Dr Sue Pearson

For me, 2021, turned out to be a great year in which I carried on my Jekyll and Hyde existence flip-flopping from serious science writer to frivolous and fun acting.

January and February 2021 were pretty interesting months. I wrote articles ranging from using different types of biomass measurement (number of cells) in a bioreactor to articles on how to use a new type of bioreactor for growing microbial cells for vaccine production. As in 2020, SARS-CoV-2 vaccine production articles were still keeping me busy.

While the UK was in lockdown, most of my days were the same (it was like living in perpetual groundhog day). During the week, I got up, showered put on make-up, did my hair, and walked down the garden to my office. Once there I started the day with two coffees to get me buzzing and then I would write articles most of the day or have WebEx, Zoom, Teams meetings to discuss articles.

However, my other life as an actor took off in 2021, I think it was because all of a sudden in January, and February they needed someone who looked like a professional or middle-class woman, who wasn’t shielding, and I fitted that profile. My strength was my availability!

In January, I was cast as a police officer in a short film, here I am trying to look like a police officer. This is the first time I have been cast in this role and I quite liked it. I even had a line, which involved me picking up the phone in reception and saying to the man behind the glass screen “hello how can I help you?” in about six different ways. He then said I have come to confess to murder so a short role for me but at a pretty crucial point in the film!

In January and March, I was lucky enough to get cast in an Amazon Prime Series called The Power. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10369484/. I played Gina Van Hague, a travel booker and campaign worker in the Mayor’s Office and it was so much fun as we were filming with Lesley Mann https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005182/ and Tim Robbins https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000209/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 at Canary Wharf in this fabulous office building that overlooked the city.

I spent most of my time walking up and down the office with a file, talking to colleagues in person or on the phone, or pretending to type important emails. It was a great production to work on as I met some amazing performers on set. I loved working with Rain de Rye Barrett https://www.instagram.com/rainderyebarrett/?hl=en, Helen Lauren https://www.instagram.com/helenlauren11/?hl=en, Ally Henson https://www.instagram.com/allyhenson_/?hl=en Shina Shinko https://www.instagram.com/shina_shihoko/?hl=en, and Tony Pickering https://www.instagram.com/tonycommercial/?hl=en. They all made it so much fun to be with and it was probably one of the best shoots I have ever been on.

During filming, it felt a bit weird being the only people in the city as everyone else was working from home and there was nobody there and it was so easy to drive around London. Since the call times were really early (6am most days) as we all had to have COVID tests before we could go on set I often stayed at the Premier Inn at the Excel Centre and I had to have a letter from production to say that I was allowed to stay in a hotel. It almost felt like being on a little illicit holiday as I’d get back from set by about 7 on most days and then order a takeaway, usually KFC and watch a film.

Here I am in my trusty jacket, which I love looking suitably corporate. This is an Autograph jacket from M and S and was a charity shop bargain that cost me £5, as I often have to provide costumes for roles I spend a lot of time looking for good quality clothes in charity shops.

Playing a corporate worker in The Power

In March I had my first lockdown birthday, it was good but a little different as we couldn’t go out to celebrate as we would normally. We celebrated it with takeaway curry and watched News of the World with Tom Hanks.

I started another 12-week acting course at the Actors Cafe https://www.actorscafe.co.uk/, which was great as we were allowed to do in-person classes. By the end of the course, I had a new showreel, here is the link https://youtu.be/vuyghwhK4bg if you want to see it.

My next highlight from 2021 was in April when I was playing a mean boss at a funeral in a web series called Bad Influencers. This is the most lines I have had to learn and I loved playing this part alongside the very talented Maddie Kain https://www.instagram.com/madeleinekain/?hl=en. If you want to see us in action here is the link to it: Bad Influencers, clip from Pilot Episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJHoB_Q1Zs8

In April, I also had another stint on The Power, this time I played a campaign worker and even had to use my American accent. We filmed at a fabulous hotel in London and this time round I enjoyed working with Emily Alleyne https://www.instagram.com/p/CYLtbgpKJr-/and Xander Turian https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5315729/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1 both of whom made me laugh so much.

April also saw the release of the episode of Autopsy, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14539590/ where I was featured as Debbie Harry. Here is a clip of it https://youtu.be/NtOTq4dlc94 and you can judge if I managed to look anything like her!

In May, I did my first self-tape audition to play the role of a headteacher and got the part in a short film called Moth. Here’s a clip of me https://vimeo.com/669344440 acting alongside the brilliant Sean Earl McPherson https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4667815/

May was a milestone month as Feisty daughter turned 18 so I no longer have any children in the house. She celebrated with friends and was finally able to order and drink cocktails and other alcoholic beverages legally in Spoons in Hitchin, a favourite haunt for many of her peer group.

June and July were very busy months, Smart son finished his exams and moved back home from Sheffield bringing tons of washing and a range of stuff accumulated over three years of living at university. Feisty daughter also finished her animal management course and began looking for a job as she decided to defer for a year before going to university.

In June, I was also lucky enough to be cast as a scientist for the first time in a Channel 4 show called Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10112036/. I played a hapless lad rat alongside Mark Silcox https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7735920/, whom I really enjoyed acting with as he is just the nicest man to work with and made me lots of cups of tea! I did four days of filming on this and was featured in three episodes, so I was very happy about that.

The only downside during the filming was having a car accident. Luckily I wasn’t hurt and the car was soon repaired. I was very grateful to Churchill car Insurance who did a great job of not making a drama into a crisis. As my brother would say it’s only metal and glass and as long as you’re OK then all is well!

In July, Mark Silcox very kindly invited me and Feisty daughter to come and watch the live recording of one of the shows in July, where we met Joe Lycett https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3899396/?ref_=tt_cl_t_1 and Stephen Mulhern https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1336619/?ref_=tt_cl_t_17. They were lovely and were very interested in chatting to Feisty daughter about her house plant collection, which is huge and is slowly taking over her bedroom and is popping up in other parts of the house.

Here’s a clip of the show, where I am being electrocuted to test the if you pop can you stop theory with Pringles https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/644473326 and a picture of me in the lab with Mark.

During the same week, I also played a spoof red carpet actress Judy Bench in a video game, called Not for Broadcast thttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt11238716/ and it was a lot of fun to do.

July and August saw lots of changes as Feisty daughter passed her driving test and got a new job. She is now driving my car and I haven’t really seen the car much since she passed her test! Smart son also got his maths degree, got a job in Sheffield, and turned 21 all in the same week. We did a lot of celebrating in July and August.

At the end of August, we had a short trip to see Smart Son in his new flat and went walking in the Peak District, which was lovely as the weather was kind to us so we were able to cover a lot of ground in a short time.

September and October were fun months where I again played Judy Bench in the video game and also had a role as Sister Katherine in a horror film, which is yet to be released. As you can see I look quite different for these roles!

In November, I was cast in a microfilm, called the Beach Hut https://vimeo.com/670797880, where I played Dorothy a supportive friend to a woman who has paid too much money for a wreck of a beach hut. I enjoyed working with Cathy McManamon https://www.instagram.com/cathymcmanamon/?hl=en and Angus Michie https://www.instagram.com/angusmichie/?hl=en

Playing Dorothy in The Beach Hut

I finished off the year by being cast in an Amex commercial https://youtu.be/czhRjUUX49Q as a book shop shopper, (blink and you’ll miss me at the start). This was a fun shoot to do.

In my final microfilm of the year, I was cast as a mum playing a practical joke on her son. This was great fun to do as I had to trash his party preparations dressed in a monkey suit – there’s never a dull moment with acting! I enjoyed working with James Hoyles https://www.spotlight.com/6938-0160-3814 who played my son and Aishwarya Pardeshi https://www.instagram.com/aisha_pardeshi/ who directed the film.

By the end of 2021, I finally had enough commercial acting credits to become Spotlight registered https://www.spotlight.com/3570-8946-9008 and had enough clips for a new showreel – which you can see here: https://vimeo.com/678763366

All in all, 2021 turned out pretty well and I’m looking forward to what 2022 brings.

The start of a new year can be a time of reflection and when I look back on 2020, although it was a tough year for everyone, it did mean that I actually did some of the things I have been procrastinating I would do.

January started off pretty well and I did a few modelling shoots, my favourite was a shoot for Ideal World and the Crystal Clear Skin Care Range https://crystalclear.co.uk/about/. I got to meet Sharon Hilditch, who is just great with skin care and have a lovely facial live on air. I came back home and my skin was so soft for days afterwards.

In January, I was also lucky enough to have a part as a smart concert goer in Episode 3 of the BBC Drama Roadkill https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10846250/. I even had a line, where I had to speak to Hugh Laurie who played crooked politician, Peter Laurence. I had a fantastic day as the shoot was well organised and I got to meet up with some lovely SAs including Felicity Lamb, https://www.starnow.co.uk/felicitylamb/ who I had to act with, she is the one I’m talking to in the picture below.

February was also a good month as I had a modelling shoot with a talented up and coming make-up artist, Vicky Jiggens https://vickyjiggens.com/about/ which was fab.

In March, I started a 6-week acting course with Limitless Adults, https://www.limitlessacademyarts.com/limitless-adults which then had to be put on hold after 3-weeks but I did get to meet some really talented actors and enjoyed working with them to try and improve my on-camera work.

I also went on a one-day screen acting course with the Actors Studio https://actorsstudio.co.uk/product/1-day-screen-acting-workshop/ run by the brilliant Tim Kent. By the end of the day we had even filmed a scene which I have used and it has helped me get cast in music videos. Here it is if you’d like to see it https://vimeo.com/396954009

March to August, I spent writing about COVID-19 and vaccine scale-up and going for walks in the countryside as there was no acting or modelling work as everything was in total lock-down in the UK. The science writing really took priority over these months and I was the busiest I have ever been and I was really flagging by September as I hadn’t taken any holiday apart from bank holidays all year.

In August, I did a photoshoot with a great photographer, John Walsh https://www.instagram.com/johnwalshphotography/?hl=en. It was good because he encouraged me to try some different types of looks, which I would never normally do. He was right to do this, because I was then cast for two music videos based on the looks I wouldn’t normally have had taken, one of me looking very serious and one of me in glasses. It just shows that sometimes it pays to do things that are outside of your comfort zone.

In August, I also took part in a new ITV quiz, Winning Combination https://www.itv.com/hub/winning-combination/2a7790 with Omid Djalili. I didn’t win anything but it was a fun day out and Omid was very funny.

September things started to pick-up on the filming front and I was cast as an angry magistrate in a music video “One More Time” with AJ Tracey and Not3s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em8fN8v4qOw

I also started a 12-week screen acting course with the Actors cafe http://www.actorscafe.co.uk/ where I have met some superb actors and learnt some great skills for on-camera work.

October was also a fun month as I was cast as a body double in the comedy Code 404 and also got to play Debbie Harry in Autopsy the last days of Anthony Bourdain which is yet to air on Channel 5/ Reelz. I loved having the hair and make-up done and in the end I think I had a passing resemblance to Debbie Happy as she is now!

November I was cast as a therapist in music video Agony for the rapper LP Ruff. This was fun and I had to write the title sequence so I was glad my nails were looking good! Here’s the video if you want to see it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCyZ4_kwhAg

December saw the end of the screen acting course at the actors cafe. I loved acting every week and now I have some great clips that I can use. Here’s my favourite with the talented Mark Addison https://www.mandy.com/uk/actor/mark-addison-1 where we did a scene from the Good Place https://vimeo.com/493698014. Soon I will have my first show reel which is so important for getting more roles.

All in all 2020 ended pretty well for me as I did manage to get cast in a few things but most importantly I did screen acting training which I would never have done if it had been a normal year. As the year drew to a close I found out that I have been cast in a Netflix drama in January so things are looking good for 2021 already.

I haven’t blogged for so long because I have been up to my eyes in writing about vaccine production – pandemics keep science writers very busy! Here’s my favourite article, https://bioprocessintl.com/sponsored-content/process-intensification-of-viral-based-vaccines-where-are-the-bottlenecks/ where I interviewed some of the scientists who are trying to work out ways of trying to manufacture enough vaccine to protect us all against the latest unpleasant Coronavirus.

During the past few months, I have been thinking about COVID-19 and weight, as this time two years ago I lost 2 stone in weight and have only put back on 7 lbs, which is amazing considering the stress and how easy it is to shovel food in at the moment and not do any exercise. I did a modelling photo shoot the other day as the film and TV studios are beginning to open up again. This is what I look like at the moment, a bit more porky than I was two years ago but nowhere near the “you’re looking well stage” (what your friends say to you instead of bloody hell you’ve put on some beef!).

Unfortunately, SARS-COV-2 the virus that causes COVID-19 loves to attack those who are overweight. Why’s that? Here comes the science. When you’re overweight your body expresses more Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE-2) proteins in places like your lungs and gut, the SARS-COV-2 virus has a spike protein which hooks onto ACE-2 proteins as a way to get into your body’s cell. More fat = more chance of infection, that’s why being fit and not fat can protect you from this sneaky little virus.

This is why, I thought I would share my top tips on how to go about shifting that Lockdown lard, which I’m going to start doing again this week to shift my own unwanted jiggle before I get to the wearing a fat suit stage (see the picture which started me off losing weight!) that and being breathless with higher cholesterol was what started me off on a more healthy path.

1. Buy a fitness tracker and use it! There are lots of different ones to choose from and I came across this nice guide written by the folks at ConsumersAdvocate.org https://www.consumersadvocate.org/fitness-tracker which tells you about the different models and what it is that they track exactly so you’ll have enough info to help you find one that suits you the best. I personally have a Fitbit Charge 2, and I love it because I didn’t realise before I used it how little I moved my big fat butt off of the seat and I was eating way more than I was moving around. Without this, I would never have known the scale of the problem I had. I’m going to start putting in the things I eat every day into my ‘phone, along with my weight loss goal (7lbs) again and this will help me to shift that Lockdown lard before it gets out of hand and I look like I’m wearing a fat suit! I’m also going to set mine to tell me when to move so that I get up off my seat and then it becomes easier to move about more and get more exercise in without realising I’m doing more exercise. 

2. Look at what you’re eating/drinking and make small swaps to reduce calorie intake. For example, I’m going to swap my morning cappuccino for a skinny cappuccino with cinnamon on instead of chocolate sprinkles. I am also swapping my morning crisp snack habit which I’ve slipped back into over Lockdown for nuts and seeds, they are more protein dense so keep me feeling full for longer and they have the crunch I like. 

A lot of weight gain occurs because you have made small changes to your lifestyle that you haven’t noticed – I think my morning coffee and crisp habit has probably caused the 7lbs of Lockdown lard that has sneaked on since March. It got there because the small deviations I hadn’t noticed I had made to my lifestyle. You only have to end the day with an average of 500 extra calories (i.e. 3500 calories per week) to put on a pound in weight. The upside is you only have to reduced your calories by 500 every day to lose a pound per week. This means you can eat 250 calories less and do 250 calories worth of exercise every day and you’ll lose a pound per week. How good and how easy to do is that! I know this is what I’m going to be doing over the next few weeks to shift the Lockdown lard.

The cappuccino swap will save me around 70 calories and that’s a lot towards my 250 saving for the day and it doesn’t taste any different so I’ll be going back to skinny coffee again.

3. Find the exercise that you like doing, for example, I love to dance and thankfully my Zumba class (Zumba with Annie) is available on-line live via Zoom so I can see all my friends or it can be done as an anytime class on certain days via Zin studio. I look forward to doing these classes and it burns around 250 calories every time I jiggle about in my office with Annie and co. The great thing is now anyone can try Annie’s classes so why not give them a go – I might see you there!

I also love going for walks – it’s totally free and I get to look at the great countryside (again a nice 3-mile circuit about an hour’s walk burns over 200 calories). I have seen some beautiful sunsets during my daily health walk, which has been a great bonus.

So to kick-start your Lockdown lard weight loss, in summary:

1. Use a tracker
2. Make small food and drink swaps
3. Find and do exercise you like doing.

Good luck on your journey from fat to fit, it may save your life or prevent some serious COVID-19 complications!

I have not blogged all throughout May as it has been a very difficult few weeks in which I have fallen off the food wagon more than once and resorted to eating crisps as my go to poison of choice just because it has been quite emotionally challenging. I have been so upset and angry with life that I haven’t been able to do much personal writing (thank goodness professional science writing has been flowing – probably because I can use it to escape for a couple of hours at a time).

May started out OK but as often happens in life it is the things that you neither expect, predict or are even worrying about being on your radar that knock you sideways when they occur.

The run of unpleasant stuff began when I was reversing out of Asda car park one day, when picking up Feisty daughter to get her hair done for her prom when two idiots met! I had crunched my car into another lady who was reversing round a truck. Neither of us had seen each other, probably because we were both preoccupied with getting other stuff done, fortunately we had neither of us done much damage to each other’s cars but things like that shake you up and make you realise that you are fallible.

Managed to get Feisty daughter to the hairdresser in time to get her hair done and it looked beautiful. She looked lovely for her prom too so all was going well and she managed to have a good time with her friends at Luton Hoo, where the prom was held.

The weekend proved more challenging as Feisty daughter is doing her GCSEs which were due to begin on the Tuesday after the prom (no idea why her school has done this crazy idea IMHO) but hey ho this is the first and probably last year they are doing the prom before exams (usually do it after so the girls can celebrate properly).

Supportive husband had been into London on Saturday 11th May to go to the Ideal Home show and got back around 4pm. Feisty daughter and I then went out shopping to get some pizzas for Saturday’s dinner. When we came back Supportive husband delivered some terrible news, our neighbour had been round and was in a terrible state because she had seen on our village facebook page (Ickleford Life https://www.facebook.com/groups/Icklefordians/) that a cat had been run over and put on the side of the road. Supportive husband had checked it out and it was Sybil, our mad Abyssinian that had been run over and killed and he had buried her in the garden in her favourite spot to sit so as not to upset us before we got back.

Sybil RIP in her favourite spot in the garden

Needless to say we were all devastated as we had her from a kitten for four years and she was so much a part of our lives and family. I spent most of the weekend trying to keep a lid on it and failing as I didn’t want to make it worse for Feisty Daughter who had to try and get back to exam revision.

Fortunately, I had an extra role in a film on the Monday so had to pick myself and up to go into London. The film (Dad Jokes) was about a man who was disabled at the age of 11 and was afraid to be a dad. It helped put the cat’s death into perspective and also took my mind off it for the day. I met some lovely people on set and had some really good chats about life with them which helped me feel better and the best part was the prosecco at the end of the shoot.

The following week, Smart son was ill again (he’s had tonsillitis keep recurring) so I told him to get a test for glandular fever as he had all the symptoms. It came back positive. I knew it would as I had had glandular fever when I was at uni and the symptoms he had were the same. It’s so awful when your child is ill and they are so far away as you feel helpless. When he told me, I thought oh well at least that’s the last horrible thing (for some reason bad news always comes in threes!)

Towards the end of the month, things seemed to improve. I took the car to be looked at and there is no major damage so both I and the other lady involved in the accident decided not to claim on our insurance. My insurer now says this means I won’t lose my full no 9-years’ claims bonus and my insurance won’t be affected – phew.

Supportive husband could see how upset Feisty daughter and I were without a cat in the house so he spent hours trawling the adopt an animal web sites and found a cat that he thought would be just right for us. He contacted her owner and we went to visit her and then her owner dropped her off at our house on Feisty Daughter’s 16th birthday, which was a lovely way to celebrate. Our new cat is called Daisy and she is a very gentle, sweet natured cat who has settled into our house really well now and we love her to bits. We took her to the vets for a check up and she is a very healthy cat. Thankfully, she is more of a house cat than Sybil was (we couldn’t keep Sybil in if we tried as she could open the front door). Daisy only likes to go in the garden, field and woods at the back of our house so we look forward to many happy years with her .

Smart son also felt better and thought that his first year maths exams went well, despite being so poorly. He is now home from uni for the summer with all his dirty washing – nice. I think this week, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and am looking forward to a much better few months now and to perhaps blogging a bit more often.

Thanks for reading my long ramble, if you want to make any comments about any posts you’d like me to do in future please feel free.

This week I have been thinking about the psychology of overeating again. I have had a great week but there are points in life where your resolve to eat healthily often get tested and I had several of these occur last week.

I went out for a meal with an old university friend – now the main reason we do this is to catch up on our lives so it’s the chat, not the food that matter. We met on the first day at university and have been friends ever since (over 35 years) even though our lives were very different, to begin with, we have very similar ways of looking at the world now and both did a biochemistry degree so we enjoy a philosophical chat without husbands and children in earshot.

However, eating out can make you think oh sod it, I’ll eat whatever I want. I have discovered a way to avoid falling in this trap. What I do is check the menu online before I go and resolve to choose what I like to eat (generally salmon or sea bass is they have it) but also what will be healthy and not masses of calories and I put it in my FitBit app on my ‘phone. It takes that emotional impulse out of eating out.  It helped that my lovely friend is struggling with her menopause weight. She is trying to kick her sugar habit and was refusing to eat any dessert. I have to say sugar is not my addiction of choice and I tend to go for cheese and salt-rich foods. We also drove to the restaurant as we both live a long way from each other so have to meet at Hatfield Galleria which is in the middle for both of us. This meant I could drink my favourite sparkling water instead of calorie-laden gin and tonic. We had a great evening and I didn’t overeat what could be better than that. Eating out does takes a bit more planning to stay healthy but it is worth it.

Saturday, I went to a Star Wars themed 25th wedding anniversary party (yes really) dress code was dark side or light side (basically black or white). However, there was a free bar and buffet food (which is probably the least nutritious food on the planet), and really tests resolve. Again before I went I planned how many glasses of wine I would have and how many sausage rolls and decided that I would dance as much as possible and talk to anyone that looked interesting to keep me away from the buffet table. This strategy worked really well as there was a brilliant live band ( No Limits Street Band) and I racked up 25,000 steps dancing and had a fun night watching my funny brother dance with the party host (dressed as a stormtrooper) and I didn’t overeat or drink too much.

On Sunday, I was very tired and this is when I tend to want junk food. Again to avoid stuffing crisps down (my go-to comfort food) I ran a nice hot bath using my favourite Sanctuary bubble bath. Having a bath or shower when you want to stuff food in is a great diversion tactic, you can’t eat crisps in a bath they just get all soggy!

My top tips to avoid overeating and comfort eating are:

1. If eating at a restaurant check the menu before and choose the healthy stuff you like to eat before you go (add it to your tracker so you know the calories) that way you’ll feel less tempted in the restaurant.
2. At a party, again plan what you’ll eat and drink before (even put it in your FitBit or tracker so that you know the calorie intake) and try to dance or chat to interesting people as this will keep you from the buffet table.
3. Feeling tired and want to eat junk food (do something to distract yourself like have a bath or read a book/magazine).

Overeating is often psychological, as well as a physical thing and this week I’ve been thinking about what helps me keep a lid in what I’m shoveling or guzzling each day.

My top tips are:

1. Weigh food – often you are putting much more in than you think and if you’re tracking what goes in and out on a Fitbit or other fitness tracker then you need to know accurately how much you’re putting in. Food scales are very cheap to buy and once you get used to weighing food it becomes second nature.
2. Do food swaps, where you swap unhealthy carb and sugar-rich processed foods for more natural plant based and protein-rich food.
3. If you feel like you want to eat through stress or boredom (I’m an emotional eater so if things get stressful or I get tired then junk food is my poison of choice) then do something else to relax you.

I was feeling out of whack on Sunday so I went and had my nails done instead of stuffing down my Easter stash of chocolate, which I’m limiting myself to a small controlled, weighed amount of every now and again.

A couple of my favourite food and drink swaps are:

1. My gin and tonic for sparkling water. I have found that alcohol gives me terrible hot flushes (this one is a horrible menopause side effect) and is really high in calories. A gin and tonic (which is quite low in calories compared to wine) is around 171 calories and if you think you only need an extra 500 calories per day to put on 1 pound per week then alcohol and also fizzy drinks can pile it on you quickly. The upside is if you limit alcohol and sugar-laden fizzy drinks then it can help lose weight quickly too. Again this one is phycological and I have found that if I make my sparkling water look like a gin and tonic it doesn’t feel quite as difficult to do the swap and after a while, you don’t really notice it and I don’t miss the night time sweats it can bring on! I have found now I really like sparkling water so had a soda stream as a Christmas pressie so I can have it when I want without buying loads of plastic bottles of it.

Another food swap I like is having a cheese and tomato omlette instead of a pizza and this saves a ton of calories (average 4 egg omlette is around 600 calories) while a pizza can be around 800-1000). Again if you make it look like a pizza then psychologically it is easier to adjust to. The other upside is that an omlette has loads of protein in it which means you’ll feel full for longer. Why? Here comes the science – protein reduces the amount of ghrelin (the hunger hormone) produced by the brain and this keeps you feeling full for longer.

What helps you keep your intake in check or what food swaps work well for you? Leave a comment to share your weight loss secrets.

This time last year I was almost 2 stone heavier and getting very unhealthy. I thought I would share three tips on how I started a weight loss programme.

1. Buy a fitness tracker and use it! I have a Fitbit Charge 2, and I love it because I didn’t realise before I used it how little I moved my big fat butt off of the seat and I was eating way more than I was moving around. Without this, I would never have known the scale of the problem I had. I also bought a different strap for it so that it looks and feels much more like a watch.  I put in the things I eat every day into my ‘phone, along with my weight loss goal and it lets me know when I am near the limit of what I can get away with shovelling in each day. I have also set mine to tell me when to move so that I get up off my seat and then it becomes easier to move about more and get more exercise in. 

2. Look at what you’re eating/drinking and make small swaps to reduce calorie intake. For example, I swapped my morning cappuccino for a skinny cappuccino with cinnamon on instead of chocolate sprinkles. I also swapped my morning crisp snack habit for nuts and seeds, they are more protein dense so keep me feeling full for longer and they have the crunch I like. 

A lot of weight gain occurs because you have made small changes to your lifestyle that you haven’t noticed – it’s a bit like the plane that was supposed to fly to Düsseldorf recently and ended up in Scotland (Plane flies to Edinburgh instead of Germany). It got there because the small course deviations weren’t noticed and it’s the same with weight. You only have to end the day with an average of 500 extra calories (i.e. 3500 calories per week) to put on a pound in weight. The upside is you only have to reduced your calories by 500 every day to lose a pound per week. This means you can eat 250 calories less and do 250 calories worth of exercise every day and you’ll lose a pound per week. How good and how easy to do is that for you!

The cappuccino swap saves me around 70 calories and that’s a lot towards my 250 saving for the day and it doesn’t taste any different so I have managed to keep to this when I had lost my weight.

3. Find the exercise that you like doing, for example, I have found a Zumba class (Zumba with Annie) where everyone is friendly and the class is fun. Guess what – I actually look forward to going to the class and it burns around 250 calories every time I go. 

I also love going for walks – it’s totally free and I get to look at the great countryside (again a nice 3-mile circuit about an hour’s walk burns over 200 calories).

So to kick-start your weight loss, in summary:

1. Use a tracker
2. Make small food and drink swaps
3. Find and do exercise you like doing.

If you do these 3 things, you’ll be well on your way to losing weight and being healthier – good luck!

A friend of mine has asked for some tips on weight loss motivation so I thought I’d share some ideas on what made me lose weight last year to see if any of it resonates with you.

1. Have someone take a full-length photo of you. If you look and think crikey I look like a goddess then no need to worry but if on the other hand, you think who is that fat old trout then this is a really good motivator to lose weight.

Just so you know what made me take a long hard oh my goodness, who is that woman double take – here are a couple of photos (trust me these are not even the worst ones). The first one I had done for an extra agency (as some of you know I do TV and film extra work as a side hustle) and the other picture was a before picture for The Daily Mail MyBody Challenge with Myleene Klass and The Mail Online. I looked at these and wanted to cry because in both pictures – I thought oh no it looks like me but in a fat suit! This is a tough thing to do but you know what, it really does give you the boot up the bum you need to make those little lifestyle changes that can produce sustainable weight loss.

2. Try on some clothes you love to wear and you look great in and if they don’t fit, then this sure is a hell of a motivator. I have a favourite dress and again I had that heart-sinking feeling when I couldn’t even zip it up, let alone wear it. I know this is really hard to do but sometimes giving yourself a reality check is the only way to go. Here’s me back in my favourite dress after losing the weight.

3. Have a health check. There’s nothing like being told that your cholesterol is high and you’re at high risk of diabetes to give you the kick up the behind you need. I had my blood tests done last year because I was getting out of breath walking up one flight of stairs! How bad is that? My blood work basically came back as being at risk of a heart attack. At the time a friend of similar age to me had just had a heart attack and seeing how it can affect your life so dramatically put the wind up me enough to back away from the crisp cupboard (yes we have a cupboard with crisps in!)

Have a go at these three things and I suspect one or all of them might be what tips you over the edge if the menopause middle has hit you hard into thinking how can I get the old me back!

Other than trying to keep on the straight and narrow with maintaining my weight, life, in general, has been interesting over the past week. On Friday, I was asked to be an extra on a  Bollywood film (can’t tell you which one as it’s top secret) but it was a fab experience and a very surreal way to spend a Saturday. Made all the better by being asked to come dressed as a guest at a posh party, because it was fun to get out a dress that I used to be able to wear without the zip straining at the seams.

My blog post next week will have some tips on how to make small changes to your lifestyle which ensure the weight comes off and stays that way.

 

I can’t believe it’s April already and I haven’t posted for a while as my work has been incredibly full on with press tours to Munich and Amsterdam in March and a conference in Vienna. Thank goodness we’re still part of the EU or who knows what getting in and out of airports would be like!

I have managed to maintain my weight at a steady 8 stone 2 which is incredible considering the amount of temptation there is when you travel for work and how hard it is to find healthy food. I have managed to find a good tasty and (relatively) healthy breakfast in Wetherspoons, which I go for now when I’m going through airports. It has a nice big hit of protein so helps to keep you going all day.

But, when you’re away it can be tricky especially when you’re presented with lovely food The trick is to not load your plate and find interesting people around you to talk to so that you don’t pile a shed load of stuff on your plate.

Here’s the starter we were presented with at a restaurant in Munich – it is a sharer but in some ways, that’s worse as the temptation is to keep dipping in and out.

It is tricky to get good stuff at airports but it can be done and I often travel now with a healthy snack of nuts and seeds already prepared to keep me on the straight and narrow!

Life has been good and because I seem to be cracking the weight loss thing, I was featured in the Daily Mail, in an article by the lovely Sam Brick on what I’m doing to keep the weight off and got to meet two fabulous women, Virna Baillie, who did my hair and make-up and Natasha Pszenicki who took this fantastic picture of me.

I was also lucky enough this week to meet another brilliant woman, Cat Daniels. Cat asked me to be a hair model for secret hair extensions so I was on The Jewellery Channel with Hayley Sparkes.

Hayley is multi-talented as she was brilliant as our presenter and also did my hair in this lovely side do. All in all, it’s been an exciting couple of months and I can still fit in my clothes – hooray!

I haven’t posted in a while as work and life has been so busy. My fitness has taken a battering as I have been working later and not getting to fitness activities. I’m writing this as I whizz across the German countryside to go and visit a client. Today, has been pretty active as I got up at 3.30 (ouch) to go to Heathrow and then to Frankfurt so by the time I had walked between stations, airports and to the hotel I have managed to rack up 10,000 steps without trying.

Since finishing the channel swim challenge I am now thinking about what new fitness challenge to undertake in 2019. I did manage to finish Annie’s Zumba challenge (if you went to one class per week for 10 weeks she gave you all the classes up to Jan 20th free of charge) at least I have motivation to go to Zumba in January! I’m thinking of returning to modern jive classes or taking up Argentine Tango I can’t decide which yet.

I’m also going to set myself the goal of not putting on more than 4 lbs over Christmas so that I don’t have to lose a couple of stone again by March. I have managed to keep to 8 stone which was my goal weight for the Myleene Klass MyBody Challenge for six months now (something I have never done in the past as I’m a serial yo-yo dieter). However, this time instead of slipping back to bad habits, I’ve maintained the good ones and I’ve done this by sticking to these golden rules, which are a variation on Bright Line eating:

1. Limiting flour intake to one or no flour based item per day
2. No sugar
3. Weighing food
4. Supersizing veggie portions to cover half the plate with veg.
5. Monitoring my calories in and out via my FitBit charge 2 and not going over my intake vs exercise each day.
6. If I have a bad day and break the Golden Rules getting straight back to them next day instead of going oh well I had a bad day yesterday might as well have another one today (that really is the road to being overweight really quickly).                                                   If I can keep doing this over the Festive season then I won’t have to try to lose a shed load of weight in January! I’m using this picture of me in my goal body and weight as motivation not to pig out.