On feeling hungry while losing weight

As an update: I've just hit the 5 kilos lost mark.  Weight Watchers gave me a little star on my online chart.  It wasn't very exciting really...  Because photographs for weight loss posts are hard to take, here's a photograph I took in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens instead:

I've realised something that I think is not commonly understood about dieting and losing weight.  Namely - you are going to feel hungry. 

Here's how I see it working:  If I have eaten "more than enough" food my body will store the extra calories as fat.  If I have eaten "enough" food my body won't store any fat, but it won't use any existing fat either.  To lose existing fat I need to eat "less than enough" so my body needs to use up some of the stored fat, thereby losing weight.  So feeling hungry is actually a good thing. 

I've also found that a meal needs to include some fat (and I don't do "fake" fat like margarine or other butter replacements) or I will feel hungry no matter how much I ate.  A little fat in a meal is essential or my body wants to keep eating until it gets that little bit of fat.

It's a reminder that I haven't eaten too much and will therefore continue to lose weight, my body using the energy from the stored fat.

I've tried diets where what you eat is exactly dictated and they really didn't work for me.  The kind of diets where they advertise "eat as much as you want and still lose weight, never feel hungry again!".The portions were always huge (and very expensive to cook) yet I was hungry all the time because of the low calories.  I could never finish those huge portions but it felt wrong to not eat them because I was feeling so hungry.  Now I've made peace with feeling hungry it seems a lot easier to continue.  If I expect to feel hungry at some points during the day it's not a huge problem any more.

Lust Have It October 2012 Box

The Lust Have It box for October has arrived packed full of goodies.  I got the fun and flirty box.

Mask in a Cup Facial Mask (full size)

I'm trying this tonight so I'll update with how it went.

NYX Cosmetics Girls Nail Polish (full size)

I got Milano.  I thought from looking at the bottle that it was going to be a rather unattractive brown, though my husband disagreed and voted for silver.  After a couple of coats it turned out to be a slightly sparkly silver with a hint of brown.  I quite like it.  I'm tying to move away from just pinks and reds and this made a nice change.

Avene Cleanance Skin (sample sizes, enough for three or so applications)

Gel Cleanser - This was nothing special when I used it, but after I finished cleansing and followed it up with the accompanying moisturiser I've noticed that my skin feels smoother than usual.  There was enough in the bottle for quite a few goes (though not enough of the moisturiser to accompany it) so I'll finish using this.  I'm not sure it was special enough to purchase a full sized bottle though.

Cream Exfoliant - I didn't try this.  I squinted at the tiny writing on the bottle and discovered that it was going to have a skin peeling effect.  I've done that a couple of times by accident when I've had a bad reaction to a cleanser and I can't imagine doing that to myself on purpose.  This one went in the bin!  I did really appreciate that it was written clearly on the bottle though so I could avoid damaging my skin by accident.

Anti-Shine Moisturiser - This little product did exactly what it said.  It was totally no-shine.  I got a bit worried when my skin tingled when I first applied it.  I almost quickly wiped it off again.  Luckily the reaction didn't go any further and my face is fine.

Caron Waxaway Ready To Use Sensitive Wax Strips (two strips, not enough to do a full wax)

I don't wax.  And now I know why.  Ouch!  Every follicle on the strip I waxed is now red and angry with me.  The strip worked just fine, and the accompanying after-wax wipe was soothing, but my leg looks so angry there's no way I would want my whole leg to look like that.  Three hours later every follicle is still red and angry looking.  Not a good look.

Star & Rose White Bath Fizzer (full size)

I thought this was doing nothing.  It melted nice and quickly into my bath and completely dissapeared.  I usually like my bath to have a pretty colour or some bubbles or something.  I couldn't tell there was anything in there at all.  I was all set to blog that the fizzer had done absolutely nothing, until I dried myself off after my bath.  Then I noticed that I didn't need to moisturise my legs.  I had shaved the bits I couldn't cover with the wax sample which usually dries out my skin.  So I guess the fizzer did do something after all.  It's not a product I would choose though, for a luxury relaxing bath product I like to see it (the aforementioned colour or bubbles do the trick).

Eve Cosmetics Primers and Foundations - Tested On Me!

Eve Cosmetics is a new brand to me, and they were nice enough to send me a selection of their primers and foundations to trial.  Here's how I went:

First I tried the Tinted Primer in Light.  I used a mini Kabuki brush to apply it and it was lovely and thin and easy to apply.  Unexpected was that this gave a much more opaque coverage than a tinted moisturiser.  There was enough colour that it could be worn as a stand-alone foundation, though I did put a little powder on the top to tone down the shine.  It lasted rather well.  I usually have to powder my nose a couple of times a day but this one lasted all day without budging.  A shame that the colour didn't work for me or I probably would have purchased it.  This one isn't for girls with light skin, the "light" shade was much too dark for me.  If one of the colours suit you, I'd recommend giving it a try.

Next up was the Pore Perfecting Face Primer.  I just dotted it around my face and blended with fingertips.  It was lovely and smooth to apply and sunk in quickly, I could start putting foundation on almost immediately.  I used my usual foundation rather than one of the Eve Cosmetics samples because I wanted to test the primer with a foundation I knew worked for me.  And it did!  This primer made my usual foundation even better, it looked much more smooth and long lasting (I usually have to touch up my nose a couple of times a day and I didn't need to when I wore this primer).  I'm pretty tempted to purchase this one.

And that's all for the primers.  Here come the foundations:

First up was the Mineral Liquid Powder Foundation in Tender Beige.  I almost wasn't going to bother applying this one when I saw what colour it was, it looked so dark.  But when I applied it the colour was much lighter than it appeared.  It was still too dark for me, but not as much as I thought it was going to be.  This was a very matte full coverage foundation (which I like) and it had pretty good staying power.  My nose looked a tiny bit shiny at the end of the day but it was 34 degrees out and I'd been working in the garden, so I'd say it held up pretty well.  If I could get the right shade I might give this one a whirl.

Second I tried the Mineral Sheer Tint in Light.  The colour was the best match so far.  Ever so slightly too dark to be perfect but not bad at all.  As its name suggests, I found this foundation to be a medium coverage foundation.  My red cheeks showed through a reasonably heavy application and it wore off my nose by the end of the day (today was another humid hot day though which is pretty bad for foundation durability).  I would chose the Mineral Liquid Powder Foundation over this one as it really stayed put and covered my cheeks better.

Righto!  We're on to the last one.  The Mineral Photo Touch Foundation in Linen.  Again, I had an almost but not quite colour match.  It was very very close though.  It didn't manage to completely cover my red cheeks but it did have good staying power and the colour was oh so close to perfection.

So which of all of these will I purchase?  It's an easy choice:  The Pore Perfecting Face Primer has earned a place on my wishlist.

You can get your own free primer and foundation samples from their website.  I want to give a big cheer to Eve Cosmetics for providing samples so we can all try them out and pick the product that works best without having to waste money getting the wrong shade or type.