E mail to Howies, top ethical funcky clothes company

Hi there,

Am in the middle of an life/art project called starvation diet where I resist junk food and give the money to the charity practical action. Art is the documentation through a blog, web site etc and the change in me too. After 5 months I've almost managed to slim down to a size 12 for the first time in years. I was going to invest in a pair of your skinny jeans but still have big child bearing hips so want them to sit on my waist. Cut to the quick now. How high up do your skinny jeans go?

Kind regards,

Beth Barlow

Commute to work

At the start of my Commute to work.














At the end of my commute to work

Only things which are really good

I made a cake. It smelt like a cake, it looked like a cake and blow me. It tasted like a cake. It took 2 hours of walking into the pantry, stirring, beating folding, oven checking. Now this may just be tricky thinking again but I think that with all that cake baking activity I can eat as much of it as I like of it.

Oxfam Gig

Thanks to Oxfam in Manchester for giving me the chance to try out a few things to do with Starvation diet on Saturday. I wanted to understand how easy it was for people to grasp the concept and how I might get it across in a quick way. Also wanted to see if people would be interested in committing more to the idea through their own lives and diet. I carried in one hand a Mars bar which got stickier as the unseasonally warm day went on. In the other I carried an Oxfam collecting bucket. I asked people if they would like to buy my Mars bar, "its 60p which is about the same amount as 5 people eating for a day in Mexico" I told them. "Or you could resist the mars bar and it just so happens that I am collecting for Oxfam and instead of buying the mars bar you could give the money to people who really need it." Most people said yes to donating, most people gave £1.00 or more. I chatted to most people and told several what I was up to through Starvation diet. I gave several people pledge stickers so that they could choose a day to cut down and donate and three people starvation log sheets because they were interested in changing their lives in line with the idea. My bucket was light at the end of my collecting but it will be interesting to see if it was full of bigger coins. Does engaging people in this way take more time but get bigger results? Does it create less or more informed giving? Is it too much hard sell or are people really giving because they think it makes sense? Good idea for a psychology PHD if anybody out there is into all that. If not would welcome comments below.
P.s. Thanks to George for taking the great photos.

Choke and Rope part 3

Neck=34 that's no loss but then how much fat does one store on the neck?
Hips=97 that's a loss of 4cm
Waist=80 that's a loss of 1.5cm


Maybe it would make sense to have the right measurement points tattooed on, that would make it easier to make sure that I have the tape measure in the same place every time. Could cope with the hip and waist tattoo but maybe the neck one might be a bit much.

I got in a size 12 jeans

Well I got "in" the size twelve jeans, couldn't move or sit down in them or anything but they did up and as long as I didn't breath I was in them for the first time in many years. Felt pretty good and dropping nearly two sizes has been a lot less effort than on previous occasions.

Chocolate Chocolate everywhere

Yes, its Easter holiday and I really Could have got myself better prepared. I could have told everybody, "no chocolate for me just donate to this charity" but surely a girls got to have a bit of fun. The big dilemma now is do I wolf down the nasty strawberry creams left languishing in their shiny plastic nests? I know that if I did I would be forced to pull a face of disgust as they sent forth their sweet mushy nastiness to my taste buds. I would be forced to wonder how anybody could choose them as their chocolate of choice almost to the point where I suspect a persons grasp of reality if they dive straight in on the creams. But in actual fact we all need people to eat the chocolates we don't like. Any strawberry cream lovers out there want a handful in a jiffy bag?