When London fashion week dawned it came with the realisation that I really should’ve shifted my Christmas pounds. It occurred to me that a celebrity’s body snaps back post-baby more quickly than mine has post-party season. The streets are buzzing with fashion parties and skeletal models, and January is really the only acceptable month for having the scapegoat of December’s festivities on which to blame the bulge. So what to do if you have a pesky event on the horizon which requires a little hotness?
There are three ways to go if you have little time to achieve the best from your form, namely:
1) Exercise:
Nathan McFarlane at Live Fit had some advice for me on how to get the most change in shortest time: ‘to get quick results you need to do high intensity strength training daily for about 45 minutes, ensuring you exercise the whole body quickly.’
Sounds tiresome, but I continued my line of questioning and asked for specifics: ‘you should be doing, say, 10 squats at testing weight then move on to a different body part, such as 10 press ups, and move on quickly to another body part. As long as you are working yourself hard enough to feel you couldn’t do much more you will achieve results. Make sure you’re working big muscle groups and that you get enough sleep between sessions and you will see results.’
All jolly exhausting, but effective. No wonder these gym bunnies have such steely forms – after one session of this I took his sleep-related advice and fell asleep on the sofa curled up in my gym gear. I’m not entirely sure I would be able to keep this up for a few days running, pun intended.
2) Nutrition:
Nathan also had advice on this front, saying that the key factors in good nutrition for a short-term goal of slimness are:
-No alcohol whatsoever.
-Cutting out carbs entirely if it is only for a very short period (say, 3 days).
-Sugar is a big no no anyway if you want to be healthy but do make sure you cut it out for a few days if you want to see results.
-Eat little and often, focussing on low GI, high protein foods. Try eggs for breakfast to start the day well, and don’t forget to eat lots of veggies – the best combination you can go for is high protein, low carbs and good fats, as a rough guide.
-Limit dairy.
So, there you have doing it the hard way. Now onto the cheat guide to ‘fit’…
3) Spa:
There are two ways to go here: the home wrap and the professional treatment. Now, if you have a spare £26.99 floating around, you may want to go the home treatment route. I was sent the Body Boutique’s Wrap Factor 4 Pack to try and went about testing it one dark, February night with MF and ED. They were very helpful in offering arms and midriffs galore to be slimmed.
It involved around an hour and half and a fair bit of labour – the bandages need to be soaked in water and then wrapped under a layer of cling film, all very fiddly. In fact, had it not been for a few extra sets of hands, I’m not entirely sure they wouldn’t have ended up shrouded in the things. The other minus is that they need to be worn under cling film for an hour after application. this is fine in theory, I thought I’d kick back with an episode of 90210 while I cheated my way thinner, but it really is quite unpleasant to sit withdamp fabrics around you without the soothing clang clang of spa music or rub rub of a masseuse.
The results, however, were fairly positive. ED lost an inch and a half of arm and MF two off the waist. I suppose it is like slipping into Spanx for the night without the risk of detection. Another important factor for ladies – I really felt the difference, as well as the measuring tape telling me there had been a loss. Astounding as this is, it is really a short-term fix: as the immediate effect wears off you may be left feeling like the realpounds being shed are from the wallet.
If you are going the splash the cash route you may want to look into spa treatments – Bliss Spa in London offer a Shrink Wrap which will help slip you into a dress in no time, and, thankfully, they add that it is a water-loss wrap, so at least you know there is no Emperor’s New Clothes promises afoot.
I have been told that the real LFW devotees are all having themselves pampered at the agua Spa at the Sanderson Hotel. These clever bunnies have obviously realised that although the above is all very well and good, sometimes the best way to feel good at a party is through true pampering with the added touch of detox juices and low-fat snacks. They created the agua Fashionista menu comprising the ‘Stiletto Smoother’ foot treatment and ‘Fashion Tan’ spray tan, all with little healthy treats on the side. It is completely sold out this year, so I will visit them next year. Unless, of course, I quite literally hop to it a little earlier next year and take Nathan’s advice. For now, I will continue using the Body Boutique’s offering – I’m certainly not one to turn my nose up at the loss of an inch with so little effort.
