From Project Rika to the Incredible Ladies - Taking it to the next level

Another treat from my lovely mum. For bold fashion days!

August 2005

I gained a lot of insight which helps to save money and make things easier. So the next year will be about testing and refining, and keeping my eyes open for other exciting things on my way.

Brands – They make sense

I never thought that I would become a fan of certain brands. Moreover I despised the fact that things cost a lot of money just because there is a name attached to it. BUT – they got that name because they are good – at least some of them. My make-up is Maxfactor and my clothes are mainly Jigsaw and Next. A good value for money price range. If I’m in the mood I still look around elsewhere, but to know what normally works makes shopping less time consuming and frustrating. It might be more expensive per item, but in the end of the day it saves money because it reduces the shopping mistakes. For example the first trousers I bought in a cheaper shop are already degraded to garden trousers because they started to tear and the zip didn’t work properly anymore. To be short one pair of trousers and having to look for new ones is annoying. In this respect the £20 for them haven’t been a bargain.

Make-up

Oh so many opinions and styles. For starters I got myself a book. At least I can get something painted on now I don’t have to be ashamed of.

And I learned: No eye creams, they makes skin under the eyes sag and a lot of eye surgery happens due to eye creams. Still a lot to learn but with low priority. It’s more important to fill the gaps in my wardrobe.

Sport

The new style brought me back to sports. I did weight exercises before and it still is the best thing to do for changing the shape. Since I saw what nice clothes are out there which would fit nicely if just here and there weren’t these little cushions attached to me I’m very determined to get rid of them. Together with the clothes my posture has changed, and my whole lifestyle became healthier. Additionally I took up Golf. The last remaining trousers of my old life (perfect fit but wrong colour) are golf trousers now. They even are checked, although on the picture I'm wearing comfy sports trousers.

Underwear

Uhuhhh. I completely changed to Thongs. Panty line good bye. Needed a bit of time to get used to it but now the normal briefs go on my nerves and pinch everywhere.

Now that it is summer it is easy to skip vests/camisoles. I have to see how it goes in winter. I will have to wear top under pullover kind of things. I just hate a cold belly.


Jewellery - And I thought my first piece was big


I love my jewellery now. I never wore a lot of jewellery and my mum always was disappointed to not being able to get something 'nice' for her daughter as she wouldn't wear it - Stupid Girl!

Now I have loads of it in all colours and shapes, and my mum is happy. She brought me such a lovely piece from a trip to Rome and another one from some other trip - pensioner! always on the move, bless her!

One thing Trinny and Susannah always made clear: Accessorise, accessorise, accessorise! And it works. With the right jewellery, handbag and shoes all of a sudden it's not just clothes but an outfit. Whenever I pull a good outfit together this brushes a smile on my face and I walk more upright. It's worth a try!

January 2006

And it goes on and on and …

… and it’s contagious. My mum just gave half of her wardrobe away and is going to change her hairstyle.

My shape is changing a lot now and even the legs started to loose the wobbly bits. I nearly have Madonna’s arms and I’m determined to get J-Lo’s rear end this year. I lost a good stone since the hideous pink shorts picture in 2003 and a bit is still to be lost.

I’m absolutely happy with my hair now. I like the length, the middle parting and the colour. It’s more a red rather than blond now.

My new obsessions

HipHop videos: To see all these lovely women dancing, keeps me from eating and makes me go to the gym. I even start liking the music and can’t hear the ballade kind of stuff anymore.

Gym: I go to the gym for weight exercises 4 times a week now. In the 'Photo Therapy' section you can see that I always was rather muscly as I did weight exercises when I was young, and later on I went to the gym on and off. But now I'm getting more and more toned on my upper body and the fat that made me look a bit bulky is fading. Although the bottom bit still needs some work. But thinking of the big bum in the 'Photo Therapy', I guess that's fair enough. Since I have some muscles back on my body I'm coping better with the food. I actually can eat more without gaining weight - Yay! Give me more of these little muscle-buggars.

Power walking: Having gained strength and fitness it’s easier now to do aerobic sports. I’m doing Power Walking twice a week now. With good weather outdoors, with bad weather on the treadmill in the gym.

Salt less food: I can’t have salt anymore – and I was very keen on salt before. I feel so much less bloated and I don’t have swollen eyes and feet anymore. This is an issue that astonished me the most. It is incredible what impact salt can have. Read more about it under 'Nutrition'.

Sugar: And again. It had such a huge impact on my health to skip sugar. Not just because of losing weight. My whole digestion changed so much to the better. I never would have believed that if someone only would have told me. I got lucky that a few incidents happened accicentally from which I felt the impact straight away. Have a look at the 'Nutrition' section.

Shoes. Since the feet got thinner I can wear nearly everything as opposed to not getting any shoes at all. I rarely wear shoes without high heels. I already believe that I have grown since I can reach the worktop in my kitchen much more easily. Not wearing high heels makes me feel like a dwarf. My favourites are cork wedges - good for the still chubby ankles.

Sleep. Before Christmas I had a phase of little sleep and I actually thought I’d coped quite well, but I had dark eye rings. In January I had a one week holiday in Fuerteventura with a lot of activity, sun and sleep and the rings were gone. So I try to not have less then 7 hours sleep now and have afternoon naps whenever possible.

Conclusion

I need a lot of time to do all the sport, the normal housework stuff, my secretary job and the 'taking care of what I eat bit' as that makes me cook a lot of things from scratch.

Well, and there we are! That's how this site got into the game. The following one and a half years I used to re-organise my life, figured out what was essential and what not, shoved tasks around and found out what I actually wanted: For my health, for my marriage and for my life altogether. I learned a lot about myself, people, food and sport. And that's when I thought that there might be some other people out there who have actually achieved everything they wanted (house, job, kids, holidays,...) and feel that this can't be all. People who basically got it all - except contentedness. I am not a happy bunny 24/7 and there are moments where I would like to scream sh... and probably throw something breakable. But I can truly say that I found a level of contentedness I wouldn't have thought possible. I enjoy the things I'm doing again, and I want to do them because I want to, not because I have to.

That doesn't mean that the same things would make you happy the same way. But I believe that if you feel that something is lacking from your life you can apply the same principles I used and that you then can achieve everything you want - because you are an 'Incredible Lady'.