A Weighty Issue........

Two bank holiday weekends, Easter and chocolate eggs, BBQ's, meals out, nights out, trips to the Seaside....... Wow what a fab, busy, calorie busting time we have all been having!! I for one have loved every single moment, after all it’s only once a year you can get away with eating chocolate for breakfast! What could be better than a day on the sofa, drinking tea, watching Mary Poppins (yep it was on!) and having a competition to see who can eat the most Cadburys Creme Eggs?! Burgers on BBQ's, fish and chips by the sea, copious amounts of alcohol consumed by all and who could resist a cream tea on the day of the Royal Wedding? All delicious and not one of your five a day insight. But where does this leave us come Tuesday morning when work and real life rudely bite us on our ever increasing back sides? For some of us its back to our dedicated diets, listening to our tummy’s rumble, clocking watch til lunch time whilst our more admirable sisters shrug of the weekends antics and carry on with life. I would like to say I fall into the latter category but shamefully I am firmly in the first. Food and guilt is synonymous for us women. Whether it’s too much or not enough we often find ourselves battling inner demons when it comes to our diets. For me personally I try to be as healthy as I can, letting myself have treats on special occasions. But for some reason that take away or cake I snuck in last night always seems to haunt me......

Ask any female, be it your friend, colleague or sister if they are on a diet and the answer will almost certainly be an emphatic YES! Sadly most of us look in the mirror and give ourselves a harsh critique. For some of us it’s our hips, for other's it’s our bums and tums, the only thing we have in common is that we are not happy with what we have and who can really blame us? With media pressure so high and magazines parading 14 yr old waif's on the pages as our inspiration, who wouldn't look at their own thighs and grimace? Celebrities with dinky 24 inch waists and not even a tiny bit of cellulite surround us on a daily basis from the TV and adverts showing us unrealistic images to aspire to. According to the Guardian newspaper in April 2010 the top 3 jobs wanted by 5-11 yr old girls were to be an actress, pop star or model. I guess that's the power of advertising for you and don't the advertisers know it! From slimming clubs and specialist diets to crèmes and lotions that promise the world, our beauty isles are a land of expensive false promises. For most of us despite our grumbles about our flabby tummy/bum/thighs we get on with life but there is always one.....

The Diet Obsessive
She can't actually get through the day without telling you how many points she has consumed today or if it’s a green or red day. Endless facebook status's about how far she has run, how much weight she has lost (complete with pictures) and a never ending stream of bizarre tips! How to loose friends and isolate people in one easy step.

The Fickle Dieter
Every Monday is a new diet plan and a new exercise routine. The more extreme the better and despite protests from friends about how practical/safe this diet is she is dedicated to it.......until Thursday. This girl is constantly caught in an unproductive cycle with few results and sadly many tears.

The Super Skinny Secret Dieter
The worst kind of dieter out there. The one that makes us ladies feel guilty and envious in one fell swoop. She is barely a size zero, meets you for lunch, eats a giant burger and laughs at your healthy salad. How does she do it? How can she seem to eat like a horse and yet be so slender? The sad truth is she is as much as a diet addict as the next woman, she just can't be honest about it.

We have all had the mis fortune to know and maybe have lunch with a nightmare dieter. It’s a sad and draining experience when all you want to do is enjoy the food and the company. There comes a time in your adult life (I hope!) when we can look in the mirror and think 'this is ok'. For me whilst I'm on the journey to get there I try to stick to a healthy diet and exercise. Which brings me to my big confession, I went for a run. In an attempt to find a healthy balance between easter egg consumption and maintaining my weight it seemed a good idea. Now I'm not going to lie, I didn't exactly enjoy it but it did balance out my guilt. So ladies if you see news paper reports of a small pink hefferlump lumbering across the North Yorkshire country side don't worry, its only me!