Feeling Stylish

Obsessing somewhat over one of the gorgeous dresses Next were so kind to send me. I decided to do a little photoshoot complete with Next’s swallow print tights and some of my clumpiest boots.

I’d whacked my hair up out of the way because I’d just had a shower. Completely by accident I made my hair look the best I ever had. Complete with fluffy quiff (as opposed to my usual thoroughly back-combed and hair sprayed quiffs.)

The dress has apples on it. I think my co-captain’s lust for fruit prints has rubbed off on me.

I also want to share with you a couple of milestones in the weight loss journey. Firstly, these are the first normal-sized (hate that term) tights I’ve ever been able to wear. My legs are long and fat. While I’ve been able to lose most of the weight off my stomach – yay – nothing had come off my legs until recently.

A couple of people have remarked how my legs are shrinking.

These boots I bought 2.5 years ago when I started my PR job. They are over-the-knee boots as you can see here. However, prior to Wednesday I’d been wearing them as ruched boots because I couldn’t get them high enough up my calf to get them over my knee.

On Wednesday came a horse-based work do so I put on my smart boots. I pulled them up and they kept going.

Legs are definitely skinnier and I feel very pleased about that!

I guess you’ll be wondering where I’ve been for the past week or so. Well, I had a stomach bug that meant I was in bed sleeping for about four days. I was so bad that I didn’t watch any of the Formula One qualifying and the race on Sunday had to be watched from the comfort of my bed via the laptop!

A small insight into my life can be found via Instagram. I’m obsessed. Find me on there. I’m Jetlbomb.

The stomach bug has helped in terms of weight loss though. I’ve finally kicked my plateau and am on the road to skinniness once again. So, I have a few goals I wish to share with you.

Long-ish term goal.

Be 155lbs by the time I go to Cardiff in July.

Current: 174lbs

To lose: 19lbs

This is doable, it might be a bit of a struggle but I reckon I can do it. 155lbs is around the 11 stone mark. I haven’t been that weight since I was a CHILD!

On going goals

• Go to the gym twice a week
• Get Zombies! Run and start running again
• Do Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred

First PT session in two weeks for me tonight. I am looking forward to it. I hope I get to bench press more than 20kgs!

This is a topic I’ve wanted to write on for a while but I’d love to know your opinions on the subject. If you’ve written a similar post or plan to write something, add the link to the link-up at the bottom of the page. If you’d be so kind to link back here to get others involved that would be great!

Ever since beginning to lose weight I’ve had time to dwell on how I feel about my body. Do I hate it and that’s why I want to change it? No, god no!

I love my body and that’s why I am getting fitter and healthier. I love how I look but think how I could look without flabby bits. I think how I could look if clothes fitted me properly. I also think about my skin, my heart, my lungs, my hair, everything. I’ve lost 60lbs and I am so much healthier. I owe it to my body to keep motoring on with that.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been exposed to a lot of pro-anorexia stuff (mainly through Tumblr) that breaks my heart. Beautiful women who think they are fat or horrible looking and that a starve/binge/purge cycle will help them to be beautiful. I’m not one to judge on body type. Curvy is beautiful, bones are beautiful, muscle is beautiful. But health is way above all of those for me.

Yes, I want to look good. There was a point at the beginning of my weight loss when looking good was my sole motivation. But things have changed, I’m not doing this to lose weight any more. I’m eating better and exercising so I can be healthy and fit. I want to out run the boys, have the stamina to dance all night long, and not have to worry about eating an entire pizza.

The media doesn’t help. It shows us pictures of skinny models and then tells us that skinny is bad, curvy is good. Then doctors tell us that being overweight is bad. We could die! Curvy women who are overweight have nowhere to turn, should they lose weight? Should they embrace their curves?

Embrace your curves, if you have them. Lead a healthy lifestyle and you can’t go wrong. You might lose weight but generally if you have curves at 17 stone you’re likely to have them at 10 stone too.

Those of you blessed with high cheekbones, tiny waists and skinny legs. Embrace it, don’t let people tell you what you need to be. You don’t need to be curvy, you don’t need to be thinner.

Muscular women, show off those muscles! No doubt you’ve worked hard to get them!

Learn to dress for your shape and it would make a whole world of difference to how you see yourself.

Love your body and treat it well.

Feel free to link your body image blog posts below and leave a comment when you do! I’ll be along to read and comment!

Firstly, apologies for the awfulness of these pictures they are hastily taken in the mirror but they give a good idea of the weight I’ve lost!

The first image was taken just before I started going to a personal trainer last year. The second image is the result of a lot of hard work. It was taken today! 2.5 stone gone since then, that’s about 4 stone in total since I started to lose weight in April 2009! Amazing how exercise speeds up the process.

I’m really proud of myself but I still feel like there’s a long way to go.

The outfit is of little interest, I suppose, but in case your are interested… In the March picture I’m wearing River Island jeans in a size too big and a Dorothy Perkins tank top. Now accessorised with Batman converse and my River Island sheep cardigan (not pictured).