The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl

Two Fit Chicks Episode 08 - Your Questions Answered II

There's a brand spankin' new episode of Two Fit Chicks and a Microphone today. And as a very special bonus I actually hit the RECORD button and didn't screw up the balance so you'll hear our dulcet tones in stereo. Hurrah for progress.

Today's episode is called Your Questions Answered II, as Carla and I are, quelle surprise, answering some of your questions! Self sabotage, injuries and food journalling. And a few tangents. And me puzzling over my missing dumbbell.

» Check out Episode 8 over at the Two Fit Chicks website

PS. Thanks everyone who entered the DG Sell Out - I'll draw the winners tonight.

Sell Out winners!

As mentioned on the podcast today, I'm glad there exists such a thing as a Random Number Generator, so deciding the 9th Birthday Sell Out winners is entirely out of my hands. I only have to feel guilty that there can be so few. I wish I had 403 sports bras to give away instead of one, to avoid disappointing 804 boobs!

Here are the winners, listed by comment number and name.

• Rude Health porridge and muesli feast - Main prize: 27 Jane, Runners-up - 10 helenbee, 14 Margaret, 52 Sam, 64 Diane, 103 Kaz
• An Honest Kitchen magazine - 92 ladyloo, 100 dunja, 135 Alison Moy
• Weight Loss Resources membership - 18 Flossie
• Enell Sports Bra from LessBounce - 6 Debbie
• SuperJam 100% Pure Fruit jams - 36 Alison Whitfield
• The Spark book from SparkPeople.com - 78 Lisa S, 94 Karin, 103 Just a girl, 234 Tina
• Nakd Uber Prezzie Box - 48 Lizzy, 76 Lindsey
• Dorset Cereals Flakes & Porridge  - 6 Stephoodle, 25 Liz Wx, 52 Sarah
• $100 Cathe Downloads gift voucher - 137 Lucinda

Congratulations all you lucky ducks! Check your email for details on how to claim your prize and please reply to let me know you've received the message. You might need to check your Spam filters.

A huge thank you to everyone who entered and to all the very generous Sell Out sponsors.

Now we're all done with selling out, so alas it's back to me crapping on and on without any prospect of loot :)

Let those with boobs rejoice - 10% @lessbounce discount for DG readers

11 Feb - Another update from LessBounce:

I was wondering if you would like to let your ladies know about our "Sports Bra Amnesty". Basically, we send old sports bras to Oxfam's Wastesavers and this entitles customers to £3 off their next item.

I thought they may find it useful, as they may be exercising a lot and changing shape! And this is a good way to help with the cost of ordering new bras.

Each returned bra is worth £3 off the price of your next item, you can only trade in one old bra against a new bra. The easiest method is to return your sports bra with your new order. Please send back to:

Sports Bra Amnesty,
The Old Bank,
High St,
Netheravon,
Salisbury SP4 9PQ

A wee follow-up from the Sell Out. When LessBounce learned how many of you clamored for the Enell Sports Bra they offered up a February discount:

We have set up a 10% discount code for your ladies who didn't win the prize to use for this month!  The code is DG10 and this can be entered in to the coupon code box when ordering online or quoted over the telephone. Should they experience any difficulties using the code, they can enter it in the "How did you hear about us?" field and we will apply it manually.

The discount applies to all products, not just the Enell, for February 2010. LessBounce ship worldwide* and have sports bras for racks of all sizes - not just the wildly generous ones!

Regarding the Enell: As many of you pointed out it is pricey, but it's a great example of the Cost Per Wear principle. I brought two Enells in 2004, which would cost a total of £86 at 2010 prices. Even less with the DG discount. They've been in rotation for five years and still going strong.

Accounting for lazy periods, each bra is worn at least once a week, so 2 uses per week in total. 104 uses per year; 520 uses over 5 years. This equates to £0.16p per wear! With the minor bonus of five years of pain-free cardio. You can find a Cost Per Wear calculator on the Skinny Cow website, by the way.

* £7.50 for Europe and £10.00 for the rest of the world

Note: This is purely a community service announcement. I'm not affiliated with LessBounce and have not received any dosh nor free brassieres!

One Fit Bloke

A mighty cheer goes out to Kepa, the lovely young lad who christened our podcast Two Fit Chicks And A Microphone. He hit his goal weight this week. How do you like these stats?

Then: 229 kgs (504.8 lbs)
Now: 99.5 kgs (219.4 lbs)
Weight lost: 129.5 kgs (285.4 lbs)

Check out his video:

Comments are closed here to encourage you to scoot over to his blog and say WELL DONE! For the lad is a deadset legend! And maybe wish him and his sweetheart Merry a happy Valentine's day while you're there :)

(New entry tomorrow! Woohoo!)

Mojo Rising

I feel like a bear emerging from my cave after a long winter, rubbing my eyes and trying to adjust to the light. It's only mid-February but it's Spring in my brain. In my day job we plan things months and months in advance (we're already thinking about 2011), so I'm ready for bare legs and buckets of berries, dammit.

For awhile there I was stuck in the skankiest depths of the Big D, when you don't care about anything and just truly soak in it. But I think I've finally turned a little corner these past couple of weeks. It's been about 100 years since I've written a proper entry after all that selling out, but the internet curfew approaches so I'll blast out a few dot points!

• I'm exercising regularly again. Doing less at the gym and more at home was a brilliant idea. Much less running around.
  
• I did a Zumba class! I've been pining for Body Jam since I left Edinburgh five years (!!) ago and while it wasn't quite as zingy as Body Jam, it was ace and I can't wait to go shake my butt again. We danced to Spice Up Your Life! How can you go wrong!?
  
• I've maintained my weight for the past month and that feels like a triumph, I tells ya.
  
• I know a few people are going to email and say But What About Your Fat. It would be quite easy to throw all my attention into losing 20 pounds. Obsessing over weight would be much easier than tackling the bigger issues. Especially when you're 32 years old and any weight gain causes people to jump to conclusions. Dude I may have been eating for two for awhile there, but not for the usual reasons!
  
  
• But being 32 also means I am too old and curmudgeonly for that dieting crap. I don't want to swing from the extreme of not caring about my body to freaking out about it. I just need to work back up to my healthy habits again, the sane and do-able ones that kept me happily in size 14 jeans for a good long while before it went to pot last year.
  
• So as well as working on the big issues I'm working on my health one meal at a time. First I got my breakfasts back on track and now lunch has been reformed! No more cheesy baked potatoes and back to the kickarse salads. Currently on a puy lentil bender!

Dudes I have to insert some cheese here. I feel like I've been on ice for years, stowed away from society in a tube like Mel Gibson in that movie. Except marginally less annoying. Now I'm defrosting and the world has colour again. Friends and family and blogging comrades are lighting things up at every turn. I need to cut down on the Chunky KitKats but overall things are on the up. Thank you for sticking round!

Friday Link Feast #5

• Daily Mile - you might call it a Facebook for exercise. I'm using it more to record workouts than succumbing to the timesuck of yet another social media thingy. Geeks rejoice: it makes a groovy graph! of your weekly activity - it's motivating see those bursts of movement add up.
• Orangette's Oatmeal Pancakes - I am swoony fan of Molly Wizenburg, least of all because she is a redhead and I feel it is important to support your own kind. I'm trying to introduce a Civilised Sunday Breakfast routine at Crooked House, especially since we have an actual table now! (scored free from a friend who was about to donate it charity!). These pancakes have been the triumph so far. I used less butter and sugar and added blueberries to the batter... yummo. Cold leftovers festooned with almond butter and sliced bananas were also smashing.
• Matar Paneer - I had a random craving for both green peas and paneer cheese last week and this curry recipe was Google's solution. I cut the oil down to a tablespoon, stir-fried the paneer at the start to give it nice crispy edges, added a tin of tomatoes to bulk it up, and substituted about a quarter cup of ground almonds for the cream and yogurt. Very tasty and super quick.
• The Thrifty Gardener  - Alison Lewis has only five videos on her YouTube but they charmed my pants off. She tells you how to hunt down snails, repurpose random objects and most helpfully, How To Grow Potatoes In A Dust Bin. Totally going to do that!
• Dietgirl Facebook page - they call these things Fan Pages but it feels rather pathetic to say BE MY FAN PLZ. So think of it as a place to chat to fellow Dietgirl visitors, ask questions and read mini updates and links when writing a Proper Blog Entry seems far too taxing :)

Two Fit Chicks Episode 09 - Food Glorious Food

Just a quickie to say there's a new episode of Two Fit Chicks and a Microphone today.

Our topic is Food Glorious Food and we are joined by the legend that is nutritionist Kathryn Elliott of Limes and Lycopene. There's talk of Vitamin D, whey protein, tutus and one-star reviews.

This one was a real cack to record and edit so hope you enjoy! I only wish I could pissfart around with silly sound effects in Garageband all day instead of working in the real world.

» Check out Episode 9 over at the Two Fit Chicks website

Foam! Roller!

This big stick here is the best £15 I've spent in a long time. It's a foam roller, and many of you lovely folk were nagging me to try one... about three years ago. I do listen to you, there's just a slight delay in putting things into action.

If you're unfamiliar with foam rollers, they are another cross-over from the world of physiotherapy, like stability balls and exercise bands. They're just a cylinder made of high-density foam. Mine is a metre tall and 15cm in diameter. You can use them for all sort of things like stretching, massage and stability exercises. Just Google "foam roller exercises"; there's gazillions of them. Or if you're immature, you can simply use your roller to whack your loved ones on the arse.

I had to get one after I visited my friend Jillian and was whinging about my "golf ball", this horrid knot of tension that I frequently get below my right shoulder blade. Being a physiotherapist Jillian whipped out her trusty foam roller and gave me a quick tutorial. OH BABY. I could not help letting out a rather guttural moan... it really hit the spot and ironed out the pesky golf ball. I bought from Amazon the next week. Turns out it is also fab on my crappy hamstrings, just like many of you said it would be.

To emphasise my love! of! this! thing! I tried to arrange it with my stability ball into an exclamation mark, but the ball kept rolling away. I flipped the pic in Photoshop instead. It looks more like one of those fancy pepper grinders, but I think next time I get into an argument with Dr G I will assemble my giant exclamation mark on the living room floor. For nothing says SO THERE! quite like an exclamation mark made out of physiotheraphy equipment.