[Suzanne 3FC]

THINK YOURSELF THIN
Date: 4/24/02; Publication: Daily Record; Author: NAN SPOWART



I AM female, therefore I diet. Imagine my joy on finding out that a new slimming club has been launched in Scotland which promises results. No, real results.
No more bingeing then starving, no more obsessing about food and no more desperate nibbling at the kids' stash of sweets as soon as they are in bed.

West Lothian-based Jackie Whigham claims her club is unique. That' s because her programme - Inspiration For The Dieter - aims to help people conquer their weight by changing the way they think.

She says: "People on diets forget to live. Most dieters start off thinking they are going to fail because they are only dealing with the physical side of things and not the mental aspect."

Jackie's approach is similar to the one taught to successful athletes. She teaches her members to visualise themselves at their goal weight and insists: "If you believe in that vision, you can create it."

Already inspired, I visited one of Jackie's clubs to see her in action.

Blonde, trim and bubbly, Jackie is a good advert for her own philosophy.

A diet and fitness instructor for seven years, she is 37, but looks maybe 10 years younger. She used to be overweight, but practising what she preaches has brought her an impressive size 10 figure.

Like most slimming clubs, there is a weekly weigh-in, but it's not the part that everything depends upon, where everyone's expectations are high and often leaves them disappointed.

It's just an unobtrusive preview for the main part of the evening - it's a canape, not the main course.

The take-your-fill part is Jackie's pep talk. And, boy, can she talk. Funny, inspiring and inspired, it is all off the cuff and everything she says hits home, especially: "There are no special diets and no magic shortcuts."

Jackie also points out: "All diets cut calories and if you follow them, you will lose weight."

This is true. We know this, but we hide the knowledge in the deepest, darkest, dustiest corner of our psyches because we don't want to face the fact of what it therefore means - you need to eat less to lose weight.

We want to lose weight without trying too hard, or better still, without trying at all.

But now that Jackie has brought the fact out, polished it up and shoved it under our noses, what is she going to do to stop us fleeing in horror?

She looks around the room full of squirming, variously well-padded ladies with arms resolutely folded over ample bosoms and informs us that she is going to change our mental attitudes. Oh yeah?

The problem is that most dieters fail and go back to the weight they were before - or get even heavier.

Many of us have been there and back again - bought the skinny T-shirt, but kept the XXL version in the back of the drawer, just in case.

Jackie points out that dieters constantly criticise themselves and have unrealistic expectations. They want to be slim today, or even sooner, and if they have a bad day, they use that as an excuse to ditch the diet.

But Jackie says: "No matter what weight we are, we have to have a healthy relationship with ourselves. If we criticise ourselves and only see the bad, we are setting ourselves up for failure.

"Our bodies are influenced by our thoughts. The more you go on about it, the more you create what you don't want. Nothing demotivates ourselves more than the way we speak to ourselves."

Along with her healthy eating plan - which was drawn up with the help of nutritionists at Livingston's St John's Hospital - Jackie has a number of strategies to help her slimmers. One of these is a little card which she hands out each week to eachmember.

Mine says: "This week, I will practise patience and tolerance with myself."

This is important, Jackie says, because you need these two ingredients to succeed.

She adds: "You go through a process of putting on weight and you have to go through a process of taking it off. There are no shortcuts - take it one day at a time."

On the other side of my card is an affirmation which reads: "I eat food that nurtures me."

Does chocolate count, I wonder? But I don't dare to ask.

Jackie has also written a book called Inspiration For The Dieter, which she published herself.

You are supposed to open it each day and apply what it says so that you keep on the straight and narrow.

For example: "Don't waste any more of your life on not feeling good enough because of your body shape or its weight. You're much, much more than this."

One dieter I spoke to, Gail Cherrie, has lost more than four stones by listening to Jackie and now says she is happier about herself than she has ever been.

Gail, 33, says she struggled for years to lose the weight, but the more she thought about her body, the more depressed she became and the more she ate.

She says: "Jackie's class has opened up my life. I used to think about food all the time. Now I just think about it when I am hungry. It is not the be-all and end-all."

New member Gael Adams wants to lose four stones and says she has come to Jackie's class because she had heard the motivation is "superb" .

Gael says: "I've seen the wee book and it does help. It is simple, but there is power in it."

She says she also liked the look of the simple eating plan which allows the members to eat six times a day.

There is also a "free day" every week, when you can relax and have a meal out or a few glasses of wine.

Jackie says: "Eating every couple of hours keeps the metabolism high and the glucose levels high. It is also a low-fat diet, so you can eat more food for the same amount of calories."

Jackie's classes end with a 10-minute relaxation when she asks everyone to shut their eyes, then asks them to visualise themselves at their goal weight.

I missed out on that part - I was too busy watching to see if everyone else was doing it. (They were.)

Still, Jackie's eating plan looks good and simple to follow. Maybe I'll try it. Tomorrow.

P.S. This article was written with the aid of two bananas, half a large chocolate Easter egg and four mints.

For more details about Jackie's clubs, phone 01506-418222 or check out www.infinitebeauty.co.uk.

As a special offer for Daily Record readers, Jackie is offering copies of her book at pounds 1 less than the usual price of pounds 3.99. To get a book, simply phone her on the number above and mention the Daily Record offer.

The help you need is only a phone call away

CONFERENCE calls are the latest technological innovation to help people lose weight.

Used by businesses as a time saver, they have now been adapted to help dieters who have neither the time nor the inclination to attend slimming clubs.

Daily Record diet coach Dr Judy Citron is the brain behind the new development.

She realised that with conference calls, people could have the peer support and professional leadership of a club without having to leave the comfort of their own homes.

All you need is a touchtone phone. Telegroups take place on two evenings each week.

Once you have paid a monthly fee - which for Daily Record readers is on special offer of pounds 30 per month - a pin number will be sent in the post. The pin number allows you to take part in the teleconference.

Each call will cost around pounds 1.20, so the total cost is much the same as most diet clubs. A diet coach leads the calls and members talk about their failures and successes.

Dr Citron said: "The phone-in group is supportive. The coach will make sure that everyone who wants to say something can."

Dr Citron points out that latest medical opinion is that dieting makes you fat. She said: "The key is to mirror the behaviour of naturally slim people. They don't eat when they are depressed or bored.

"In fact, they don't eat when they are not physically hungry. However difficult that sounds at the outset, those who join my classes learn to do just that." A former yo-yo dieter herself, Dr Citron used to lose and gain around two and a half stones everyyear.

By using three basic rules, she lost her weight and kept it off.

These rules are:

1. Only eat when you're hungry;

2. Don't eat standing up;

3. Eat smaller portions and eat more slowly.

The Rumble Test is at the core of the dietcoach approach and helps you eat only when hungry. Every time you feel like eating, or are offered food, do the Rumble Test, using the Rumble Scale.

The Rumble Scale goes from zero to five and you should only eat when you are on number one of the scale. Zero is when you have waited too long and might find it difficult to control what you eat when you get some food. Number one is when you have a goodappetite with your tummy rumbling.

Number two is when you suddenly crave food, but you know that, if you are honest, you are not hungry. Number three is when you are satisfied without being full.

Number four is danger point. You are aware that you might be eating too much.

Number five is when you are stuffed. Resolve to banish this feeling, it will make you full of self-reproach

People who sign up for Judy's conference calls are given a pack which explains her rules and gives tips on how to eat well. There is also an action plan to draw up goals.

For more information on the conference calls, call freephone 0800 074 0260 or e-mail: [email protected]

success on a plate

SLIMMING is big business and there are so many different claims of successful methods. But there is one very simple option that seems foolproof.

It was devised by health instructor Dawn Dale, who struggled for years with her own weight.

Like Jackie Whigham and Dr Judy Citron, she also came to the conclusion that diets don't work.

But Dawn's solution to the big weight problem is literally simplicity on a plate.

The Slimplate comes in his 'n' hers sizes - the women's is inevitably smaller - and they are divided into three sections.

The biggest section is for vegetables and salad, the second biggest is for carbohydrates, such as chips, rice or pasta, and the smallest section is for the protein, such as meat or fish.

According to Dawn, you can eat what you want - whether it's chicken Kiev, steak pie, fish and chips or mince and tatties - just as long as the portions fit the sections.

Dawn maintains that if you eat your main meal off this plate every day, you will lose weight.

She recommends three healthy meals a day such as a breakfast of cereal, lunch of sandwiches and a main meal on the Slimplate.

But, she says, you will still lose weight if you have the occasional pudding, chocolate bar or the odd drink - as long as you don't overdo it.

It all seemed too good to be true, so to put it to the test, Vital asked one couple with a weight problem to try it to see how they got on.

Janet Ross, weighing in at 19st, and husband Tony, who weighed 15st 4lb, agreed to test the Slimplate.

They were both keen to give the Slimplate every chance and, after just one week, their eating habits had been revolutionised.

Instead of the fattening foods they had been taking, they started eating cereal for breakfast, followed by a main meal on the Slimplate in the afternoon. At night, they had yogurt and fruit.

The weight started to come off and both felt healthier and fitter. After just three months, Janet had lost 3st and Tony had lost 2st.

Unfortunately, Janet then had to have a gall bladder operation and they got out of the Slimplate habit. They went back on the takeaways and back went the weight.

However, they are determined to pick up the healthy eating habit again. Janet said: "We really liked the plate and we're going to go back on the plan soon."

Slimplate is available by mail order for pounds 19.99 (plus pounds 2 p&p). Tel: 01787-374578 for details.


NAN SPOWART, THINK YOURSELF THIN. , Daily Record, 04-24-2002, pp 12.