Edition #13: The Body Edition
Resetting Your Swimsuit Body ☼ Swimsuit Shopping Secrets ☼ What I Gave and Got for Christmas
Happy New Year to all! I titled this edition “the body edition” since I’m phoning in the shopping in this issue. I am exhausted from my Christmas shopping, searching for presents for nine children between the ages of 1 to 15.
Fortunately, my family decided to revive our annual Secret Santa gift exchange for the adults, which meant I only had to buy one present for an adult. So, I gifted the sibling, whose name I pulled, a SodaStream Terra Sparkling Water Maker so they can enjoy seltzer water whenever they want (which is often). As for me, I was thrilled to receive the Tatcha Prime & Glow Trio from my holiday wish list. It’s going to be a shiny year!
🛍️ Latest Shopping: Swimsuits
Friends. True friends are hard to find. The ones that would tap you gently on your shoulder and tell you to turn your pantyhose inside out to avoid the swishing sound your thighs make as you walk. They also know when to withhold criticism to protect your joy, like when you wore a vintage Body Glove swimsuit on vacation, and they told you that you looked like a young Kris Jenner. But, as they get older, they may become forgetful and one day fondly recall said trip by saying, “Remember that time you wore that vintage Body Glove swimsuit, and asked me how you looked? and I said, ‘Like Bruce Jenner trying on his wife’s clothes?’”
As much as I love going to the beach, I dread shopping for swimsuits. My sister recently pointed out that I have been vacationing in the same swimsuit for almost eight years now (hey, when you find the one, you stick with it). It took me several bad shopping experiences to figure out which swimsuit styles flatter my body shape. I also discovered through many try-on sessions the materials and designs that accentuate my best features and downplay my less favorable ones (recycled plastic is a big no-no). While mirrors are helpful, pictures are even better for seeing how you look in a swimsuit. It’s better to take a picture of yourself in the privacy of your own home to see how you truly look in the suit, rather than finding out from the pictures your friends tag you in on social media.
For me, ‘the one’ is a one-piece swimsuit with the following features:
Ruching or a tummy-minimizing pattern.
Good cup support (because I can’t pull off braless wonder as well as I did in my 20s).
Draws attention to my assets (my back and legs).
And timeless (because I plan to wear it forever).
This means that as crazy as I am about the popcorn swimsuits at Hunza G, Bond-Eye, and Mara Hoffman, if I want to avoid the fitting room blues, I need to shop Tory Burch, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Cupshe, La Blanca, and Tommy Bahama. And my friends can tell me the truth when I ask: “How do I look?”
(Yes, I have had a conversation with my friend about getting her memory checked, but she recalls it differently).
👙 8 Steps to Resetting Your Swimsuit Body
Eat nothing between meals.
Eat nothing after 3 pm.
Eat no free fats.
Eat no form of animal products.
Eat more raw food.
Eat fewer varieties at each meal (3-4).
Eat no concentrated (refined) foods.
Exercise moderately after each meal.
It’s January, and although we may deny it, we all make New Year's resolutions. I personally don’t see any harm in setting goals for the new year. This year, I have two; to permanently change my eating habits and adopt a plant-based diet.
Back in January 2020, I came across the above-listed eight steps in this article on the Uchee Pines Institute website, which explains how to lower your body’s recognized set point for weight and cholesterol. Intrigued, I decided to give it a try. By March of that year, I had successfully lost 13 pounds, and I may have lost 13 more, had the city not gone into lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic. One morning, I walked into the kitchen and saw a bunch of overripe bananas on the counter, and decided to make banana bread. And thus endeth the journey to lower my set point.
However, despite how terribly I’ve eaten since then, I’ve only regained eight pounds. So this January, I’m restarting this plan with the hope of sticking with it until I get to my true set point. I want to make another goal of updating my progress here, but don’t hold me to it.
If your New Year resolutions include losing weight or getting healthy overall, check out the Counseling Sheets on the Uchee Pines website. So much good information!
📚 What I’m Reading
I got into British cozy murder mysteries last year. Thanks to Acorn and Britbox! Currently, I’m reading The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. According to the back cover:
The investigations of four elderly – and mostly amateur – sleuths as they put their skills together to solve crimes and bring justice to the Cooper Chase Retirement Village and beyond.
Think Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, but with Septuagenarians. This is the kind of book I want to take to read at the beach. Nothing too soul-stirring or emotional. It’s also the kind of book I want to read in January (it’s just as enjoyable, read from under a Sherpa blanket on a snowy evening).