggest around the 15% mark. Obviously, it is in their interest to tell a group of mum bloggers that statistic, because maybe our blogs about the event will mention it and maybe more people will buy cereals to eat breakfast. But is that so bad?

We all know that breakfast is a positive thing. It helps us to function better throughout the day. Getting a child to eat breakfast is a habit we want them to have for life. But many of the breakfast cereals on the market have what people perceive to be large amounts of sugar in them - think Coco Pops - and consider that to be bad. When we were there, and we were discussing this with one of the Kellogg's dietitians, I remembered a programme I watched a couple of years ago made by Professor Lesley Regan looking at children's products and part of which investigated sugary cereals. Lo and behold, I have managed to find a video of that programme for you to watch here (and funnily enough, Kellogg's are featured). It also features one of my favourite bits of trivia from last Friday - that most people who consume Frosties are actually young men, rather than small children. Brilliant.



So, maybe we all need to relax about things like that - they get so many other things from it. For instance, cereals are now the leading dietary source of iron for most children. Speaking for myself, I am happier if Monkey and Missy Woo have the healthiest options for breakfast but occasionally, they have Chocolate Weetabix, and sometimes for a special treat, I buy them chocolate spread for special breakfasts. But when it's run out, I don't automatically replace those things and they are happy enough having less sugary cereals like Rice Krispies. Missy Woo is currently having a big porridge phase and will devour bowls of it with only a few raisins added to provide sweetness. I'm happy with that balance - they understand that some things are treats and not to be eaten every day. Were I to have a really finicky child and a sugary cereal was the one thing they would eat for breakfast, I'd give it to them. So shoot me.

Still, Kellogg's say they are looking to reduce the sugar content of some of their sweeter cereals. That has to be a gradual thing because tastes change slowly, although they can be changed. The same applies to cereals. There will come a point where they can't reduce it any further because we just won't eat it. I'm thinking of some reduced salt and sugar baked beans that taste so bland, I want to add salt so I don't buy them.

Beyond the serious side of nutritional messages, it was a great event and I met some lovely bloggers for the first time, and some others for the second or third time. Kellogg's had us "making" our own cereal - and even designing our own cereal packet. I use the term designing loosely as I am so not crafty, it's embarrassing. Still, I think I did OK - and the cereal is actually quite edible. Here's mine, along with a few things that Kellogg's gave us to take away.

And yes, that is my face on a Cornflakes packet! If you saw my Silent Sunday post this week, hopefully all is now explained - they took photos of all of us at the start and then printed them on either a packet of Cornflakes or Rice Krispies for us to take away. Incidentally, did you know that the cockerel on the packet is called Cornelius? (Geddit?) I didn't!

Because I can't fit them all in, I've put pictures from the morning into a slideshow for you to peruse at your leisure.



Apart from coming away with arms laden with stuff, the one thing that stuck with me is this: children need breakfast. And as things go, cereal ain't necessarily that bad an option. If your child will only eat the sugariest thing on the supermarket shelf, let them have it. In the grand scheme of things, it's no biggie. If that's OK by Professor Regan, then it's OK by me.