Catherine Huntley in today's Daily Mirror

Claire Sutton mentioned this morning that the diet Catherine is following is featured in today's paper. You can read it online if anyone is interested.

Here's the link http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/dieting/success-stories/want-fit-christmas-party-frock-4554602

Well done Catherine.......

She has done amazingly well, fair play to her.

She tweeted about it this morning. Whilst I admire her for sticking to it, and am pleased that she is happy with her shape, the people who are unfortunate enough to hit "rock bottom", wouldn't agree with her that having excess pounds is remotely comparable, to being diagnosed with, for example, with a serious illness. She piled on the pounds because of the amount of food she was consuming, and the junk food. Someone like Ali K, an unassuming lady, who never complains, really did hit rock bottom and is, hopefully, on her way back up. What I am trying to say, not in a derogatory manner toward Catherine - I am sure she would immediately agree with my comparison to Ali - is that it was her own fault she gained weight; Alison had this awful illness inflicted upon her, not because of anything she did or didn't do. It is all about perspective, and what is important in life. The Mirror article was also, in no small way, a promotional piece for MF's sister. Sounds a bit like, to use an analogy to the Bard, something is rotten in the state of QVC - nepotism.
I hope Catherine manages to keep to a weight she is happy with. I don't envy her losing weight, and talking about it, in the public eye. It was a bit the same when her relationship with Steve came to an end; whilst a couple, she never stopped talking about him, and this made their separation more prominent, because so many people watch her on the Q and, God knows why, feel they know her. I would have thought she would have learned by her mistake, and kept mum.

I admire anybody who is unhappy with their weight andwho manages to lose or gain weight and restore their confidence and can keep to it. I have seen it happen several times to friends and family but I have also seen the misery caused when they`ve found it impossible for whatever reasons to stick to the diet plan or regime they chose. One friend lost stones through one of the meal replacement plans but then lost her job and couldn`t afford to follow it anymore. Another friend fights a daily battle with anorexia and it almost broke up her marriage. My last hairdresser paid thousands for a stomach bypass and my OH`s daughter loses then gains weight like a yoyo. We regularly see celebs promote their weight loss, exercise videos and constant magazine and tv interviews about it and then months later the same mediums are publishing photos of them having regained weight and criticising them for it.

I think a lot of those articles are info commercials rather than proper journalism. Ie Q and the diet company hand out press releases because, quess what, Q are now selling this programme. She was carrying a bit of extra weight nothing excessive to get all self obsessed with and did well to shed the extra few pounds.

We are all guilty of feeling sorry for ourselves and I know from personal experience that excess weight can effect your self esteem but agree that there is no way that it is on a par with any illness never mind a serious one.

Some people need to wake up and smell the coffee.

So according to the link, its a six week how to get into your party dress.

Now I want to see Catherine in 4-6 months will she still be sticking to this diet?

A six week quick loss will not help you keep the weight off.

I understand what you're saying, but no-one, least of all Catherine, has compared her 'rock bottom' to an illness. In her world, it was rock bottom. Thankfully, she hasn't had to experience anything worse. Why can't people just read the article and comment on what was said, instead of looking for negatives and unfairly comparing it to other people's lives?

Good on you Catherine. Good on anyone who got that depressed about their weight and did something about it.

Illnesses are not what this thread/story is about.

I totally agree, people are always quick to judge, there seems to be a sliding scale for what we can feel sorry for or be impressed by. My best mate had a female friend who, in everyone's opinion was stunningly beautiful. She was model looking, with a figure to die for and beautiful natural blonde long hair. People would be drooling in the streets at her, and everyone who knew her and my best mate said she was stunning. The trouble was, she had self esteem issues, very deep ones and very serious, she hated the way she looked and just saw fat and ugly. When people stared at her, she thought they were doing so because she was fat and ugly.
At the time, I was very small minded about it, I used to say often "oh poor old Jane, she's 'sooooo' ugly" and mock her problem, I even said "she should try getting a real problem". Now I am very ashamed of this, she really did have serious confidence issues which affected her badly.
You get my point.

Some people will get cancer or go blind and see it as a challenge, as a life changing and affirming event, and not be as bothered as someone who gains 2 stone. I think we should all stop being judgemental, a persons battle is very personal and very real to them.

Congrats Catherine, you look stunning

I wish everyone who had weight gain issues would adopt the 5:2 diet; it really has helped so many people.

donna255 said:

So according to the link, its a six week how to get into your party dress.

Now I want to see Catherine in 4-6 months will she still be sticking to this diet?

A six week quick loss will not help you keep the weight off.

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I would like to see how it's maintained 6 months done the line too!! If it works and it's sustainable then brilliant!!

Personally I doubt that Chuntley was ever a size 16 as stated in that article. After all Joy is also a size 16!

Usually women always say they are smaller than they really are, never up their dress size, unless of course they are part of a sales campaign for a weight loss programme.

It's the old before and after chestnut, tummy pushed out, tummy sucked in.

I'm rather amazed that Q presenters aren't allowed to be criticised whereas it is free reign for IW (no thoughts one way or other but did read some recent posts)

iloveshopping said:

I wish everyone who had weight gain issues would adopt the 5:2 diet; it really has helped so many people.

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It is a good way of eating. A lot of people are able to stick with it too.

I wish people would face the reality, and the simplicity, of the equation - less food in, more energy out! Unfortunately, it's a mental problem; one most of us probably experience at least once in our lives. I have about a stone to lose. I know I need to exercise more (fallen off the wagon since been ill/Mr MK's op etc) but I am just too bone idle at the moment!! I compensate by keeping my food intake down, which has stopped me gaining even a pound.

Like I say, it's psychological. And there's no shame in that, no shame at all. I just can't cope with excuses. Eat less, exercise more. It really is that simple.

The trick is to find the diet that suits you. I couldn't stick to Catherine Huntley's diet regime but a simple eat-sensibly-but-slightly-less-and-do-simple-exercise regime works for me. The Bodyblade is essential for the exercise part of it and I've dropped a dress size in a few months. This isn't rocket science, it's plain common sense, but if it doesn't work for you, try something else till you find what's right for you.

loveallthingsitalian said:

Personally I doubt that Chuntley was ever a size 16 as stated in that article. After all Joy is also a size 16!

Usually women always say they are smaller than they really are, never up their dress size, unless of course they are part of a sales campaign for a weight loss programme.

It's the old before and after chestnut, tummy pushed out, tummy sucked in.

I'm rather amazed that Q presenters aren't allowed to be criticised whereas it is free reign for IW (no thoughts one way or other but did read some recent posts)

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I wouldn't be surprised if she was a 16 actually. She looked rather portly in that video I posted in another thread. There is no way Joy is a 16, is there?!!! :mysmilie_17:

I don't think it's a case of Q presenters not being allowed to be criticised. It was the "there are people with real issues in this world" that sparked the defence. To Catherine, it was a real issue. We shouldn't belittle people's emotions. I would say the same no matter who the presenter, even one of the less popular ones!! As Cheesecake said, we are quick to judge without stopping and giving any real thought to how that person is feeling.

thatu said:

The trick is to find the diet that suits you. I couldn't stick to Catherine Huntley's diet regime but a simple eat-sensibly-but-slightly-less-and-do-simple-exercise regime works for me. The Bodyblade is essential for the exercise part of it and I've dropped a dress size in a few months. This isn't rocket science, it's plain common sense, but if it doesn't work for you, try something else till you find what's right for you.

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I couldn't follow that food plan either!Well done on the weight loss :mysmilie_59: I lost 11lbs by eating less, three small meals a day, and exercising 4 times a week. It wasn't even difficult, it fell off me! Now I just need to find my mojo again :mysmilie_14:

Its not diets I'm hacked off with, its people who are on them ! I could lose a few pounds, but I've learnt to live with my body - if my clothes get tighter then I reduce my food intake - hardly rocket science, BUT people I know (friends of mine) who attend slimming classes and are on various diets, drive me nuts with their self congratulatory achievement at their weekly/monthly weight loss, and then wait for me to congratulate them - FOR WHAT ? managing to harness their lack of willpower ?

So, if you ARE on a diet, PLEASE don't bore your mates about your daily calorie intake, because once you start losing the dreaded pounds, that's all the conversation you have !

There are many people who need to lose weight but there are also many people who don`t but feel they should do. My OH has a 15 year old grand daughter, a pretty girl and not fat at all but recently she told her Mum she needed to diet because she`d gone from a size 8 dress into a size 10 dress. It`s because she`s still developing and her breasts have grown and also her hips but no way will she accept that. She sees magazine articles, pop singers, film stars etc and thinks size 10 is fat. How do we find the right balance of educating people that overeating is bad for you and obesity is bad for you but keep a sense of perspective that not everybody is going to be a size 8 and some people are a more than healthy size 16 ? There seems to be pressure everywhere and inconsistency, one article might say you should eat XY and Z, another will say you should do A, B and C, one table will say a certain weight is wrong for your height, another will say the opposite and so on. Personally I`d scrap the word diet from our vocabulary and stop all the hype spewed out by companies/magazines/celebs/TVads etc only in it to make money from peoples insecurities.

brissles said:

Its not diets I'm hacked off with, its people who are on them ! I could lose a few pounds, but I've learnt to live with my body - if my clothes get tighter then I reduce my food intake - hardly rocket science, BUT people I know (friends of mine) who attend slimming classes and are on various diets, drive me nuts with their self congratulatory achievement at their weekly/monthly weight loss, and then wait for me to congratulate them - FOR WHAT ? managing to harness their lack of willpower ?

So, if you ARE on a diet, PLEASE don't bore your mates about your daily calorie intake, because once you start losing the dreaded pounds, that's all the conversation you have !

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I love it!! Oh how I hate the "I've lost 2lbs" boasts!! That's a trip to the smallest room, hardly an achievement, haha :mysmilie_17: :devil: