Fighting the flab
Yours writer Marion Clarke says losing those extra pounds was never easy
Well done to anyone W who didn’t put on a few pounds during lockdown. For the rest of us it was the perfect excuse for comfort eating. Knowing that I wasn’t leaving the house and could wear stretchy leggings and a baggy jumper every day, I happily tucked into chocolates and biscuits.
Now I’m fighting the flab (as Terry Wogan used to say) but I won’t be trying any of the diets Christine Gilbert remembers: “I laugh when I think of the different diets I tried in the Seventies. There was the spinach and cottage cheese diet – yuk! Then there were Limmits biscuits (to be eaten instead of two meals a day) and Ayds toffees (eat two to four before each meal to miraculously reduce your appetite). All tried and tested by my good self and guess what? They never worked!”
In the Fifties, Sandra Goodchild’s mum was determined to slim down: “One day she came home with some Energen rolls to try, but she wasn’t impressed. However, our dad (who never needed to lose weight despite a calorie-laden diet) thought they were wonderful and would regularly buy a box of them as a treat.
“Another of Mum’s ideas was to start the day with a spoonful of lemon juice in a glass of water, believing she could eat as much as she wanted for the rest of the day. Needless to say, that didn’t work.
“Mum then resorted to a Playtex ‘living girdle’. Made of stretchy rubber, you needed to be a contortionist to wriggle into it. I’m afraid my sister and
I regarded Mum’s struggle as an amusing spectator sport and had to beat a hasty retreat when our giggles could no longer be contained.
“Removing the girdle was almost as difficult and I still remember her sigh of relief as she stepped out of it at the end of the day.”
Anne Clark also found a different way to lose weight that proved to be even worse torture than dieting: “In my late teens I thought I was overweight, so I sent off for some Stephanie Bowman products.
“These consisted of a pair of kneelength plastic bloomers, arm bands and a midriff belt that you wore in bed. The idea was to sweat the pounds away overnight, but instead you just ended up a sweaty, clammy mess.”