Hi lovelies,

So, this week, I threw it out to some Unislimettes, to see what they would like me to cover in my blog.

I was surprised to find that so many of them all suggested the same thing.....how to deal with attitudes towards your healthy eating lifestyle.

It seems that so many of you have at some stage of your journey, have been met with resistance from friends and family.

Its hard to think that not everyone would support you, when really the only one your new lifestyle is affecting, is yourself, but nonetheless, here and there, compliments can be peppered with destructive remarks, that at the end of the day, can make you doubt yourself/feel a little hurt. "You look fantastic, but you're not gonna lose anymore are you??" or "you look fine now, don't lose any more or you'll start to look sick".  And when you know you have a way to go on your weight loss, hearing comments like that can really take the wind out of your sails.

Another, is the age old Irish idea that good work should be rewarded with food.  Even telling some one you are on a "diet" can result in a packet of biscuits being waved in your face, with the "ah sure its only one, it won't kill ya".  Would they be so quick to wave a cigarette in the face of someone who has recently quit, and say the same thing?

I got the "don't lose anymore" comment thrown at me a number of times when i was about 10lbs off my target.  I know that the people who said it to me, were not saying it out of any kind of badness, I'm sure, at the heart of it, they were letting me know that I looked well, but healthiness doesn't come soley from how you look.  Its about whats going on inside you.  Mentally and physically.  Loosing your last few lbs, is horrendously hard.  It really tests you, because, no matter what you do, it feels like those final lbs are determined to stick.  You walk the legs off yourself, you get a little more restrictive and banking all your Yumz, but nothing will make those lbs come off in chunks....they usually come off in 0.2lbs/0.5lbs if they budge at all.  This process is so hard, and when you are dealing with negative comments at the same time, well, lets just say, its not the most fun in the world.  But eventually they will come off and you will never forget that feeling of seeing your target weight lighting up when you step on the scales.

I think something to remember when you do face these kinds of attitudes is that, you are doing this for you, no one else.  You are following a programme that is covering everything that your body needs, you are not lacking any of the vital food groups or starving yourself.  You are in control of your weight loss. But besides all of this, there are two external little things that you have to take into account.  Some people may be jealous of the fact that you are having success in making changes to your life, when they have failed/or are afraid to even make a start.  And some people don't like change, they may feel uncomfortable that you are no longer their mate who will go out and drink all weekend, or that you may be getting a little extra attention that you didn't get before.

Disregard the negativity.  As hard as it may seem.  The positivity that you have to focus on is that you are doing something fantastic.  You are changing your body for the better.  You will look and even more so - FEEL so much better as you get to a healthy weight/BMI.

Keep kicking fats ass,

Lots of Lurve,

Fee xxx

Well Helllooooooo!

Feebee here, popping in to see how your week has been.

Isn't it amazing, now that school is back in session and the 9-5'ers are back at their desks, how much easier it is to stick to your best laid plans!  Being out of your comfort zone can really knock you for six.  Although I really worked my booty off over Christmas, the moment I got back to work, I really felt like I was in control again.  Having a schedule for eating suits me down to the ground.

I think thats why the Max Plan has works for me.  You have a limit for how many times a day you eat. 3 + 2.

My schedule is always a little doo-lally, as my evenings are usually filled with rehearsals, I arrive home late at night starving from hours of dancing.  Pre-Unislim, I would have plonked onto the couch at 11pm and either call for take out, or savagely raid my kitchen.  It turns out I wasn't really starving at all, more so dehydrated and just in need of a good pint of water and a little snack.  Now, I save one of my snacks until I get home at night.  It could be just something simple like a yogurt, or a Bovril and some Cracker-breads, but it means I am sticking to my plan.  Actually sitting back and thinking about what your habits are - when you are most vulnerable (ie, when that packet of Mikado starts winking at you), and working around them, or using a healthy alternative, will make all the difference to your weight loss.

I am a horrendous chocoholic.  It has been part of my personality since I was a fetus.  Honest to god, during one of those crazy diets I lived by for a while, I didn't eat chocolate for an entire week (as the diet had me restricted to white things only - hahah - just the thought of it alone is gas!). And during that week, I was an emotional wreck.  One square of chocolate later and I was myself again.  Its my thing.  I don't think anyone should have to give up their "thing" in the steps to lose weight.   But you do have to make better decisions about it.

I stopped buying bars of chocolate.  The little bags of funsize bars they leave at the tills in Lidl, yep, you know the ones, well, they stopped making their way into my trolley (in fairness, I don't remember putting them in their in the first place...they seemed to jump in by themselves..) At 4pm, when the choccie bickies were passed around the office with the cuppa, I just said no, and went and got my yogurt and berries.  Don't get me wrong, these steps weren't easy.  I really worked hard to say that little word "NO".  But after a while, two things happened.  1: people stopped offering me the goodies 2: I didn't miss them.

My hit for my "thing" is Highlights hot chocolate made with skimmed milk. I have one most nights.  I don't feel bad saying no, and missing out on the goodies during the day, because I know my little reward will come later that evening. This way, I don't feel deprived.  I don't feel like I'm missing out on something.  And I am rewarding my hard work during the day with my favorite thing.  I would now find it very hard to eat an entire bar of chocolate.  I can actually eat a square of dairy milk now and leave the rest in the fridge for another day....who'd have thought!  We form all of these habits ourselves, by god we can break them too.

I think one thing you have to remember when you start off your journey to lose weight, is to take things in baby steps.  Take a long look at your habits - be honest about them with yourself.  Figure out what  you downfall is and work on it.  Be it cheese, crisps, real butter, sweets...or of course the drinkies on the weekend.  Audit your weaknesses and replace them with healthier alternatives.  You don't need to think "oh I'm on a diet I can't eat this anymore"....that's the fantastic thing about this plan - you can work everything in, all in healthy moderation.

As one of my leaders once told me....little smidges make big bridges.  Take little steps that you can live by and you will see big results!

Keep kicking fats ass!

Mwah,

Fee

x

Well Hellloooo!

Lets start with a little introduction! I'm Fiona, some of you may know me as Feebee, the persistant poster on the Unislim Clubs Facebook Page.  I am 31 years old, I work a 9-5 as an Imaging & Website Co-Ordinator, I am a total Musical Theatre geek, love to travel, love to go to gigs, hang out with my boyfie Eric & his son Jordan (they will prob get a few mentions in my blog, so it’s only right that they are introduced!), go out to dinner with my girls, and to sing my heart out while I am driving.

I can honestly say that about half of my life has been spent on some kind of diet.  I have battled with my weight for so long, that I have probably tried every eating plan/crash diet/gym plan/weight loss pills on the market at some stage of my life.  You name it, I've wasted money on it.

I suppose looking from the outside, I was the bigger bubbly girl.  I have been told that I don't enter a room, more like explode into it.  But behind the bubbliness, the hearty laughs, inside I was a slim, healthy girl literally screaming to get out.

I have had a few incidences where being a bigger girl was pretty much called up, in my face....like when I was in Thailand and was charged twice the entrance fee into a club, as I was apparently the size of 2 people (don't worry, my girlfriends caused so much of a scene in sheer horror at how I was being treated, I doubt the guy at the door would ever try pull something like that again), in Turkey, a random man patted (yes patted) my stomach and told me "too much Guinness", oh, and that time in Vietnamese hospital, the hand held weighing scales/BMI machine called out in its robotic voice "Obese, Obese, Obese".  Yep, that slim girl in there needed to get out quick!

As I mentioned, I lurve Musical Theatre, and usually perform in 2 stage shows a year.  I love the buzz of being on stage, with all of my friends, singing and dancing, proving that all of our hard work, months of rehearsals, has paid off.   It was only after seeing the DVD of one of our shows, Oliver!, that things got real for me.  At first I didn't recognize myself, but then seeing myself galumph across the stage, I was so shocked, and ashamed that I had let myself get that big.

That’s when I decided that something had to be done.  I watched The Apprentice, it just so happened that making a Unislim menu was the task that week. Seeing Nicola Bleakley and hearing how she had lost 7 stone in a year, I was truly inspired.  I went to bed that night with the most incredible sense of urgency I have ever felt. I joined Unislim the next day.

Since joining Unislim in September 2010, I have lost 3 stone 4.5lbs.  It took me about 9 months to lose the bulk of the weight, the last few lbs coming off slowly but surely.

What attracted me to Unislim was the fact that you were taking care of your body, not cutting out entire food groups, going without meals, replacing meals with shakes etc.  I could actually eat like a normal person.  Who'd have thought that my food plan with Unislim, would actually mean that I eat more than I did when I was eating on the “Old Skool Big Fiona Plan”.  I couldn't believe it.  I was replacing a non-breakfast with hearty bowls of porridge, or gorgeous fruit salads, or fluffy scrambled eggs. My chicken baguette, and a packet of crisps lunch would be replaced with yummy homemade soups, full of flavour and goodness, massive Mediterranean style salads.  And my take out dinners were replaced with piles of fresh veg, lean meats.  I actually started to really enjoy cooking! I found myself buying kitchen utensils like weighing scales, handheld blenders, things that most kitchens have, but something I had never really seen the point in.  These utensils are now part of my essential weight loss kit.

I now know what my body needs on a daily basis, I am never hungry.  I can go out for dinner with my girls and make healthy yummy choices, without really having to think much about it. The Unislim Max Plan just comes so naturally to me now.  There is no counting/no deprivation, just the knowledge of how to make wise choices that will compliment your body.

I love chocolate, but now learned how to implement my little treats into my daily routine with the use of Yumz.

I am now a happier, and overall healthier chick! Who’d have thought that slim Fee would ever actually make it out into the real world – but with Unislim, it actually happened.  It can happen for you too.

Through my future blogs, I hope to help ya’ll by bringing you my experiences, tips and ideas on things like recipes, different types of exercise classes, dressing for your ever decreasing size, from a members point of view.

By joining Unislim, you have taken the biggest step towards becoming the new you. You have the support of your class and your new online pals, so you aren’t alone.

Keep kicking fats ass!

Lots of Lurve,

Fee xxx

Make 2012 your time to shine!

Welcome to 2012! Don't you just love new beginnings? It doesn't matter what happened yesterday, last week or last year! A New Year, like a blank copy book is an opportunity to make a fresh start and make your life positive, healthy and happy. Whether you've got a lot of weight to lose or just want to get back in shape we've got all the support, fun and motivation you need to reach your goal. So together we can make this your year to shine! Please check out our class listings for your nearest class or join us online if you can't make it to a class.

We've even made it easier than ever to kick-start your weight loss and motivation levels with our new 7 Day Quick Loss plan which will help you get to help you get back on track in double quick time.

Shopping Tips

Next time you go shopping, fill your shopping trolly withall the tasty, healthy foods that help fill you up and beat hunger. Try baked potatoes (with a healthy filling, such as the homemade hummus, sweetcorn and tuna); sweet potato ‘chips’ and other root vegetables, such as carrots or parsnips (as the base for healthy Unislim soups); fresh fruit salad and whole grains, such as brown or wild rice and wholegrain bread. At least twice a day, add colourful, fibrous vegetables — particularly greens (the steamed or sautéed leafy ones, a tossed green salad or homemade Unislim coleslaw (a fav with members), a dash of healthy fat or oil (nuts or seeds; olive, coconut or flax oil; butter; or avocado) and include a small portion of protein in each meal (fish, chicken, eggs or lean meat). Keep it simple and it will be – you’ll be lighter and brighter in 2012!

Happy New Year

Fiona x

It really feels like Christmas has come early as I've just downloaded our new free Unislim iphone App which is being launched tonight on The Apprentice. And it's packed with lots of features to help you track your success, be inspired to lose weight and unwrap a new you for Christmas. Of course tonight's Apprentice is full of the usual twists, drama and high-jinks with the teams completely missing the brief and finding it a massive challenge to develop an App in 24 hours (which is it!). Myself and the Unislim panel really put Team Zest and Team Spirit through their paces in their presentations so there's plenty of action. It's a must see episode!

Please check our new App here which you can download for free and let us know what you think of it. I hope you'll love it!

And why don't you join us on our Shape up for Christmas campaign and pledge your weight loss between now and Christmas on our Facebook page and download our FREE Shape up Plan and enter a draw to win €500 shopping spree in Arnotts! So you can look and feel fabulous in your little black dress (or suit!) this year.

100 Stone Weight Loss LowLow Unislimmer of the Year 2011

This year’s LowLow Unislimmer of the Year Final has a total of 20 finalists, both men and women from all over Ireland with a combined whopping weight loss of 100 stone!

We are so proud to run this event for the past 39 years as a reward and recognition for the sensational success of our members and to highlight the positive lifestyle changes enjoyed by members of Unislim.

The panel of judges will include "The Apprentice" first lady Jackie Lavin along with Founder of Unislim, Agnes McCourt and Evelyn Hannon who have the very difficult job of selecting the overall winner of LowLow Unislimmer of the Year 2011.

I'll be keeping everyone up to date on the day and night (yes we'll shimmying the night away!!) on Twitter and Facebook so keep tuned for regular posts and pictures of the day which takes place on Wednesday and Thursday 5th and 6th October. The overall winner will be announced on Thursday 6^th October at 11am and will celebrate their amazing new lighter shape, newfound confidence with a cheque for €2,000 and some fantastic goodies from LowLow & fabulous beauty products from Clarins.

Each of the finalists have followed Unislim’s new and improved Food Maximizing plan and have completely changed their attitude to food, by stopping the cycle of counting calories, fat and points and simply enjoying the power of FREE foods where they need never feel hungry. Weight loss with Unislim really is that easy.

They also credit their success to the great support and friendly atmosphere in their local Unislim classes and we congratulate each of their leaders too. We salute you all and may they continue to shine into a bright and happy future.

To vote for your favourite to win just follow this link!

Good luck everyone and enjoy the event.

Fiona xx

We've kicked off Breast Cancer Awareness month with a bang!

Setting off hundreds of pink balloons for the inaugural Go Ahead! Walk for Life 5K in the Phoenix Park, lots of Unislim members and friends The Marie Keating Foundation braved the elements last Sunday to take part in this brilliant fun, family-friendly day. We send a huge big pink hug to thank everyone who took part and remind you to put the date in your diary for next year!

And to continue our support for Breast Cancer Month, Unislim is going pink in all our classes too with limited edition Pink Membership Cards for all new members who join during October, and by pledging €1.00 per new member to The Marie Keating Foundation and £1.00 to Pretty in Pink.

Please show your support too by sharing the news and talking to your friends about Breast Cancer and the lifesaving message about the importance of early detection and breast health. Together we can all help save lives.

Be Happy in Pink!

Fiona xx