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Megan Gale

Photo by Getty Images

She’s the girl who has it all – soaring career, sexy new man, beauty, brains and a newfound appreciation for who she is and where she’s come from. Megan Gale tells Michael Sheather she’s delved into her past and likes what she sees.

Megan Gale breaks all the rules. She is smart, sexy and seductively down-to-earth, and, at 30, she says, way too old to be a successful working model. She has no right, she says, to be in such huge demand both here and in Italy, when most models are hanging up their Guccis at the ripe old age of 25. It’s just not natural.

Then again, even if you breathe the rarefied atmosphere on Planet Catwalk, Megan Gale is an exception. You only have to sit next to her and notice how many people stare as they walk by, whispering into their hands about her.

“That’s Megan Gale,” you hear them say, their sotto voce not so sotto at all. “No, it is, I tell you. Go and get her autograph.” Sometimes there aren’t even words, just the soft phuut of a male jaw hitting the sand and soon after the sharp swish of a woman’s elbow on a collision course with her husband’s ribcage.

No, we are not on the Italian Riviera. We’re on the beach at Hayman Island, the idyllic resort location in North Queensland. And there’s barely a single person on the sand who doesn’t know who Megan Gale is or how big a star she is finally becoming in her country of birth.

“I honestly thought that by the time I turned 30 things would be getting quieter,” says Megan. “There was a time when I was 25, when I thought that I could only have a couple more years and that the modelling and the work simply couldn’t last. I thought by 30 that I wouldn’t be riding such a wave any more.

“But here I am and I’m busier than I have ever been, and the doors of opportunity just keep opening and that’s something I am very grateful for.”

That’s the thing about rules – they simply don’t apply to some people. And they are usually unique creatures such as Megan, people to whom nature has been unnaturally kind. To have so many positive attributes wrapped up in such a warm, friendly and undeniably beautiful package unmasks normal human biology as nothing more than a shallow parody.

Discover how the girl who grew up thinking she was very average became an international model, TV host, and now actress – and found love with a model not into the whole “scene”.

Only in the new-size, new-look September 2005 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.

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Striped knit sweater

striped knit sweater

MATERIALS

  • Nundle Woollen Mill Pure New Wool 8-ply yarn (50g balls) in the folowing colours: 4 balls Donkey (brown); 2 balls Cerise (dark pink); 1 ball Tangerine (light orange); 1 ball Orange (darker orange); 2 balls Red; 2 balls Amethyst (purple); 1 ball Hot Pink (light pink).

  • 1 pair of 4.00mm needles

  • Spare needles or stitch holder

MEASUREMENTS

Fits bust 98 (100, 102)cm. Length 58 (58, 58)cm. Sleeve fits 41cm to armhole edge.

TENSION

20 sts and 26 rows to 10cm over stocking stitch using 4.00mm needles.

BACK

Following the number of rows for each coloured stripe (see Stripe pattern, below) cast on 95 (99, 103) sts.

Knit first 22 rows in main colour, then 78 (78, 78) more rows following Stripe pattern, without shaping, until back measures 38 (38, 38) cm, ending in purl row.

SHAPING ARMHOLE

Cast of 3 (4, 5) sts at beg of next 2 rows.

Next row. K2 together at each end of alt rows 4 (5,5) times … 81 (81, 83) sts. **

For Back only. Continue in stocking st until work measures 57 (58, 58)cm from beginning, ending with a purl row … 81 (81,83)

Next row. K74 (74, 78) sts, turn.

Next row. Purl until 5 (5, 5) sts remain, turn.

Next row. K until 10 (10, 10) sts remain, turn.

Next row. Purl until (10, 10) sts remain, turn.

Next row. K until 15 (15, 15) sts remain. Cast off 15 sts for shoulder.

Slip remaining sts onto spare needle. Join yarn onto outer edge and knit right shoulder to match left shoulder. Cast off 15 sts for other shoulder … 49 sts. Pick up these 49 sts for neck.

SHAPE NECK

For front and back polo neck * (in Donkey). 1st row.** Knit 49 sts.

2nd row. Purl.

3rd row. K1, K2 tog, K43 (sl 1, K1, psso) K1.

4th row. Purl.

5th row. K1, K2 tog, K41 (sl 1, K1, psso) K1.

6th row. Purl.

7th row. K1, K2 tog, K39 (sl 1, K1, psso) K1.

8th row. Purl.

Knit another 6 rows in stocking stitch. Cast off. ****

FRONT

Work as for back to **. Continue in stocking stitch until work measures 55.5cm from beginning, ending with purl row.

SHAPE FRONT NECK

1st row. K23 sts, turn.

2nd row. Purl.

3rd row. K18 sts, turn.

4th row. Purl.

5th row. K15 sts, turn.

6th row. Purl 10 sts, turn.

7th row. K10 sts, turn.

8th row. Purl 5 sts, turn.

9th row. K5 sts, turn.

10th row. Cast off 15 stitches.

Work other side of Front to correspond and complete Front neck shaping. Knit front neck as for back neck to * (in Donkey).

SLEEVES

Cast on 38 (40, 40) sts.

(Knit first 30 rows in Donkey, continuing to follow Stripe Pattern).

Knit 6 rows stocking st, ending in purl row.

Increase at each end of next and every 4th row 3 times (checking that the stripes match the stripes of the body).

Next row. Increase at each end of next and every 6th row until there are 66 (66, 66) sts. Then continue without increasing until you reach the armhole decrease on the body, 42 (42, 42)cm from sleeve edge.

Cast off 4 (5, 5) sts (at the same stripe edge as the body) at each end of next 2 rows.

Next row. Decrease at each end of the next and alternate rows 14 times, then every row until 16 sts remain. Cast off.

TO MAKE UP

Press pieces on wrong side with damp cloth. Garment is designed to roll at edges. Do not try to press edges flat. Sew shoulder seams and neck edge. Sew in sleeves, matching stripes to armhole before sewing sleeves and side seams. Reverse seams for 8 rows at edges, so seam won’t show when edges roll.

STRIPE PATTERN

Donkey 22 rows (Back and Front), 30 rows on sleeves. Cerise 12 rows Tangerine 2 rows Red 10 rows Donkey 8 rows Amethyst 4 rows Hot Pink 6 rows Orange 6 rows Donkey 10 rows Amethyst 2 rows Tangerine 4 rows Red 12 rows Donkey6 rows Amethyst12 rows Hot Pink 4 rows Orange 8 rows Donkey 4 rows Cerise 12 rows Tangerine 2 rows Red 8 rows.

These rows form a pattern. If extra rows are required, repeat from beginning of pattern (Donkey).

From the July 2002 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.

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Plan B

Plan B

Exclusive extract from Plan B (Review), written by Emily Barr.

It was a terrible day to emigrate. The sun was shining. The sky was a deep spring blue. My breath came in clouds all around me.

Clifton Street was beautiful. The tall white houses opposite were bleached by the light. I could smell the sea in the air, hear the distant seagulls. Anne, who lived across the road, was looking at me from inside her bay window. She waved when I looked at her, and motioned to me to come in and see her before we left. I had lived opposite Anne for seven years. I prided myself on knowing all my neighbours. I didn’t know any of them very well, but I was on friendly terms with just about everybody at our end of the street. For the past seven years, this house has been my home, my place of safety. I had lived here with lodgers, then with Matt, then with Matt and Alice. I had brought my daughter to this house two days after she was born. It was the only home she had ever known, yet she was going to grow up with no memories of it at all.

When I finally accepted that the move was going to happen, I hoped that we would go in the rain. I wanted all the bad things about the life I was leaving to be spread before me, as reassurance. I wanted spiky rain blown at me by a driving wind, a blanket of black cloud, the street full of uncollected rubbish bags pecked open by seagulls. I wanted to hear drunk stag parties arriving at the station. Ideally, there would have been a Labour Party conference blocking off the seafront with barriers and covered walkways, which always irritated me as I believed that people had a right to see their leaders walking along the street. I hoped that it was going to take us three hours to drive to the ferry port at Newhaven.

Instead, the day was perfect. The rubbish had been collected two days earlier. The seagulls circled far overhead, up in the blueness, screeching in the distance. I knew that we would leave soon. It was all out of my hands, now. We were only going because I always did what Matt suggested, and he knew that.

I was heart broken. This was an enormous mistake, a massive misjudgment. I imagined myself trying to rectify the situation. I wondered what would happen if I touched the arm of one of the removals men. “I’m sorry,” I might say. “I’ve changed my mind. Would you put all the furniture back, please?”

I was not sure that these removals men would look at me even if I spoke to them. By a strange quirk of science, my physical form appeared to be invisible to their eyes. Soon after they had arrived, at nine in the morning, I had put a tray bearing a cafetiere of coffee, four cups, a jug of milk, a bowl of sugar and a plate of biscuits, neatly arranged, on the front wall. Even then, they had ignored me, but for a collective grunt that might have been “cheers”. They were more than happy to chat to Matt, to accept his questionable help and his diffident instructions. They looked straight through me when I tried to catch their eyes with my polished, cheerful smile.

I sat on the next-door neighbors’ low wall and watched the exodus of the boxes, each one marked by me with thick black pen and labeled by the removals men with a yellow sticker. I saw a box marked “Alice’s toys” pass by, followed by “Matt’s books” and “Emma’s shoes”. My life was in those boxes. My life, Matt’s life, Alice’s life. Nothing I said or did was going to stop the move from happening. I had sold my house. It had never been Matt’s house, always mine. I was proud of it. It was a city centre cottage, with small rooms and low ceilings. It felt homely. I had painted all the walls, picked up cheap furniture wherever I could, and I had made it my own. Mine, and Matt’s, and Alice’s.

I was trying to be proud of myself now, the obscene amount of money I had made from it. I had bought it for almost nothing and had sold it for a third of a million pounds. Now it belonged to a pleasant professional couple who were moving down from London. If I had asked them, if they had heard me, the removals men would not have been able to replace everything. I was too late to cancel. I had a new house, and it was in Gascony.

Matt and Alice and I were moving to France. We had known it for months. Until last week, the idea had meant little more to me than it had to Alice, who had parroted “Moob-a-Pance”, meaninglessly, at anyone within earshot. For months, I had efficiently blocked out reality, and made the whole insane adventure into an interesting talking point. I had assured myself that it could not really be going to happen, that everything would inevitable fall through at some point in the long and complicated process. It had seemed phenomenally unlikely that such an outlandish scheme could work out; it was, I knew, just another of Matt’s wild ideas.

Before Alice had come along, he had proposed a move to South Africa, where we would buy a vineyard near Cape Town, and sell our wines directly to Oddbins. “I have a good contact at Oddbins,” he has assured me, as if this made the plan foolproof.

After that, he had posited that I might care to take my newborn daughter to Thailand, where the three of us would buy a beach hut and make some kind of idealized living from catching fish and picking fruit.

It was currently extremely fashionable to pine loudly for a house in rural France and, although Matt had seemed serious when he started on about it, I had assumed that he was simply repeating conversations he had had with his colleagues. I had played along to humour him. “Yes,” I had agreed blithely. “A big house in the French countryside would be just the thing. Good schools, cheap property, bilingual children. Mmmm. It would be perfect.”

It had been stupid of me to encourage him, but I’d had no idea that he was serious.

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Moving house

Question:

My husband and I are moving from our house with a backyard into a city apartment soon and want to know whether our small silky terrier cross will be able to be litter trained?

Brandie Foote

Answer:

There are a few ideas that can help your doggy with your downsizing. Litter training is definitely possible, but it’ll take some time as it’s basically like starting toilet training from scratch. If he’s used to going outside, you can continue this — dogs can hold on to go for wees and poos either side of the day if you have a routine and go without fail for walks at predicated times. Dogs also learn even if they go outside — they will bark at the door to tell you they are busting. My dog is a house dog but lets us know when he has to go.

As for litter or paper training, you need to look out for the signs of impending ablutions, such as sniffing, scratching and squatting, and scoop him up and pop him on the litter or paper. Every time he goes, make a huge fuss and give him a treat. He will learn that weeing or pooing here leads to great things. Expect some accidents and just clean them up, do not rub his nose in it, yell or punish him in any way — this only leads to anxiety and sneaky soiling! Repetition is the key, so start now. Also, make sure his new apartment lifestyle still offers him enough stimulation — toys and games, but also getting outside in the real world to sniff in all the exciting sights, sounds and, most importantly, smells he’ll be missing!

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The real father of my child

I went back to work after six months of maternity leave, although the company I worked for had relocated to a suburb about a half hour’s drive from home. I soon loved working there. There was a gym located next door to the new office and the majority of their staff were good-looking males.

Most days I was the only one in the office as the other staff members were sales representatives and operations managers, which meant they were out on the road for most of the week. I soon made quite a few friends from the neighbouring companies and had them popping into the office for a quick chat.

There was one particular guy from the gym, Gary, a partner there, who would come into the office for lengthy chats and cups of tea. We connected straight away and his looks would make me go weak. We soon started going to lunch together at the local shopping centre and he would openly express how he felt about me. At the time I was reluctant to tell him how I felt about him as this would be completely out of character for me. Gary would often say it was a pity we hadn’t met a few years earlier, before I had got married. He said he would have loved to have married me.

A year had passed and Gary and I had become close. My husband and I were always arguing, mostly due to all the stress of working full-time and trying to raise a child at the same time. When Gary expressed his feelings, I would drop hints that I felt the same way. I would go to bed at night thinking about him and wishing we could be together. In a way, it was good for my relationship with my husband because I would finish work in high spirits after being around Gary and not come home down and angry. I would hug my husband instead of arguing with him because I felt in love again … just not with him.

One day Gary asked if I wanted to go to the nearby national park for lunch and I jumped with excitement. We took my car as I had all the necessary blankets for a picnic in the boot. After all, going to the park for a picnic when you have a kid is common and I always keep blankets and pillows in the boot to save loading and unloading the car.

With the picnic camp set up, we lay down and started chatting. We could talk for hours, although we always knew deep down what the other was really thinking about. Gary moved in closer and soon we were kissing. After lunch we packed up and headed for the office. The picnics became a ritual a least once a week and there was always lots of kissing and fondling … until one day we went that one step further and made love. The national park was a perfect place for it — no cheap motels or car romps. It was romantic and as private as a public place could be.

Gary left the gym after a couple of months to start up his own gym and I soon found out I was pregnant. Gary thought I was on the pill, although I had stopped taking it a couple of weeks earlier and didn’t think the chances of getting pregnant were that high. I now have another little boy — my first son looks like me and my second son looks like Gary. He has his green eyes and his smile. My husband doesn’t know that the child isn’t his and I don’t intend to tell him or Gary, as I don’t want to hurt them or cause problems. I feel guilty and selfish for not telling them as I’m denying Gary a son and lying to my own husband and in the future I will be lying to my own child about who his real father is.

I still keep in touch with Gary but don’t get to see him any more. I recently found out his defacto just had a baby girl. I guess it’s best things are the way they are now as everyone is happy. Even though I can’t be with Gary, I always have a part of him with me. My husband and I have become closer since I don’t get to see Gary every day, so my mind isn’t constantly thinking about him — just his son.

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Lisa: ‘I was the fat sister’

Diet Club

Lisa Pulvirenti, a 30-year-old mother of two from the south-western suburbs of Sydney, clearly remembers her “light-bulb moment” when she knew she had to lose weight.

“I was at a party for my sister’s boyfriend and it felt like everyone was looking at me and thinking ‘she’s the fat sister’,” Lisa recalls. “They weren’t, of course, but I just felt so insecure and bad that later that afternoon, I went for a two-hour walk.

“That’s when I knew I had to do something. I joined Weight Watchers in April 2004, when I was 79.4kg. The weight came on me slowly … I got married and added a few kilos, had our first child, Alyssa, now five, and added a few kilos, then had Adrian, now two, and a few more kilos crept on. I found that Weight Watchers was more about lifestyle change. My bad thing was portion size … I was eating way too much.

“I also changed my way of cooking. For instance, if I’m going to fry something, I just use a little cooking spray. And I swapped to healthier food alternatives such as grainier breads, diet drinks, low-fat cheeses and ice-creams and leaner cuts of meat.

“I bought a treadmill and it’s worked wonders. I now swim three mornings a week and play indoor netball.

“When I hear compliments now, it feels really good. Especially if I’m shopping and pick up a size 12 something and the shop assistant says. ‘No … you’re definitely a 10!'”

Lisa’s vital statistics

Weight before: 79.4kg

Weight after: 61.2kg

Total weight loss: 18.2kg

Clothing size was: 14-16

Clothing size is now: 10

Lisa’s hot diet tip

“Keep positive and know that if you really want it, it will happen. It’s not an easy process, but the benefits … you just can’t put a price on them.”

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‘I sucked on lemons to lose weight’

Diet Club

I weighed close to 130 kilograms when I went on Grandma Gladys’s lemon diet and turned my life around. It was so simple to follow. I’d drink undiluted lemon juice all day. I’d squeeze lemon juice over my meals. I’d eat lean white and red meats and lots of salads with lemon and reduced my carbohydrates. I started walking. But it was the addition of lemons to my diet that changed things for me. Yes lemon juice is sour, but I believe it’s a great natural fat buster. I was lucky as my next door neighbours had a lemon tree they’d let me plunder. Today I weigh 70 kilos and sour lemons are my best friend.

Rona Thompson, Ramsgate, NSW.

Quick confessions

I’ve put on five kilograms (and outgrown all my jeans) since joining the gym!

Tara, NSW

I went on a liquid diet to lose weight for my wedding. I lost 10 kilos drinking meal-replacement milkshakes and looked great in my dress. But I put it all back on during my honeymoon!

Susie, Tas

I once ate nothing but pumpkin for weeks and my skin went orange.

Jane, Qld

I went on a ‘miracle’ diet which told me to chew every mouthful 40 times. It took me so long to finish a meal I lost weight, but I gave it up in the end. It took all the fun out of mealtimes!

Christine, Vic

I went on an American diet years ago called the hot dog diet. You could eat hot dogs and cups of ice-cream. It was revolting!

Sophie, NSW

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Celebrity cellulite-busting diet

Naomi Campbell

Worried about unsightly body bumps? You’re not alone — even the stars suffer from cellulite. But there’s a lot you can do to banish those dreaded dimples.

What is cellulite?

The lumps and bumps on your thighs are caused by fatty deposits under the skin. Cellulite is predetermined by genetics, not weight, so all women can get it.

Anti-cellulite diet

Fight cellulite with six simple steps towards better health and a smoother, sexier body.

Drink wisely

When you’re having a night out or an at-home drink with friends, limit the number of toxins that enter your body by alternating alcoholic drinks with mineral water. Avoid high-kilojoule cocktails with creamy mixers.

Try: white wine spritzers or Pimm’s with diet lemonade.

Say no to salt

Excess salt can lead to water retention and make cellulite worse. Make sure you check food labels for added salt and ask for low-salt options in restaurants. Try not to add salt to home cooking.

Try: swapping salt for other great flavourings such as ginger, chilli, pepper and garlic.

Be a water baby

Aim to drink water throughout the day to avoid dehydration and to flush out toxins that cause the build-up of cellulite.

Try: having a bottle of water on your desk at work — a handy way, and physical reminder, to ensure you keep up your water intake.

Go green

Cut out your daily caffeine fix and start the morning with green tea — it’s caffeine-free and boosts your metabolism. Watch for hidden caffeine in diet soft drinks and chocolate bars.

Try: herbal teas or snacking on dried apricots instead of chocolate.

Fight fat with fibre

Eat more fibre-rich foods. Wholegrain bread and cereals, fruits and vegies help your digestive system to work more efficiently and blood sugars to remain stable by releasing energy slowly.

Try: making the switch from white bread to wholegrain and eating a bowl of muesli or porridge for breakfast.

Curb kilojoules

Losing excess body fat will help to lower levels of cellulite. Don’t crash-diet, but try to avoid high-fat foods like greasy takeaways and sugary snacks. Eat fresh fruit and vegies between meals instead.

Try: low-fat dairy products; fruit and vegetable sticks with low-fat hummus dip.

Get active now

Celebs like Jennifer Lopez and Angelina Jolie hit the gym to keep the bumps at bay. Try this easy workout plan to get rid of that ‘cottage cheese’ look.

  1. Exercise for 30 minutes at an easy pace before breakfast, three to four times a week. Try walking around the park, skipping with a rope at home, cycling or swimming laps at a local pool.
  1. Include a strength-training session in your weekly routine to add lean, toned muscle tissue. If you don’t belong to a gym, try lunges, step-ups on stairs, push-ups and squats.
  1. Keep trying to beat your personal best and aim to increase your sessions from 30 minutes to 45-60 minutes. Above all, don’t despair or give up — the effort will be worth it in the end!

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Sustainable weight loss with weekly diet plan

Judy Davie

The following diet plan is based on an average energy consumption of approximately 6300KJ or 1500 calories a day. It incorporates five serves of veggies, two serves of fruit and the occasional treat and is low in GI carbohydrates and saturated fat and high in fibre. Better still, you get to eat on this diet.

It will help you achieve a slow, steady sustainable weight loss while improving bowel function.

Feel how much more energy you have. Watch how your skin improves. Observe your nails becoming stronger and your hair starting to shine. You should even notice how much easier it is to concentrate.

And most importantly, you’ll feel better about yourself and others around you.

Weights and measures are specified but should be used as a guide. Follow them particularly when they refer to carbohydrates, fats and treats.

A speedy metabolism requires exercise and regular food consumption, so people only needing to lose a small amount of weight will have to increase the volume and intensity of physical activity and cut out those little extras listed in the plan — ie. chocolate, cappuccinos and spicy fruit biscuits.

Diet advice for the day

There’s an old Scottish saying, “Every little makes a muckle”, which basically means that the little things add up. It’s referring of course to money, but could equally refer to weight gain or loss. All those little extras add up.

Think about ‘saving’ whenever you’re tempted to eat an extra biscuit, use another tablespoon of oil on your salad or break another tiny piece of chocolate off the bar. 1kg fat is the equivalent to approx 32,000kj of energy, and that’s a lot of food to save over two weeks. If you create a debit of 32,000kj over your BMR you’ll be 1kg less and going strong.

For further information about food and nutrition, visit Judy Davie’s website at www.thefoodcoach.com.au

Weekly diet plan

Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday

Monday

On waking: 300ml water

Before breakfast: 300ml hot water with juice of ½ lemon

Breakfast: ½ cup untoasted muesli with no added sugar, skimmed milk and kiwi fruit; mug of tea, skim milk, no sugar

½ hour after breakfast: 600ml water

Lunch: grain bread sandwich with three slices avocado, 60g red salmon, ½ cup tabouleh, four cherry tomatoes, ½ cup rocket leaves; 1 skim milk cappuccino

½ hour after lunch: 500ml water

Snack: 10 raw almonds; three apricot halves

½ hour after snack: 300ml water

Dinner: three small lamb chops grilled and fat-trimmed with one small mashed sweet potato and one cup steamed broccoli

½ cup strawberries with three tbs low-fat natural yogurt, sweetened with one tsp honey

Tuesday

On waking: 300ml water

Before breakfast: 300ml hot water with juice of ½ lemon

Breakfast: one small can baked beans with one cup steamed English spinach and one slice toasted grain bread; mug of tea, skim milk, no sugar

½ hour after breakfast: 600ml water

Lunch: tuna salad (one small can tuna) with one cup mixed salad greens, three black olives, five cherry tomatoes, ½ cup steamed green beans and vinaigrette (one tbs olive oil, one tsp lemon juice and ½ tsp grain mustard)

½ hour after lunch: 500ml water

Snack: one large mandarin; one oat biscuit and cup of green tea

½ hour after snack: 300ml water

Dinner: stir fry chicken and vegetables (1 cup bok choy, ½ carrot, ¼ capsicum, ½ cup mushroom, two shallots, 125g chicken, one tsp sesame seeds, sauce of ½ tbs soy sauce, 60ml chicken stock and ½ tsp honey. Stir fried in ½ tbs sesame oil)

½ cup strawberries with two tbs low-fat natural yoghurt with one tbs chopped walnuts

Wednesday

On waking: 300ml water

Before breakfast: 300ml hot water with juice of ½ lemon

Breakfast: one slice grain bread toasted with one tsp peanut butter, one cup fruit salad and three tbs low-fat natural yoghurt sweetened with one tsp honey; mug of tea, skim milk, no sugar

½ hour after breakfast: 600ml water

Lunch: one grilled beef patty, two tbs tomato salsa, one grain roll, grated carrot and beetroot, lettuce; one green apple

½ hour after lunch: 500ml water

Snack: 10 raw almonds; three apricot halves

½ hour after snack: 300ml water

Dinner: roasted salmon with lime corn and coriander salsa and steamed broccoli

Three pieces plain dark chocolate

Thursday

On waking: 300ml water

Before breakfast: 300ml hot water with juice of ½ lemon

Breakfast: one slice grain bread, two poached eggs, one grilled tomato and five mushrooms grilled with one tbs olive oil; mug of tea, skim milk, no sugar

½ hour after breakfast: 600ml water

Lunch: salad with rocket greens, 1/3 cup hummus, one small carrot, celery, small canned tuna, ¼ can chickpeas; 1 small pear

½ hour after lunch: 500ml water

Snack: red apple

½ hour after snack: 300ml water

Dinner: grilled veal steak stack (90g) layered with two slices grilled eggplant, zucchini and 30g mozzarella, with 50g broad beans

½ cup strawberries with 2 two tbs blueberries, one tbs raisins, two tsp sunflower seeds and two tbs natural low-fat yoghurt

Friday

On waking: 300ml water

Before breakfast: 300ml hot water with juice of ½ lemon

Breakfast: ½ cup untoasted muesli, ½ cup mixed berries and ½ cup low fat natural yoghurt; mug of tea, skim milk, no sugar

½ hour after breakfast: 600ml water

Lunch: grain bread sandwich with three slices avocado, one tbs capers, grated carrot and grated beetroot, lettuce and minced chicken; 1 red apple

½ hour after lunch: 500ml water

Snack: one skim milk cappuccino; two spicy fruit roll biscuits

½ hour after snack: 300ml water

Dinner: two-egg omelette made with mushrooms, black olives, sweetcorn, tomatoes and goat cheese served with a cup of green salad and vinaigrette

Three pieces dark chocolate

Saturday

On waking: 300ml water

Before breakfast: 300ml hot water with juice of ½ lemon

Breakfast: two slices wholegrain fruit bread toasted with one tbs ricotta cheese; mug of tea, skim milk, no sugar

½ hour after breakfast 600ml water

Lunch: salad made with 1 cup mixed beans, ½ small chicken breast (no skin), one tbs vinaigrette dressing, 50g boiled pumpkin and baby spinach greens

½ hour after lunch: 500ml water

Snack: one skim milk cappuccino; apple

½ hour after snack: 300ml water

Dinner: stir-fried king prawns with one tbs chopped peanuts, carrot, oyster mushrooms on cellophane noodles. Cooked in one tbs sesame oil and flavoured with 1 tbs soy sauce, 1 tsp fish sauce and ginger

Mandarin orange

Sunday

On waking: 300ml water

Before breakfast: 300ml hot water with juice of ½ lemon

Breakfast: ½ cup untoasted muesli with ½ cup low-fat natural yogurt and 1 kiwi fruit and mandarin; mug of tea, skim milk, no sugar

½ hour after breakfast: 600ml water

Lunch: three medium slices roast lamb with gravy, ½ cup steamed pumpkin, ½ cup peas, 1 medium sweetcorn cob; ½ cup mixed berry with two level scoops ice cream

½ hour after lunch 500ml water

Snack: two spicy fruit roll biscuits; one skimmed cappuccino

½ hour after snack: 300ml water

Dinner: two poached eggs on one cup spinach with ½ cup mushrooms grilled with 1 tbs olive oil

Two pieces dark chocolate

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‘I felt like a hippo in a tutu’

Diet Club

Belinda Myers, 31, was a self-confessed junk food addict. Now this determined mother of two from Albury, NSW, has made an amazing transformation — she’s lost more than 20kg and is completely addicted to working out.

“It was about two-and-a-half years ago when I decided it was time to lose weight. At my sister’s wedding — where I was matron of honour — I felt like a hippo in a tutu in my strapless corset dress.

“Soon after I went to the doctor, and was told my cholesterol was too high. I just thought ‘that’s it’ and joined Weight Watchers.

“I was addicted to junk food and my husband Chris, 31, our boys Jacob, six, and Sean, four, and I would have it probably four nights a week. These days we only have it on Friday nights as a treat — and the kids really look forward to it!

“Now for breakfast I have some toast or Weight Watchers cereal and cup of tea. For lunch I’ll have a huge salad roll instead of hot chips and for dinner, we love pasta — but I’ve changed the way I cook it. I use more tomato and vegetable-based sauces rather than creamy ones.

“I love working out and am on my exercise bike every morning. I also walk, run and do weight training at home.

“I’ve been at 57kg for at least six months and I’ll never go back.”

Belinda’s vital statistics

Weight before: 78.9kg

Weight after: 57kg

Total weight loss: 21.9kg

Clothing size was: 16-18

Clothing size is now: 8

Belinda’ s hot diet tip “Weight training! It’s made such a big difference to me. Once I got my weight down, working out with weights changed my body shape — it also makes everyday life easier because you’re that much stronger.”

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