h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi there,
My name is Mysticdreamer and I've been directed to you by Kelli, in the Losers site! She tells me you're her role model and as I'm also seeking some divine intervention in my weight loss and other lifes problems, I thought I'd pop in and introduce myself!

Well I could go on but don't want to reaching for a oror worse still so I'll say bye for now!

Mystic

Hi there mysticdreamer!

Oh boy, don't I know what the weight-loss doo-dah is like. Been there, done it and been given numerous T-shirts as the time passed and my own got more and more voluminous.

As Kelli will tell you, it's ing hard to lose weight. I can say the same.

It's possible, though. I started out at just over 20 stone - and it took me 18 months of solid weight watching (I learned from the outset to *never* call it dieting) to get rid of the excess. As I'm a little under six foot tall, I was lucky - I was aiming for 11 and a half stone, which I managed to get to.

That makes my total weight loss something in the region of 8 and a half stone. This can be either inspiring, or horrifying, depending on your mood at the time, of course!

While I was working on that - I worked on this too: A707799, which is my list of personal dos and don'ts for weight loss. It's by no means comprehensive, and it's not backed by any medical research, but as it doesn't exhort people to try starving themselves (a mad idea that never works anyway) I was quite chuffed with it, though it may need some revision.

As a result of this, I now know that a) it's blooming hard to do, and b) despite being blooming hard, it *is* possible. My function therefore is to act as a sympathetic (even empathetic!) ear for anyone who is finding it a grind, and wants to let off some about it.

I'm not a dietitian. I'm not a nutritionist. I have no medical background whatsoever. All I have is past experience - so I know what it's like. I'm happy to share jubilation at success, commiseration at setback (*not* failure! That word is banned!) and listen to all the gripes and frustrations that come with slimming.

So, good luck with the weight loss work. There's a whole load of losers on this site who will be as pleased as I am to offer their services as a 'slimming buddy'. We could almost call ourselves the 'H2G2 Slimming Club'!.

Feel free to drop by and chat any time. I'm usually around on this site from around 6.00 GMT or thereabouts (currently 7.00 BST) as this is a w*rk computer and I'm allowed to post first thing in the morning or at lunchtime. That means I may not get a quick reply back to you - but I will reply. Honest!

Hiya Megapuppy
Thanks for your full response. I've printed off your tips and they are really very helpful so thats great.
I have been overweight for so long too, and have tried appetite suppressants (never again) before my wedding and also lots of short term diets (sorry to use the word).
I've been extremely stressed this year and have been comfort eating and despaired about sticking to anything until I had a bit of a scare about a month ago and found I had high blood pressure.
That has spurred me to start a healthy eating plan and have lost 12 lbs, but do have loads to lose am about 16 stone 9 lbs, would like to be 11 stone ish like I was when I got married (17years ago).
But as you say slowly stone by stone, it seems so far away at the mo..
How much did your mum and sis lose?
How long have you kept it off.
Well done
Hope I'll be able to drop in and ask you advice again.
Love Mystic
x
PS I don't know if there's anything useful I can impart but I like creative writing, languages and astrology.

Well done for your losses so far, Mystic - excellent! Only two lb away from your first stone! Big yay!

My mum lost four and a half stone, and my sister lost six. Between us, we lost nineteen stone - almost an entire me before I lost my weight!!! My dad has now topped that overall total up to 21 as he is finally sorting himself out. He's lost two so far, but hopes to have lost another one by November. He's feeling the difference already, though! Plus he has to be careful in case his trousers fall down

Don't worry about using 'diet' in the short term context - after all, lots of people still think like that so they keep on 'dieting' and failing and then assume that they have to have liposuction and stomach stapling because they are incapable of losing weight.

It's a term that has become so ingrained in the public consciousness that people automatically call it 'going on a diet' instead of 'slimming' - mind you, even that term gets a bit close to the 'diet' definition!

Maybe you could try 'making a lifestyle change to adjust my weight to healthy levels'. That would sound interesting after a few s!

I reached my target probably about eighteen months or so ago (the same length of time it took me to get the lot of it off). Since then, I've probably put a few pounds back on again, but all my clothes are still fitting - and if they start to get tight, I can simply swing into action and get that small amount off again.

I haven't done the 'put it all back on with more to spare' routine, thank . But the possibility is always there, so I have to keep a watch on myself. Not that that stops me from indulging now and again, of course!.

I know what you mean about how it all seems such a long haul. I can remember thinking, when I reached my second stone, that the number to lose was still higher than the number I'd lost. As time goes on though, the balance switches, and you realise that you've got more off than you've got left to get rid of - and that's a boost. I suppose that's why I referred to it as a long-term-low-risk-high-yield-investment. They always say that nothing that's worth having is easy to get. In this case, they're definitely right!

I'm usually lurking around somewhere during the day (except at weekends when I can't get to my w*rk computer), so feel free to drop in to the kennel.

Hello Megapuppy,

I also write from work, and was off Friday, did/do you find when you change your routine it all goes pearshaped on the Healthy eating plan.
My dad has had a stroke sadly and so we went to Wales over the weekend and I had quite good intentions but somehow it all seemed quite unimportant with the stress of visiting hospital etc.
Now Monday back at work feel fat and guilty, weighed myself, should n't have I suppose, seem to have gained 5 pounds sigh. Mind you I did get on a different scales.
I really want to lose a stone before I go on hols (21 Aug) but don't want to put too much pressure on myself.
Well done to your mum and sister, what a successful family you are, thats really brilliant, I bet you can really support and inspire each other!
My sis is very thin, just seems to take after a different side of family/genes etc. hey ho!
That was very good advice about being in for the long haul, one day as you say the amount to lose will be less than whats gone before.
that day will be special, but a long way off.
Well better say bye for now.
Speak soon
Mystic
x

Sorry to hear about your dad, Mystic - I can understand how that feels, as hypertension and stroke are in some ways the 'family curse' in that two of my mother's four sisters have had one, her father had one (if I recall) and she herself has been treated for high blood pressure for many years - it's her biggest fear that she will also have one, so she's done everything she can to minimise the risk (certainly more than her sisters did). So have I - and I managed to drop my blood pressure back to normal levels simply by losing weight.

Please don't feel guilty about gaining. It was inevitable that you would have far more important things on your mind than weight loss this weekend. It'll come off again, anyway. I can assure you that I gained quite a few times while I was losing. It's just one of those things.

I agree about the change in routine thingy. In my case things were a bit easier as I was on a diary, so I monitored everything I ate; but day visits to Pembrokeshire always used to be a sticky situation because the people who were hosting us (the amateur orchestra I play with) always provide rather nice teas, so I had to sit there and calorie count while everyone else was filling their faces with pavlova!. It was a drag, but worth it in the end. The only downer is that we haven't done a summer concert at the place where they do the pavlovas since I came off the diary!

But then, it certainly went pear shaped on the weekend when I went to the Orchestra summer party - the desserts! My lord! the desserts!!!. That's another advantage of losing excess weight. No one bats an eyelid when they see you gobbling large helpings of trifle if you're slim.

The only way round it was to be a complete bloodyminded diet bore. Fortunately everyone in the orchestra was watching my efforts with supportive interest - and they were all really proud of me when I finally did it.

My final goal - the thing I was *really* aiming for - was to take part in the Texaco Young Musician of Wales Finals (we play as the backing orchestra) in a nice dress. That gave me two years to get the weight off. In the end it took me 18 months because I never once let up on it (mainly because I still live at home and my mother was watching me). As a result, I was at target in plenty of time to find that really nice dress, and achieved my goal. I'm still amazed I had the determination, to be honest. I'm usually such a lazy old bag!

Hope your dad's doing okay.
Thinking of you.

Hi Megapuppy,

Thanks for your nice supportive message. You're right of course we can't always be strong and sometimes will have a lapse (or three)!!
Still well done on being so focused, having your goal (the contest) and knowing what you wanted. . How did the orchestra do afterwards?
It must be great to be talented at something.
I like to think I can write but like everything have just let it lapse due to outside pressures. I must get motivated and give myself a target to submit work to a competition for example.
For the slimming goal, as I mentioned we are going away on 21 Aug, only a month away and would love to fit into a dress I have at home. , ultimately I have a very slimline black skirt which I could see myself in at Christmas (in my dreams!!).
I didn't realise you were in Wales. I miss it alot, I always feel really emotional when we leave after visiting my family.
Well I'm off out to lunch two days running so what I'll order I don't know.
I'm leaving my job so its a kind of farewell. Try not to get nostalgic.

Take care
Love Mystic
xx

The orchestra wasn't competing exactly - we were just backing the competitors. However, our performance (as accompanists) was judged as well - to see how well we interacted with the soloists. So the second half of the final was judged on the overall performance of both soloist and orchestra.

In previous competitions, all we did was turn up the following day and record concerto extracts for the TV programme they do on the competition, but this time it was for real!!

Scary stuff.

Still seems pretty high powered to me.
Are you busy every day? Or do you only play when needed.
Where are you based.

Well I've been really naughty lunchtime. Its all these farewell meals, at this rate I'll never fit into that dress.

So what are you up to at the moment? Have you any holidays planned.

Take care
Mystic
xx

The orchestra's an amateur one and we play pretty regularly - in RL I'm a civil servant. It combines the advantages of being able to tackle some fabulous music, with that of having a steady job. Most orchestral work these days is freelance, and it's not the most secure of careers.

I am (like the orchestra!) based in Cardiff, though we play in various places around South and West Wales. In fact, we are one of the best amateur orchestras around, and we are the only on to play in the Welsh Proms (though don't do a posh evening one, we do the 'Children's Prom' on a Saturday morning).

Argh - the big dilemma again! Do I stick to my plan or do I enjoy a good meal out? A difficult one indeed - though I was terribly, terribly dull and boring. I stuck to my plan. Mind you, like I've said before, I had my mother watching me - and, with a slimming club consultant to face once a week as well, I was too chicken to rebel!

I haven't got any particular hols planned this year - my two weeks off in August will be spent just pottering around doing not very much. Next year's the biggie - a trip to Egypt and Jordan.

Hiya Megapuppy,

I know I feel very guilty and lumpy today after my meal(s)out.
Its just not worth it.
I intend to be really disciplined from today onwards!
Next week I'm off so I may go swimming and .
I'm also a civil servant based in London for last 18 years but used to work in Newport. Cardiff was my old stomping ground.
The CS is really changing -not for the better.We've all had to compete for our jobs this year. Morale at an alltime low
Next years holiday sounds excellent! We're off to Algeria this year. So something similar.

Take care
Love Mystic
xx

Bet they tasted nicer than my tuna salad!

At the moment I'm thanking my lucky stars that I'm not in the DWP or Inland Revenue (unlike my sister, who's a tax officer).

Nonetheless, it's impossible to miss the low morale all around the CS - even those departments which aren't being hammered. In our case, it's only because we're awaiting the outcome of our efficiency review....

Ho hum. At least we have our respective holidays to look forward to! The Pyramids, The Dead Sea, The Egypt Museum in Cairo, Mt. Sinai, Petra...

I'm very intrigued about this idea of a visit to Algeria, though!

Yes they did but tuna salad won't put another inch on your hips!
Hope your sis will be okay in her job then!
And hopefully there won't be any major changes in your Dept after the results of the efficiency review. That's when they usually decide in their wisdom to merge Depts and cut staff. Then they realise its not working, reorganise (again) and bring temps in.
Sorry I'm very cynical.
I'm in Health and we've lost 1,200, but thankfully I've survived this current cull.
Well your hol sounds like a trip of a lifetime! Algeria doesn't have any famous landmarks to see! There are the roman ruins at Tipaza of course- not known outside the country.
The reason we're going there is my other half is...Algerian
No seriously it is the other side of the med from Spain and you can guarantee the weather!

For the rest I'll let you know!
Mystic
xx

I'm hoping the same - though things are further muddied by the decision to abolish the Welsh Development Agency, Wales Tourist Board and Education and Learning Wales (ELWa) by 2006. Particularly as things are currently in limbo because we haven't had the 'project management team' (there always has to be one of those, doesn't there?) appointed, and the Assembly's gone into recess.

All we know at the moment is that they've decided they're going to do it. That's it. Nothing else.

Anyway, I thought cynicism was an essential job requirement for a Civil Servant? I don't think I've ever come across one that isn't a cynic! I know I'm one.

Ironically, I've already had my 'trip of a lifetime' - three weeks in China in 2000. This is 'another trip of a lifetime'. I seem to be racking them up now!

Hi there
Been off for a week, but back today. It went very quickly, my good intentions to unearth the exercise bike from the shed came to nothing. but did go swimming and ate quite healthily. Only two weeks 5 days until we go. Weighed myself last week and was 16 stone 5, so seem to have lost a couple of pounds. Like to be 16 stone by the time we go?
Started my new job(within DH) today- a whole new subject area,physical activity, been given a pedometer to get me started.
My little boy commuted up to town this morning with me cos I thought it would be fun for him to go to the work playscheme with me! Fun for whom? So quite stressed.
China sounds amazing too, did you walk along the Great Wall?
I'm getting cold feet about Alg abit. We've spent an awful lot of money so far and I've still got stuff to get.
What have you been up to?

Mystic
xx

Ah, the Great Wall...fabulous. We didn't go that far, but we were at the Mutianyu section, which is only accessible by cable car (having climbed up a roadway that's as steep as a pitched roof. Just to add to the excitement, the car we travelled in was the one in which Bill Clinton travelled when he visited that section of the wall!

It was amazing to see the wall stretching away over hills on either side, though. There was even an international direct dial telephone on the wall so you could ring someone up and say 'I'm on the Great Wall of China!'. The trouble was, we were there in the morning, and no one would have thanked me for ringing them back in the UK as it would have been the middle of the night! I did sit down and write a postcard though - which drew quite an audience!

Mind you, the whole place was amazing. Absolutely loved it!

Remembering that is quite a lot more fun than what's happening at the moment (nothing!). August is always a quiet month for us because the Assembly's gone into recess, so we don't tend to have the ongoing stuff to be getting on with. For some reason, AMs don't seem to be quite so hot on writing lots of letters to Ministers during recess as MPs were. Never mind - it gives me time to watch the arguments over the pay offer we had. Not exactly brilliant - but a lot better than some, I think.

Hiya Megapuppy,

We're in the same boat as you, very quiet as parly in recess. Not much correspondence to deal with (good) as I don't know this subject yet!
I've got one PQ with a deadline by September.
I started using my pedometer on Monday but forgot to reset it yesterday and was delighted when it said 12,000, but realised its two days worth of stepsso not that impressive.
It really is very hot too hot to exert myself.
Last years payrise due Aug arrived in Jan, we usually get the arrears by Christmas so it was all very bleak, bah humbug.
I'm now "marking time" at the top of the scale so not much to look forward to.
Take care
Mystic
x

It must be pretty icky being at the top of your scale. I know people here in that position who haven't had a payrise for three years as we only had increments, not a 'cost of living' rise.

The claim is that you can get to the top of your scale here within five to six years - though I wonder if that will ever happen as they keep on revising the paybands and this time, instead of progressing to point 5, I am going to end up on the revised point 4 - as my current point 4 salary becomes the point 3 salary!

I do get a payrise - but no progression. And they want to merge my payband with the one below. Nice to know AO's are so valued in this place.

Ack. Misused an apostrophe...

Ah yes! AOs do all the work and thats not an exaggeration!
When I was an AO (or Local Officer II) when I was in DSS in Newport, we did everything. All the interviews, benefit calculations etc. The EOs merely checked our work and signed it off.
Since I've been up here, I got promotion (EO) or Integrated Payband 2 as its called here and now they've virtually axed the AO post and AA are scarcer than the dodo. so I still end up doing all the work on the lowest wage. (Moan,moan).
Sounds like you should take some time off if there's nothing on. Or are you hoping to carry some leave over for next years Middle Eastern adventure?
Forgot to mention I studied Arabic in Cardiff in the 80s(Albany Road!)