Is it really worth it?!

The dieting and fitness regime is all for a purpose..........a wedding, a birthday, a trip to a beach, not even a deserted one this summer, to show off some toned flesh here and there! In my dreams. The weekly workouts are tough - take our recent boot camp where we headed off to the beach. We know only the fittest work out on the shoreline, but hey, we are tough ladies - we'll try anything once. Darling sweet Claire has a whistle - we don't like her whistle. She made us clamber and I mean clamber, up the beach, running through the stones........it was hideous. We had to do this ten times, not once, not twice but ten times. The legs became a quivering mess, the mind was thinking of lunch and dinner, and the mouth....well,we really wanted to tell Claire where to go run and jump but found it hard to speak! Finally it was the end. As we've said before, the best part of any workout is the end..............but yes, there is a purpose to this and a good reason. Later that week we zipped up a dress we hadn't worn in years. Sadly it is so last season, it shall only be worn in secret and is so dated it could pass for great vintage, but the joy of slipping into a mere slip of a thing (a size 14 for the record!) is certainly something to whistle about......

Another reason for stepping up the workout is the food sugargroup has consumed recently. We have discovered chips covered in melted cheddar. Yum, there is nothing quite like a cheesy chip accompanied by a cool glass of sauvignon blanc on the terrace of the White Rock. We did confess to Alison, our super nutritionist about our naughtiness and it was met with "OOOh not to worry. You have to do it every now and again. I was bad last night too - too many Doritos and red wine, never mind". Alison we love you, and yes every now and then a little naughtiness is just what the doctor ordered!

Roll up roll up and join us at Race for Life.......come and walk, jog or get round the course any way you can this year......

Join us to on the sugargroup expansion...if you cannot make cocktail hour, we are hosting a lunch in Rye and a coffee morning soon. More in London then Tunbridge Wells and Brighton to follow.

We shall also be launching the sugarclub. For just £40 for the year, you get a sugarclub card, discounts, club only events, a profile including a link to your website and access to the notice board.....in addition a fiver off 2 sugargroups a year.......how sweet is that?

Oh the joy!

What makes us happy? The simple pleasures - I have now discovered mine. Only dunking one digestive biscuit in tea and not wanting another, slipping into smaller jeans (not really smaller, just newly washed and a little bit tighter), the ad for John Lewis (if only life were that simple), the smell of my children after their bath when nit combing has been done, dancing with my hubby in the kitchen to Michael Buble (yes I really do!!! sorry), running without actually thinking about breathing, dying and keeling over! Running and enjoying it - taking in the smells, the trees, birds and park wildlife, ooh and most importantly, running past other runners

(I LOVE doing that). I did it just ONCE, but I did it. He was about 90 and whistled as I jogged past. I have not been whistled at in years."Hey, you made my day" I said. He looked bemused. Took out his ipod earphones and replied "I always whistle when I run, it's my teeth, they don't fit properly." My heart sank. Still, I continue with the running.

The workouts with Claire from Paragon Personal Training have taken a turn for the worse. Just as I was whizzing through the toughest of reps, she changed the routine! Now it's hard. On some we have skipped stage 2. We are onto stage 3. We do 8 reps and then the final number which I call "die". There is no "9" just "die". It is the hardest thing, but I confess, I feel wonderful when finished. That's the best part about my sessions - the end. Claire smiles throughout, chats away and knows exactly when and how to distract me. I put myself through this punishment twice a week and throw in a session of Boot Camp with other sugarladies just for the fun of it! I am the most useless one at Boot Camp and blame it on the sessions with Claire earlier in the week. So far I have got away with hiding at the back. Despite my moans and groans, I have seen results and fast. Claire is a sweetie and the incentive to have a toned bottom like her twentysomething toned bottom, keeps me lunging and squatting til the cows come home! Do join us for the most Bootylicious of Boot Camps @ 9.30 every Friday morning in the gardens of St Leonard's. All levels welcome - especially the really unfit who I can hide behind!

My love affair with oat cakes is still going strong. I have discovered sweet ones - Stem Ginger are just divine with a cup of Earl Grey. Substituting all things white with brown or orange is working too (switching white maltesers for milk chocolate ones works a treat)..........and I really have bags more energy. The lovely Alison Levinson and I are meeting again next week for the big fat weigh in - that gives me 6 days of cabbage soup and water (only kidding A!). Once again, the scales shall be chucked out the window if they have not budged a little. The partners in crime (Alison and Claire have joined forces to get you healthy and fit in no time) keep telling me muscle weighs more than fat.....HOW much more is the question? Still, I persevere and it is amazing how many cravings are no longer. I have also become a better cook and Alison's book of recipes is a godsend. Good food, especially good bread is key according to Alison so I am still wolfing down slices of warm sourdough from Judges completely guilt-free!

All's busy and well at sugar headquarters. We have our second London event next week, and planning groups in Brighton and Hove. The lovely Jane is busy in the office and coming up with all sorts of great activities for the sugars. A fashion show, film night, cocktails and lunch are all on the cards. Our group is growing and growing, so do spread the word. Karl ( yes we do use the services of a man every now and then) is changing the website for the better and we shall be taking advice too from Fiona of FAT promotions, so soon we shall have a fabulous site for you to browse. We are also taking over a broom cupboard of an office in London town........

Congratulations are in order for a few lovely sugars - Amber Rudd a true blue and a little bit pink sugarlady, well done you - we look forward to you making Hastings an even better place to be and the duo from the Black Rock; Tracey-Ann and Lesley - you so should have won girlies, we all know that!

This week we are loving the queen of the wrap dress; Diane von Furstenburg....her shimmering new gold dress on Net a Porter is to die for! It's surely time for a mani/pedi too. Head to "Treat" or the students at the new college; South Coast College Hastings do a grand job so I hear. They will certainly have their work cut out with the sugar hooves.........

Check out our events and see you there...........