confession #000074

... or, let the magic begin

as you may remember from yesterday's post, i've decided (once again) to re-commit myself to my diet and fitness regime. in order to do this successfully, i felt i needed to look into the bag of tricks which had previously worked when i could - not long ago - actually wear a size 6.

i'm going to list these little tricks, both as a memo to self and also for you dear readers in case you find them useful should you also be embarking on or currently on a diet.  so here goes:

track it!

control is something that i find most important when dieting, so every single piece of food or drink that goes in my mouth goes down on a list first.  previously i used to jot down everything on a notebook and carry a calorie list with me wherever i went.  luckily, with apps like myfitnesspal and caloriecount, those days are gone.  their databases are incredibly updated and you can also add local products which the more american / continental markets wouldn't have.

work it!

exercise, exercise, exercise! now, i am not a fitness-freak.  lord knows i can't run for five minutes without gasping for life half way through.  but this is a time to say 'stuff it' and run - or jog, or walk, or box, or spin, or whatever your fitness drug is.  what's crucial is not to go in at the deep end straight away, but ease into it with some light cardio and then build up the exercise as your resistance and stamina levels increase.

plan it!

you can't play diets by the ear.  you have to meticulously plan what you're going to eat and how and when for it to be a success.  if for instance you know that you have a dinner at the weekend, plan a couple of light days before so that you can then enjoy the meal and not feel like an outsider.  also, if your culinary outing is at one of the global franchises, chances are you'll find their menus on the apps mentioned above and you can plan ahead even your calorie / fat intake and work the day around that.

box it! 

this goes hand in hand with planning.  if you're the type who leaves the workday lunch to chance, depending on what the cafe / bar next door to the office has on the day, you're just not going to manage.  take some time extra in the evening or early morning if possible and prepare a packed lunch. this is the only way in which you can be sure that the onions were sauteed in spray-oil not butter, that the mayonnaise is really light / low-fat and that all the fat has been trimmed off the chicken / bacon etc etc.  it may be a little extra work, but it will be worth it at the end.

play it!

keep yourself motivated and active through music.  whenever you're working out, listen to music which you enjoy and which inspires you to move about.  i'm not a big fan of r'n'b and clubbing music, but if i were to listen to alt-j, young the giant, the xx or arctic fire while working out, i'd probably not get much done.  this is pretty much what i listen to when i want to move about - even if i'm not doing any physical activity ... it helps as a little 'pick me up'.

combine it!

a few years back i had come across the hay diet or food combining diet which (in very simple terms) advises to avoid mixing carbs and proteins in the same meal because of the different way in which the body processes these two substances.  hence, in a nutshell, a greek salad (feta, salad leaves, onions, tomatoes, olives, peppers) would be fine but not a greek salad pita.  the minute you include the carb (pita) with the feta (protein), you'll have a little war going on in your stomach, leading to bloating and bad digestion.  admittedly, it takes a bit of time to get used, but once it becomes part of the routine, it is actually a pretty nifty eating system.

aim (at) it!

keep your eyes fixed on the goal, be it a special occasion - a wedding, a graduation, an anniversary - or a dress or pair of jeans you want to fit in, and don't let anything or anyone distract you from achieving that goal. you are stronger than all the temptations and excuses that will most certainly pop up, trying to veer you off your track.  this is your time to shine, and shine you will!

i hope you enjoyed this post; however, before i leave you i want to give you a word of warning: i am neither a dietician nor a doctor nor a physical instructor.  all of the above is based on what has / has not worked for me over the last 20 years or so of on and off dieting and exercising.  and therefore, before you decide to start any dieting or fitness regime, i urge you to please seek medical and nutritional consultation. there's nothing more harmful than following fad diets found on those intrusive online adverts or read about on celebrity magazines.  everyone is different and what works for one person, may not work for another.  so please take care of yourselves and seek creditable information before you try anything new.

keep well xx

confession #000030

... or, throwback thursday

yeah! i hit the big 3-0 in terms of posts on this blog.  i guess it is somewhat of a milestone seeing as i'm not one of the most regular of bloggers.  today also calls for another little celebration: it's my eighth year at my current workplace and thanks to this job (which i truly have a passion for, as i suppose my colleagues can confirm), i get to visit quite a few places around europe.  and in celebration of this, i've decided that today's post will be all about one of the cities i visited quite recently for one of my meetings: paris. let's say that in pure hashtag fashion, this will also be the first #throwbackthursday and let nostalgia lead the way. 

i visited paris last december for the first time.  to be quite frank, i'm not actually sure if i would consider going again.  i suppose i had a mild bout of paris syndrome or it was just a collection of occurrences which came together to make me somewhat disillusioned about the city.  but let's not start on such a negative note. 

i spent a total of four days, arriving on saturday and leaving on tuesday, with the last two days being taken up by my work meetings. this allowed me almost 2 days to see the sites.  admittedly, this was not much time, but it was enough to get a good impression of the city of lights. i opted to stay in the montmartre area, with the aim of being inspired by all the artists who walked along the same streets i would be traipsing on, and also because it was the closest arrondisement to the meeting venue just outside paris. 

i first headed to the sacré-cœur basilica and the famous steps leading to it where practically all parisian youth congregate, and not just.  the place was replete with tourists enjoying the sun in the otherwise cold day.  i must admit it was quite a struggle making my way down the steps to reach the heart of montmartre and its quaint shops and cafes.  the next place which i visited was the cafe des deux moulins, which any amelie fan must, absolutely, visit.  this was my personal little mecca and i wouldn't have left paris before visiting it. the place is exactly like it was in the film, save for the fact that it was full of tourists who were obviously as intent as i was to have a coffee there.  

following that i walked on to galeries lafayette and the shops around boulevard hausmann.  honestly, i was not prepared for what i was to face.  i'm not sure if it was the louis vuitton christmas shop windows or the fact that i timed my visit to galeries lafayette when all the coach tours were visiting but it was a nightmare to get in, a nightmare to shop and a nightmare to get out.  i had to queue for a good twenty minutes at the longchamp shop to get the pliage totes which i was intent on laying my paws on. over the years, i've come to the realisation that i'm not good with crowds.  despite being in the mecca of luxury shopping, all i could think of was to get out. not one for going out in the evenings on my own, that was pretty much my saturday done. 

sunday called for my personal grand tour du paris. i caught a taxi from my hotel to the notre dame area and headed off to the shakespeare and company bookshop, which much to my dismay was still closed (that's what you get for being an early bird).  i returned there at the end of my tour and i could feel the spirit of kerouac and other great literary figures still present there. i then headed off to the notre dame  du paris itself and strolled along rue de rivoli until i got to the louvre. unfortunately there was no way i would manage to go in with all the visitors queuing but at least i could peruse the grounds. i kept on walking along rue de rivoli until place de la concorde where i then turned into avenue des champs-élysées.  i don't meant to lessen any of its charm and allure, but most big cosmopolitan cities have big, high-end shopping streets.  champs-élysées is yet another one. 

once i got to l'arc de triomphe, i found i needed to give my feet a rest and took a rick-shaw ride to trocadero to see the eiffel tower and then got dropped off at the invalides.  a quick tour of the grounds and then i headed off to the rodin museum where i enjoyed an hour or so, touring the museum and gardens. following that, i decided to start heading back to my starting point and walked along the rive gauche or southern bank of the seine.  i loved the little vintage books and prints stalls all along the bank and my two regrets are (a) not getting a vintage print of paris and (b) not queuing to go into the musée d'orsay when i walked by it (there was a fashion in 18th / 19th century art exhibition going on). when i decided to call it a day, i found a taxi to take me back to the hotel to prepare for the next two days full of meetings. 

as you may have noticed, i practically walked all the way or caught taxis.  the reason i opted for this approach is two-fold: firstly, i generally enjoy seeing places i've never been to on foot as i find that that's the best way to experience the real city (i wouldn't have spotted half of the space invader graffitis had i caught a site-seeing bus!).  secondly, i'll quote the various taxi drivers in their description of my hotel's area: "oh, dangeur! wahrninng! 'ot, 'ot area!" (you have to imagine these being spoken in a thick french accent to get why i purposely misspelt some words!) i had chosen the hotel purely on the basis that i would be in the same place as one of my foreign colleagues; however, i had not paid attention to the fact that the area was not the most savoury.  the hotel as well, turned out to be rather disappointing.  upon my arrival, i was told that the elevator was not working and had to get help to take my luggage up three flights of winding stairs.  there was no way i would go out alone at night and there were no restaurants in the hotel or nearby so sunday night i ended up calling pizza hut! my breakfast on the last day was cut short because the receptionist could only help me with the luggage (yes, the lift was still out of order) in a 5 minute time window where his shift overlapped with the next guy's.  i suppose, the elevator issue can be overlooked as a case of bad timing, but i certainly would not recommend the area nor the hotel to anyone i'm afraid. 

all in all, my trip to paris was as full of ups and downs as the streets in montmartre.  if i close my mind's eye to the negative bits, i did get to 'see' all that i wanted to see and in all truth and fairness, the central arrondissements are truly charming.  i doubt there's an ideal season when it's best to visit paris if throngs of tourists are not your cup of tea.  but if you do go, my little recommendation is to plan what you want to see in the time that you have, and to walk.  there are little gems round every corner and you won't get to see them otherwise, trust me. 

confession #000029

...or, petite pleasures

being short has its advantages.  i'm not sure how many they are, but they are there, i promise.  

fair enough, the fact that people pick on you because of height, any extra kilogram - nay, milligram - shows up immediately as it doesn't have anywhere to spread, and the fact that practically all clothes need to be hemmed, may not make life as rosy as one would like. but still. 

after years of being the shortest in the group (whichever group i was in, i was always the shortest), i've finally learnt how to accept my lack of height and look at the positives as much as i can.  i've learnt to take note more of those who find my lack of height endearing (in maltese we use the word jiggustawni) rather than those who make fun of it.  and besides - no offense to the tall girls out there: you are the ones who can walk down a catwalk, not me - i'd much rather be my height than towering over everyone else, including my better half! maybe i'm a hopeless romantic, but i love the fact that i'm small enough to be enveloped in his hug rather than have it the other way round.  

as i mentioned earlier, clothing when you're blessed with my height, does come with a few challenges.  and i like nothing better than a challenge.  if you're in my below 5' height range, allow me to let you in on a few secrets to make the clothing issue a thing of the past: 

• shop: yes, shopping petite can be a struggle and i know that in malta there are very few shops which stock petite sizes, and most times these are limited in range.  but girl, there's online stores as well! asos usually has a good range and luckily they stock some items in both regular and petite ranges.  topshop also stock a good petite range and i'm sure there are other sites.  be wary though: check before or do a test buy to see if the online store you're shopping at understands petite in the same way as you do.  some stores may stock only sizes 4 and 6 as petite and not regular 8, 10, etc but with shorter proportions.

• cheat: regular calf-length or ankle-length trousers make for perfect full-length trousers for us shorties. and you don't have to worry about hems either, or losing out on the intended trouser leg shape.  another option is actually to look at youth and children's clothes - but steer clear of anything which is too obviously 'young'.  you do want to look youthful, but not in a 'mutton dressed as lamb' kind of way.  when taking this approach, you also have to be wary of logos or brand names which would give away the fact you're wearing kids' clothes.  scotch r'belle make some fantastic kids clothes that i sometimes like more than the maison scotch range (evidenced by this morning's online purchase). 
• trick: the french have that gorgeous sounding expression trompe l'oeil (trick of the eye) which is something that every petite lass or lad should know about and should learn how to master.  one of the main trends this season is stripes, preferably vertical.  use them to your advantage! vertical stripes create the illusion of length.  i'm not advocating head-to-toe stripes but find that area of your body which you want to 'lengthen' and wear them there.  avoid colour blocking as that will cut up your already small figure into smaller bits but opt for ton-sur-ton (oh, i love the french for these expressions) to make the silhouette appear leaner and longer.  use shoes that are of the same colour as the trousers or hosiery you are wearing and if you're going bare legged, stick to nude coloured shoes or at least to colours that do not jar with your complexion.  

• props: and by that i mean accessories. these should become your bff's, no questions asked.  keep away from ruffles, frills, peplums as these will only add bulk - and we don't want bulk on our petite shapes.  on the contrary look out for simpler cuts in dresses and tops and accessorize these with statement necklaces or earrings.  hair pulled back or in a top-knot adds the illusion of height, as does a trusty trilby hat.  go crazy with oversized bags as these will (a) help you conceal any bits you don't like in the tum-thigh-butt region and (b) allow you to create an interplay between your tiny shape and the bag's corpulence. 

and finally ...

• strut: who says that because you're short, you can't walk as though you own the runway, or the corridor at least.  square your shoulders and tilt them backwards, lift your chin and keep your back straight (gosh, i sound like my mom) and walk the walk, baby.  whether you're in flats or heels, keeping a straight posture while walking or sitting will immediately make you look taller - and, will straighten out any tummy-tires which would become so evident when you're slouching.