Modern suction

Interesting article in today's Guardian about the rise of liposuction. It truly sounds like an absolutely horrific procedure, not to say somewhat pointless, and your body takes months to recover: yet nearly 30,000 people, 92% of them women, have undergone the procedure in the last year.

Picture on the wall

At my 40th birthday party recently my mum had selected a bunch of photos for the wall depicting me from age 0 to 39. It's funny how you forget how you looked once. I was struck by one photo in particular, which showed me, my sister, my brother and my mum outside my aunt's house near Huddersfield. The sun is shining and we're all smiling. It's the summer of 1996, and I'm about to start my final year at university. Fatfighter 1 has met or is just about to meet her future husband.

It's interesting to see some photographic evidence of the slimmest I've been in my life, post-early 20s. I weighed just under 9 stone then, and it's obvious. At the time, I was following a strict eating regime in which I avoided refined carbs, coffee and all alcohol except gin and vodka. I may have mentioned it before - it was recommended to me by a naturopath, when I went to see him about my lack of energy. Iwas also running three or four times a week and going to the gym two or three times a week. I cycled everywhere. I would love to go back to living that way - I mean, I was happy too! - but can't get my head round doing without treats in these days of work and childcare and not much else. Any suggestions, anyone?

A Guide to An Idiot (or "When Will I Ever Learn?")

So after reading this (be careful if you have PMT!) I scuttled off to Waterstones to avail myself of Neris and India's Idiot-proof Diet. It's a diet, but it wasn't proof against this idiot.

Basically, it's Atkins. And yes, they did lose weight and they look great. But still... I read it until the start of phase two of the diet. At which point they recommend that you stay on phase 1 of the diet until you only have a stone to lose. Ahaha (shuffles uncomfortably).

I am still considering whether to give it a go.

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Happy New Year Fatfighters, by the way. This is the year.

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And FF2, thanks for the party - great night. Lovely to meet FF1. You both look great and I begin to understand why Fatfighters is slowing down.

Hampered

Christmas is over and things can start to return to normal on the food front - once I get all those chocolates and biscuits etc etc out of the way. I gave a hamper to all my senior staff this year and was persuaded to order one for myself, so I have been looking with a sinking feeling at the remnants of it: chocolate covered cinnamon biscuits, lurid green "lollies" (the Australian word for boiled sweets), vanilla wafers, almond slices, a bar of organic chocolate... I have this awful urge just to eat it all as fast as possible, to "get it out of the way", which I know is all wrong. I might as well just staple it all straight to my hips.