Despite my best intentions it seems to happen every year .. unfortunately! …. the winter temperatures , combined with a lot of blogging and a few too many delicious meals, all add up to the same thing – if I want to feel comfortable wearing a pretty dress in a couple of months time, when spring returns, then I need to start reacting now!
I guess its an age thing, but I really don’t have the patience any more to stick to a diet sheet, I prefer just to follow the lead of the lovely slim French girls around me and apply common sense.
When I have lunch or dinner with girlfriends here, it is noticeable that they eat well but always reasonably. They are careful to eat slowly, and only small portions. There may be a basket of bread on the table, but they’ll probably ignore it. Wine is unusual at lunch time, and even in the evening they rarely drink more than a glass or two. Rather than eat dessert, they prefer to take their time over a coffee.
I began putting this into practice about two weeks ago, and I’m already getting results without stressing myself about bending the rules. Three reasonable meals a day and absolutely no snacking, plus plenty of walks around the forest with two happy dogs and those few kilos that have been annoying me are beginning to drop away. I’m actually looking forward to pulling out my spring wardrobe!
And just to help me stick to my good intentions I persuaded a friend from far away to do the same; once a week we call in to report on our progress and encourage each other! It’s amazing what a little friendly support will do to help when that iron will begins to weaken!
But I’d love to know what your quick solution is? What is your best way to tackle those couple of extra pounds or kilos? Do you head to the gym, or eat like a rabbit, or simply shrug your shoulders and say, “c’est la vie!’
photo by P Demarchelier
52 comments
It’s almost that time for me……..once the skin starts to show, I stop eating cake twice a day and drinking wine every night.
Bring on spring!
But you my friend always look so amazing that is hard to believe that you ever eat cake twice a day!!
xx
Buddhists say ” find pleasure in everything u do” with that thought in mind I clean like a 1940″s house wife, appreciate every item of beauty I have collected over the years & have maintained te same weight since being a teenager : D
Benita thank you for this Buddhist’s quote. I will have to always remember to “find pleasure in everything u do.” Maybe that will help me deal with the snow and ice outside of my windows. Can hardly wait for spring. Going to a Home and Garden show tomorrow that will lift my spirits.
Positive thinking will always go a long way Benita!
xx
ah ha…really? is that underweight or overweight or ‘just right’?
Here in Wisconsin we have a few more months before the skin starts to show, but about now I start replacing every drink with water, and replacing the baked goods with nuts and raw vegetables! And more water, and more water….
Yes Joanna, it is wonderful how much difference the extra water can make 🙂
x
I enjoy your blog very much and have been reading it for quite awhile but I never leave comments.
The photo of the dress is beautiful, here in Texas the weather has just broken and I was in the garden all day yesterday. I try to ignore the bread basket and for every glass of wine a glass of water. If I snack in the evening it would be apples.
Continue your inspiration and I will follow!
Loretta
Thank you Loretta, I am blessed to have readers like you 🙂
xx
When I feel I need to lose a few pounds, I try to have an almond milk smoothie for lunch every day…it really works! Almond milk, some frozen fruit (mango, strawberries etc), a little banana and some kale. That, and yes, lots of water. Then I also start swimming again. I swim 5 days/week in summer and oh, what a difference! Don’t like the indoor pool, but I will do it once a week all winter (plus gym 4 days a week.) As you say, just cutting back and watching what you eat is the best way to go….
I really should swim more, I admire your discipline Libby
xx
I do pretty much what you do. I practice portion control, eat one thin slice of toast in the morning, cut out some of the wine (I live in the winemaking south of France), only bring home what I think I should eat (what are those potato chips doing in your shopping basket?!), and focus on fish, vegetables, and soup/salad. The best part for me is not the clothes, its how much easier it is to move around!
bonnie in the Languedoc
So true Bonnie, the right decisions begin at the market!
xx
When you talk about spring, I suddenly realised winter is creeping towards us here in the Southern hemisphere! The most popular diet this season was a diet of high protein, high fat and none carbohydrates. Defnitely not recommended for the cholesterol or heart patients. Even the restaurants changed their menus to included this diet. In my opinion you have the answer, moderate amounts of everything, with a low carbohydrate intake.
Kind regards
Johanna
I am going to be walking more and somehow using my best to eat light at night (my worst time for snacking) I have several pieces I cannot fit into and I think about 7-8 lbs would make a big difference!!
xoxo
Karena
Featuring The HighBoy
Viva la France!
I keep track of my intake and exercise on an app for a few days to get back on track. It helps that I love veggies and am a runner!
Portion control coming back with avengence for me sooner rather than later although it is still very cold up here in the north of England. More water, less wine. I try not to snack between meals. Will be glad to get back into the garden for fresh air and exercise.
Track your calories on line! The only way for me.
everyone says ” you look like I have lost weight” + I can tell it in my clothes + don’t own a scale + portion control + lots of water. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
meant to say “you look like you have lost weight”
I do a 24 hour fast to quick start my weight loss – drastic, but it does seem to help. Then I cut out all bread (really difficult this one as I love baking), cakes and biscuits. I try to replace potatoes with cauliflower, and drink lots of water with a squeeze of lemon juice. The one thing I can’t give up though is my breakfast – homemade muesli with oats, fresh berries and grapes. It seems to set me up for the day, and if I am really hungry I will have that for lunch as well!
Oh, Potatoes are so good for you. much nutrition..it is what you ‘do’ with them once cooked that is the problem..Add butter/margarine…roasted in oil etc. all of which, I must say, appeals to me.
Anna x
I have always been blessed to have a small appetite ~ hence, at 62 I can still get away with a couple of glasses of wine each day. But I do try very hard to steer clear of the carbs (my favorite foods are potatoes and bread!). I do enjoy fruit also and some veggies so I just really eat small portions.
I walk about 5K most days and try to walk 10K with a friend twice a week. I lost 30 pounds following a Weight Watchers and it took about a year to shed that weight so I am pretty used to the foods that I can enjoy without guilt and am careful with those that I should eat in moderation….i enjoy wine with dinner too!
I am so looking forward to seeing French Femmes in Paris this Spring…
Good luck with your regime…walking with dogs in the forest sounds positively energizing.
I have always been a little on the heavy side. I would say i’m two dress sizes past looking good. I have tried for years but this time finally cracked it !!
My husband suffered a stroke before Christmas. So now we are both doing the healthy heart diet together. Cutting down on salt, sugar, fatty foods an anything else that’s tasty.
The results are clear to see within a month.
But I must say, if someone walked past my cottage now carrying a KIT KAT , I would probably mug them for it
Shell xx
It is always so much easier if you are doing it together. Moral support helps so much. I really hope you and your husband enjoy your new found health and best wishes to him for a good recovery.
Thank you
I can relate to how you feel. My husband has Parkinson’s Disease and sometimes only chocolate and the odd(!!) glass of wine is what helps one cope. Seriously, we try to eat healthily and I think I actually find it easier than he does. Added to all of this I am 13 years younger than he is so things are not always easy.
Watch out gals cause once you hit later years that weight isn’t so easy to shrug off ( blast it anyway). Then throw in no thyroid and it’s even harder.
But reading all these wonderful testaments to losing those few extras has inspired me, thank you, to get off my lead butt and walk which will thrill our dog no end. Been reading all kinds of articles and they keep saying, walk, get at least 30 minutes, at least a day, of exercise, walking is best to do. And drink more water, and control portions. Thank you ladies for awesome inspirations and reminders. I read lots of AARP articles in US that crop up/show up this time of year. So guess I’ll go have a greek yogurt and some blue berries. Thanks for all the inspiration. Happy week.
Despite the snow still here high up in the Morvan I’ve started jogging again. Good to be out in the fresh air felling energised and hopefully will drop some kilos too!
Thank you for the sundress reminder!
I like to follow Mark Twain’s advice: “Whenever I feel the urge to exercise, I lie down with a good book until the feeling passes.”
I love that!! 😉
Thanks for this delightful kick in the butt. JaneEllen is correct! I’m turning 60 next month and losing weight has become a real challenge. I have been using the South Beach Diet app, mostly because of the unique healthy recipes, but it’s really all about cutting down on those delicious carbs and drinking lots of water. I always carbonate my water with a Soda Stream and just drink it plain-the “fizz” adds a little pizzazz. And to make it fun, I drink it out of our crystal glasses; after all, why shouldn’t we use them every day? Jazzercise classes 3 to 4 times weekly are my favorite exercise (who knew my arms could be so toned?), plus some additional walking with our two beautiful mutts. I need to shape up so I can get out and garden when spring finally arrives!
It seems each year I tackle the Thanksgiving thru New Years extra weight in a different way…initially. Like today; I went to a water aerobics class early, then on a long walk with my husband and our dogs. I am writing down everything I am eating. Well, that’s a start,, but it will change. Tomorrow I may ride my bike and do floor exercises. Whatever I do, it needs to include moving this body around throughout the day. This brings results along with eating like I did when I was on Weight Watchers. It is just eating sensibly and usually a small dinner consisting of a salad with a protein such as fish or chicken. That’s about it. I want to wear something this Spring/Summer beside jeans and a sweater. Thanks, Sharon, for sharing all that you do. xoxo
As I sometimes use food as medication rather than take antidepressants and would consider myself a food addict, the weight piled on. Tried counting cals, tried portion control (ha ha!). Tried so many diets and was resigned to being obese till a friend of a similar age (78) and weight whom I met up with after several months, amazed me with her weight loss. Her secret? Dukan! It’s worked for me too and is so easy. High protein and no starchy carbs. I find it so easy, am never hungry and it is healthy too as you gradually add veggies etc. I now do my own version which includes that glass of wine but basically stick to no starchy carbs and avoid fat.
I am very healthy, still active in the garden (though slowing down a bit) take no medication and just swallow some fish oil, vitE (recommended by the doc) and vitamins caps each day.
Such a relief to be able to fit into my ‘slim’ clothes again — nothing is tight, lookin’ good!
I will check out Dukan. Thanks. Aging does complicate weight. It’s not only aging, but the health issues that come with that…
Just got another day of freezing rain But even then I find that with horses to take care of I am always busy today I loaded 15 bales of hay into my truck and then upstairs in my hay loft ,quite the work out! I also love getting bundles up and walking in the deep snow in the fields, Everything in moderation. If I eat a big meal one night I tighten it up the next day and be sure to exercise. I will admit I am addicted to exercise and love running the roads in the Summer. But I also love to eat. Good luck hope spring comes soon!!
After (finally!) retiring from my desk job(s) of the past 38 years, I thought the extra 5 pounds would just fall off. Not so fast. At 57 years old I find that it is absolutely true that it takes more than just moving a bit more/eating a bit less, although that does help of course. But for the past 12 weeks I’m getting slimmer by taking a 45 minute BRISK walk at least 5 days per week, along with a 20 minute light pilates workout 3-4 days per week ever since Thanksgiving, I have finally begun to feel a lot more youthful in my movements, am a tad bit slimmer. I also find it easier to fight off the winter “blahs”. If you take your time and don’t try to use methods that you dread (for me that’s a high intensity workout), and if you are looking for functional strength and good health vs. doing it strictly for vanity, you have a better chance at sustaining your good habits. And feeling good in your skin leads to confidence, which is always attractive!
Age has definitely been the factor for me. When I first started putting on the pounds in my late 40’s I decided to go to a health club and do some cardio and weight training. Lost 18# and 18″. Then 10 years later after the pounds crept back on with extra to spare I tried Nutri System for about 8 weeks to give me a start and then continued with the example of good food choices and started walking. Lost about 25# and felt great. BUT, with the stress of being the caregiver of an aging mother and everything else life puts on your plate I’m back to needing to get another 25-30#s OFF. I know I’m eating well. My problem is I need to MOVE and I don’t like to exercise the older I get. Living in a colder climate keeps those extra pounds on longer. Hopefully this will get me MOVING.
I had brief stints at the gym, walked for miles, huff and puffed – so much work for so little lost! I and hated doing the lot. now. i used to use a lot of energy gardening but trying to do a lot less now with age creeping up. don’t exercise at all. Dukan says to walk but after a bit of that when I’m shopping I have aching legs. I’ve lost 10kgs with Dukan with no exercise.
There have been respected reports that say exercise is not the key to weight loss unless you go for it like an athlete.
Ok, I admit it, I enjoy food too much to worry about my weight!
Women are supposed to be sexy, curvy and full of confidence but at work in the office, my colleagues struggle as they yo yo between dress sizes. They follow the endless wonder diets and are never happy with their figures. Following the fashion magazines idea of perfection and dreaming of being like those images of stick thin models is not for me.
But then, thankfully none of us are the same!
Like some of the other women I find daily walking and portion control to be key. I also have a ‘no food 3 hours before bed’ rule and this really helps to keep weight stable. If you’ve ever seen a 1940s dinner set you will notice that the plates, and particularly the dessert bowls, are much smaller than what we have today. That’s got to make a difference!
I’m in my late 40s and trying not to buy into the ‘it’s hard to keep weight off as you age’ theory. If I’m honest with myself, I notice I only put on weight when I am overeating and under-exercising. They have recently changed the theory and said that hormonal changes really only account for a tiny slow down in metabolism. I also believe that a body that is really well-nourished will maintain a better weight due to a healthier thyroid,digestion and metabolism. Every function in the body will be better with optimum nutrition!
Madeleine.x
Hi Madeline, it is so true I only put on weight when I over eat and do no exercise. I have been following a 12 week program that has me moving more and eating healthy but not starving myself and it so works, but I love the way French women look after themselves. Imagine being able to go for a walk in a forest? It is to hot here in Australia to much outside but I am looking forward to Autumn.
New to your blog, I must tell you how wonderful it is. How uplifting! Merci. You now have another avid reader! Brenda in the sunny state of Florida, USA
I have been doing the 5:2 fast diet for almost a year. For 2 days a week you reduce your calories to 500 and eat normally for the rest of the week. I have found this wonderful as it is the only diet I have ever found actually works. I have lost 18kg and 10 cm of my waist. I find that I no longer think of foods as naughty or feel guilty as I am perfectly allowed to have that wine, or chocolate, or ice-cream, desert, hot cross bun, Easter egg, Christmas cake or what ever else tempts me, just not on my fast days. Needless to say that because they are no longer ‘forbidden’ they don’t hold as much temptation so I don’t often have them. But when I do, I enjoy them. Fasting is meant to be extremely good for the body. Studies have shown that it improves blood glucose to the point of preventing on set of diabetes. It also improves cholesterol and helps prevent cancers. I use Mimi Spencer’s wonderful recipes which are very healthy and full of flavour. This is a diet that will actually improve your health as well as quickly drop the weight and measurements.
LOVE all the tips!!! Fitness pal app helps me.
Ride, ride, ride. Everything about riding a horse, from grooming and tacking up to the ride itself is an excellent way to get in shape fast. Good for the pony too! (sadly I haven’t been able to ride like that in over a year, life circumstances.)
I am doing the Whole 30 plan. I have dropped 20 pounds and feel great. No sugar, no dairy, no grains and no legumes for 30 days. Coffee took some getting used to without sugar but I’m sticking to it. Texas has many hot days in the summer and I want to wear shorts. I think living in France by it’s self would give me the incentive to lose weight.
I think that you should enjoy Spring and Summer very much. To lose that amount of weight is terrific…pls. your secret?
A