carolyn ekins

by

OMG I love you ALL!!!

OMG I love you all!!!! Your comments are exactly what I needed and promise to answer all this weekend on my days off!

I didn’t visit my blog for a week… I have been thinking so many things through. Painstakingly analyzing minute details of my psyche. Mentally preparing myself to surge forward and grasp this sucker by the throat (jeez I never knew I could be that violent!) and finish the job. There is no doubt in my mind that more than anything else I want to rid myself of 100 lb on top of what I have already lost. According to my scales this morning I am down 55 lb from my heaviest ever weight and despite, at times, not eating 100% wartime rations, am still down 25 lbs from when I originally started the 1940s experiment.

I’ve been looking at my shape in the mirror. There is not a lot I like about the body I wear. Not so much that I am saggy and should you see me in silhouette after I’d placed an antennae on my head, I would indeed resemble a teletubbie (except not so young and cute) but simply that the fat suit I wear stops me from being the person I am inside sometimes. I am playful (despite my 45 years)… I love hugging and giggling and am affectionate towards fellow human beings (if they don’t put barriers up). But sometimes I hold back, afraid that folk will think me strange, I guess it is all to do with lack of confidence now that I wear a different sized body.

Today I have taken another step. I brought my sneakers to work with me and grabbed an exercise t-shirt and after work I go to the indoor walking track to start an exercise routine. It will be difficult at first, my weight causes a painful crushing sensation on my spine when I walk for extended periods of time but I’ll push through it bit by bit until it gets easier as my weight continues to drop. I am committing to go 3 times a week. My goal today will be to complete a minimum of two laps without stopping….

In the 1940s people were far more active than we are as a society today so to be successful in my experiment I have to keep busy. I may not be digging for victory in the fields like a Land Army girl but I’ll certainly be heading towards victory in my own way…

by

Not 1940’s but my other passion..

I hate waste… I guess the 1940’s housewife during WWII would have been very mindful of waste. Supplies were scarce, foods were rationed and many manufacturing industries were scaled back. People were encouraged to “Make do and Mend”, use their food scraps up and what they couldn’t use was donated to the community “pig swill” bin or fed to garden livestock.

In todays society we should perhaps take notice of this early form of recycling..

And that is another of my passions… trying to make things last longer, repairing, reusing, not throwing things away because we need something newer and shinier…

And that is precisely what I did with my beautiful bouquet of Valentine’s Roses this year. I couldn’t bare to see them just thrown away so I kept them and watched them as they became crispier and crispier. Work colleagues made comments that it was about time I perhaps threw them away but I waited. And today my roses were dry enough to make “Valentine Rose Petal Pot-Pourri” and now I can treasure the petals for many months more..

CLICK HERE FOR MY HOW-TO WITH PHOTOS!

by

Nostalgia

I first started trying to reduce my weight by following a 1940’s WW2 rationing plan back in 2006…. I did quite well on my first attempt and managed to cook and eat strictly by my Home Front recipe books for about 4 or 5 months and lost 57 lbs…. Of course when I went back to normal modern day eating which included high fat and processed foods the weight soon crept back up again.. At least this proved to me that my theory worked.

During the 1940s Experiment I have never counted calories…..I have my ration allowances for the week put aside in my cupboard and my fridge (oh the luxury of it all) and I make do with that to build my meals on. There are no crisps (chips), large quantities of meat, huge amounts of butter or cheese or eggs and a limited amount of sweets (candies)..

I was reading through the very first attempt back in 2006 which I documented with an audio diary- I think I will start doing that again or a video diary or something as it is very helpful indeed to put your thoughts out there, get them out of your head, be silly, be sad, be honest.

CLICK HERE FOR DIARY< PHOTOS< AUDIO< VIDEO from 2006

Of course it’s difficult when things go wrong, when you fail, when your personal life affects your weight loss and lots of people know about it. However I look on anyone who reads my blogs and ramblings (of an affectionate but insane woman) as friends and we all need friends to help us get through our days, months, years and life.

CLICK HERE FOR A DISCUSSION ON 1940s FOOD– My daughter Hobbit Em & I in 2006

And of course audio allows you to be silly and have an audience… I love singing retro songs… I guess one day I’d love to have the guts to get up and sing, just be brave enough to do it for fun. For now it’s fun just singing in the bathroom or the kitchen or singing when the kids start arguing and ignore all the “Oh Mum shut up”…s. Mum doesn’t care- it’s called escapism..

CLICK HERE FOR A LITTLE RETRO SINGING from CHICAGO– at the end of this short audio log from 2006

BTW- the good news is over the last 4 weeks I have dropped 15 lbs… (the last 2 weeks I have been back to eating 1940s)!! Yay!!!

by

Succeeding after failure


Today I seem to need to think and to communicate..

As I sat on the loo earlier (a great place in my house to do my thinking so not to be disturbed by Hobbits) I got to question myself and the attempts over recent years to lose the weight that attached itself to my body, at an alarming rate, since the birth of Em Hobbit 13 years ago. Most attempts have resulted in weight loss, all attempts have eventually been followed by weight gain.

For several moments I wallowed (as all large things do) in self pity…. so many times I have tried and so many times I have failed. What is it with me? Am I a flake? Don’t I care?

But then I thought of all the people who DO SUCCEED in life…. whether it is weight loss, business, health & fitness or other personal goals and achievements.. “Do these people succeed first time?”.. “Do these people give up when the going gets tough?”… “Do these people give up when they fail, once, twice, thrice?”….. NO- they most certainly do not…. successful people pick themselves up and keep trying, keep going, keep believing…

successful people pick themselves up and keep trying, keep going, keep believing…

Sitting on the toilet, akin to a strange gnome on a toadstool (I have one of those noses)  I briefly felt morose but before long, following my washroom contemplation, all seemed right with the world again.

One day soon I do believe I will grab success, firmly with both hands and refuse to let go.

Gorgeous 1940s retro clothing and sparkly girly crazy lady outfits and big naughty shoes- you will be mine one day….mwah mwah mwah…
by

Helllooooo !

I  am alive….. 🙂

Am seriously almost as huge as a house- weight up and down because life has thrown me some incredibly busy and crazy times (emotionally as well as physically) and guess what happens when you start eating modern food laden with hidden fats, colours, preservatives, salts etc- you balloon!!

I am not beaten though- this has to become the biggest and most important mission of my life if I am to enjoy a life worth living (and by that I mean my  obesity NOT hindering so many things I would love to do)..

The 1940s Experiment is ongoing- despite the setback I know this is the way I will become healthy once again. My obsession with historical cuisine is a perfect way to keep me interested and now the only thing stopping me completing the mission is me. It is important to find the time everyday to cook and the 1940s way of eating does take time to prepare..

Hope you are all being successful in your missions..

C xxxxxxxx

PS Some good news and fun news too.. I have been asked by http://www.1940sukradio.co.uk to host a regular spot on their radio station. I get to not only pick some fab 40’s songs but will be sharing 1940’s recipes and home front tips. Keeping my fingers crossed that they like what I produce and if I get the go ahead then will share the details on here- should be great fun and it’s a great radio station!

by

Feel good 1940s radio

What do you do when you are in the kitchen cooking 1940s food or relaxing on the couch reading by candlelight during black out? Listen to the radio of course BUT in 2010 you’d be pushed to find a local radio channel solely dedicated to 1940s music..

However today I found just the best thing ever- a streaming 1940s radio station that I can simply connect to with my lap top and play 1940s music all day long…

It’s called 1940s UK Radio..  check it out!

C xx

by

Week 2 (again)- another 3 lb off!

Last weeks weight = 309 lb

This weeks weight = 306 lb

Total weight loss (this time around) = 8 lb

Well despite a social function in the loft above the pub, a couple of hours on the deck at Lunenburg Yacht Club and a fun couple of hours in a floating holiday cottage moored in the harbour at Mahone Bay I’ve pretty much successfully stuck to food that was available in the 1940s with only one slip up. I guess my only vice this week has been drinking too much ale and too much rhubarb wine… have decided to not drink alcohol except socially or on special occasions in the future. Will save money and get the weight shifted quicker that way…

No interesting meals this week- have more or less stuck to quite basic foods based on my rations and ones that were quick to prepare liked fried spam (see above)

Trust me, when you no longer have salty junk food in your life SPAM becomes a real treat!

SPAM became widely available in the UK around 1942 and was not rationed… most families if they could afford to buy it, would have done so to supplement their meagre meat rations. Grocers may well have limited their distribution of it so it was available to more people (but that is just my guess)… it seems there are many favourable memories of spam during WWII from the families who enjoyed it.

C xx

PS If anyone has any further information on spam used culinary in WWII please share!

by

Potato Rarebit – 1940s Recipe

It was too warm today to be eating hot stodgy food but somedays you just need something big inside you- this filled me all up for sure.. my youngest hobbit (Em) and I had two slices each for lunch and this was a substantial meal. Something lighter tonight for sure.

Potato Rarebit

  • 1 medium potato and 1 oz cheese per slice of toast (although I used just 1/2 oz of cheese to be really frugal)
  • Use mash potato as a basis for a rarebit. Beat the mashed potatoes until soft and smooth (add a little butter and milk if too stiff). Potatoes should be like a thick whipped cream..
  • Put in as much grated cheese as you can spare with plenty of seasoning to your own taste.
  • Spread on hot toast and brown under the grill
by

Food for the soul..

Sometimes it’s good to fill your time with fun and friends rather than food! Having received an invitation the other day from Chris Banfield, Skipper of “Risky Business” on southshoreboattours.com for a complimentary sunset tour, after work, had to jump at the chance!

Chris had invited several of the Mahone Bay Regatta crew to enjoy an evening out on the water. This particularly made me really very happy as it had been 2 year since I had been out on a boat, something I had missed..

The weather was perfect, the scenery beautiful, the sunset divine and the company fun. Even enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and a few little crackers and didn’t feel too guilty about it.

This morning, as a write about it, still have a big smile on my face. If you have a Facebook account and would like to enjoy some of the beautiful sunset around the Mahone Bay Islands last night please go to my photo album- click here

by

A big blip and a journey


VIDEO- Chillin this evening sat in my car overlooking harbour in Mahone Bay

So although I have continued to cook 1940s meals here and there, the 1940s experiment fell by the wayside early this year for a number of reasons..

To help myself and anyone else who is new to my blog or skim reads it, try and understand that I am not a total flake, guess I should start at the beginning…

In January 2009 my marriage broke down. We had known each other 25 years and had been married 23 years. Although things had been strained for a while and his decision to leave wasn’t totally unexpected, it was however quite a shock. We have remained on good terms, however, the first 6 months were an enormous emotional strain on the children & I. After my commitment to a volunteer role was over end of July in 2009, I decided to throw myself into a social experiment and become all consumed by it….. this would address two problems, my obesity and keeping myself busy.

The first 4 months of this second attempt at living on a purely wartime rationing diet were VERY successful. I felt fabulous, I dropped tons of weight and the preoccupation with this way of eating kept my mind busy..

Christmas came and went… the first Christmas alone with the children. We had a nice time but that was when the loneliness began to creep in. Although my life was busy with work, children and blogging it would be nice to feel the comfort of a man- someone more than a friend. I couldn’t ever imagine myself opening my heart and home to someone for quite sometime however it would be nice to think about the odd date once the snow disappeared.
The loneliness began to pre-occupy me, began to feel lost and consequently my focus on my social experiment took a back seat especially as in March 2010 my volunteer role as fundraiser, publicity and website coordinator with the http://www.mahonebayregatta.ca began to take up more of my time.

The weight began to pile on as I began to eat MODERN food again- how quickly that weight goes on….

And then I began speaking to a nice guy called M. We became virtual friends and built up quite a bond and decided to meet. We hit it off and had the longest first date of my entire life- 14 hours! Despite the distance and my misgivings about allowing a man in my life, we kept in contact daily by e-mail and eventually by telephone every night. We gave each other friendship and companionship. Oh and did I say that we also did some real fun road trips?

M and I met up as often as we could but with my children, work & volunteer commitments it didn’t happen very often. After three awesome and happy months we talked as we always did, very frankly and truthfully and agreed mutually that come winter  the relationship would become very frustrating and impossible with the added difficulty of snow. After three fun months we called it quits before we invested more emotions in something that probably was doomed to begin with…… This was two days ago.

“M” gave me so many things that I had recently been deprived of in my life, I will always remember our time together with huge affection- will never forget him…. xxx

So now I return to focusing on getting myself into shape. Dropping 150 lbs and living longer. I’d like to set an example to my youngest daughter Emily..

I look forward to returning to the 1940s Experiment