'So what's your secret?'

Ok, so recently, I've dropped a lot of pounds. Not sure how many, because I believe scales tend to lie! If you know your body, and you know where you've shed your pounds, then I'm sorted.

I needed to lose weight anyway, for my own general health. I was having a problem where my right ankle would swell up so bad that it would even prevent me to walk. But if you look at me you wouldn't think I'm so heavy; I'm the kind of person that can carry their weight.

I've slimmed down a little, and people are now rising up the question:

'What's your secret?'

To be really honest; I don't have one.

I'm not on a 'diet' per se, because I don't believe in diets. I believe in a change of lifestyle and just changing what I eat. That's it.

So let me devise my 'secret' list:

1. I drink a lot of water.

You know that our bodies are about 70% water, so we need to constantly top up. Do you also know sometimes when you feel 'hungry', the solution is really water. That can reduce a lot of overeating.
Especially when you've lost a lot of water due to exercise or just general being outside as we can get really dehydrated. The recommended amount of water I believe is 2 litres a day.
Not saying I drink that much, but I drink near enough to it.

2. Don't eat late at night.

Not a good move. The food that you eat at night... maybe if you're craving a midnight snack.. that food doesn't digest properly, and so it just stays in your stomach and it can turn into fat.
But if you REALLY want to eat something, try something very light, like a piece of fruit, or yoghurt. Try to stay away from bread or really starchy things.
[EDIT: I read in the paper a couple of days ago, that this is actually a myth! It doesn't matter what time of day you eat as long as you're not taking it more calories than you've burned off. Hush my mouth! But then that means you need to figure out how many calories you've taken in? (Remember.. I don't calorie count!]

3. Try and minimise treats.

Chocolate. sweets. More chocolate. Try and eat as little as you can of it. Obviously you can have some! Who says you can't? But don't end up going on a chocolate binge and ruin what you've started!

4. Yes, exercise.

Weight doesn't magically melt off. (Oh.. if it did. Life would be a lot easier!) But you don't have to join a gym straight away. You can do aerobics in your house, (I own a Jane Fonda VHS!) Or do you sit ups, crunches-- if you have an exercise ball, use that to do crunches, it works wonders. Walk short distances instead of taking a bus.. Just small things like that.
But just don't think doing it once will work! Exercise is a constant thing.

5. Find a way to stick veggies in.

I love my greens. Broccoli... yum. If you can fit some veggies into your day, it will help. It definitely helps.

6. Tea. Cranberry Juice. Iced tea.

Tea. Is a natural laxative. So if you're a tea person you're doing the right thing. Cranberry juice is great to drink to clear your digestive tract. Juices are good for you, but not all the time. Swap soft drinks and caffeine beverages for these!

7. Laugh!

I know it sounds funny, but laughing is good for you. It really is. Have you noticed when you have a good chuckle your stomach really pains? Well, apparently, laughing 100 times is roughly equal to 15 minutes on an exercise bike!
Plus, laughing reduces stress and pain. Laughing does a lot for you. Stick in that favourite comedy!

8. I don't calorie count.

Nope. I find it as a waste of time. I pick up the food-- ok sometimes you can't help but look at calories because, especially sainsbury's, they have that calorie code thing where when something is really fattening, it's red, if it's medium, it's orange, and if it's good for you it's green.. that you can't avoid. Obviously if I'm buying something moderately fattening, I won't eat it again for a while. That's just how I am.

9. Snack bars are good, but don't overdo it.

When I tried my attempt at 'dieting', I started munching on snack bars. They happen to have hidden sugars and carbohydrates that just help you to put on weight. Eat them in moderation.

10. One sure fire sign you're losing weight, when your clothes are starting to sag.

Every single item of clothing on mine is falling off. All of my clothes used to be really skin tight, I could fit into them, but they were tight. Now everything looks like baggy mc hammer pants (Ok, not that extreme...) But it's loose, and I like it.. it shows that what I'm doing is working.

Well, I guess that's my 'secret'

I honestly don't have one, it's just watching what I eat, and just changing my lifestyle.

Being a writer is *whoo*

Firstly, being a writer is crazy because we stay up and ungodly hours of the morning concocting scenes, characters, ideas, dialogue and the whole nine.

I actually haven't had writers block this time around; more of not making the time to write.

That's not good.

When you're a writer, you're not meant to 'wait' for a time before you get back on the writing bandwagon again. I know that.

I'm working on this piece at the moment; it's titled 'Flashback' for the time being; and it's about a scene I had with my ex-boyfriend where he got kicked out of my house and we were literally crying outside of the door. A very intense moment that I need to write about.

What the downside of it is, I need to go back to that moment in time and RE experience the feelings and emotions. OH GOSH. I remember a lesson at university about how writers have to be brave and that we have to go back to moments that we don't really want to go back to.. but in order to capture the true feelings... we need to experience it again in our minds.

Writing is no joke. I love it.

Not to mention I'm STILL up and I need to get to sleep.
I have a lot of unfinished pieces to finish-- I just don't know when.

Ramblings of a writer. Eh?

Operation Future Leaders.

The video tells the story.

Dating in the Dark.

Wow.

Ok, so I haven't updated my blog in a very long while. This thing called 'life' is very demanding you see--

I don't need to make excuses.

HELLO!

So, I've seen this new show on LivingTV called 'Dating in the dark' right?



Sounds self explanatory, right? Well the show is pretty much challenging 'looks vs personality'
The daters are dating in a pitch black room, all they can hear is their voices. I thought it was stupid at first, but after watching the second episode.. I'm starting to go 'Hmm..'

They may look silly stumbling around in the dark, touching very 'sacred' places, or accidentally falling down; the climax of the show is the 'revealing' Sometimes the reactions are quite funny, even though they're not meant to react.

What made me go 'hmm' was the fact when they get revealed to each other, they say that they wouldn't 'normally' go for someone who looks particularly like that, but they did after going on the show.
The reason why I like this show NOW is because it's testing the shallow nature of people. People tend to rely on looks 90% of the time, rather than within.

Within is where we should be looking to be quite honest.

The only part that's really cold is the end; where they get to choose to go out with them again or walk out. BUT the people actually see the other person walking out. Can you believe it? I think that could definitely tarnish a person's ego (could be a good thing?) or hurt someone's feelings?

The show isn't so bad. I think the idea is a little shaky, I mean.. in pitch black darkness? It seems to be working though, I mean, I tune in.

It's on LivingTV every Monday from 9pm. Tune in and see.

Tweet. Tweet.

I purposely made a vow to not join twitter..

But alas... I conformed and joined.

http://twitter.com/LadyDeeVine

But really.. Twitter is like a diluted version of FB. To me, it's like I'm just talking to myself. I just stick a status up there and then bam, that's me.

But yeah. Tweet me.

Finally

I'm getting my upgrade! Nokia E71.. 800 minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited internet! And best of all.. it's free!
I've had such a horrible experience with my Nokia 6500 classic. It's time for a new phone, and I have internet on the go. The way I need internet on the go is actually a joke. Sometimes I come back home so late, and I reply to e-mails so late... and people think I'm unreliable!

But from Weds... I'll be rolling with it. I was stuck between a BB or this phone; but because I like Nokia's THAT much, I decided to pick this. In 18 months, 10 different BB's would have came out so I can get it next time.

But yeah.. very excited. lol.

Racist undertones?

Well, something was really bugging me yesterday, (meant to blog it last night, but didn't get the chance to)

Anyway.

I went to an interview a couple weeks ago.. and it was a predominantly white staffed company. I walked in there with my black self, wearing my africa gold chain. I was complimented, told that I was very qualified..

Didn't get the job.

I had another interview today, (well, now yesterday. So Thursday)and my mother said something to me, 'Hide your Africa chain' They're already stereotyping these white people' My mother is blunt.. but that annoyed the FRICK out of me.

So because I'm wearing a gold chain of Africa... you won't hire me? So forget about the qualifications, you just dwell on the colour of my skin and what I'm wearing. Who told you? Who are you to judge?

It annoyed me the whole bus ride to the place.. a lot of thoughts were going through my head.

Firstly... first impressions amongst friends/colleagues and first impressions when going to an interview are very different. With friends... it's maybe the way you act or something that they dwell on.. but when it comes to the job aspect it's all about the appearance. Yeah.. you may sound great on paper, but in person if they see you're not like how they imagined you to be... you're cut out already.

ARGHH!

But really, I'm trying to not let it get to me. I know I have qualifications.. I know I have the skills. It just really GETS TO ME that there's still people that do that. That are so petty. They're looking for people who are QUALIFIED.. but instead they want people of the same colour... and they may not even be qualified.

So what is all this about equal opportunities jazz? Yeah... you invite black people to the interviews.. but as soon as they leave you overlook their application and throw it away right?

Hm. I can be exaggerating.. whatever, but it just annoys me. People's brains need to expand, and you need to realise that there are people out there looking for work who are MORE than qualified and they're not hired for anything.

Due to what?

I don't know. This is my opinion.

Whatever.