"Clothes maketh the man" or why you should wear skinny jeans if you want to loose weight

So I started this blog and then I went missing. I went missing because I did a fabulous course over at coursera.org called "A Beginners Guide to Irrational Behavour", which I got quite carried away with and on which I spent all my (lack of) free time.  If it runs again I highly recommend you do it, and not just because I scored 99.5% (don't you like the way I just casually slipped that in there).

As part of the course there were bonus videos by guest lecturers - one by a fellow called Gavan Fitzsimons, who does research into how consumers are influenced without their conscious knowledge.  He has found, for example, that people subliminally exposed to the Apple logo were more creative than people subliminally exposed to the IBM logo.  His advice is to use this to your advantage, for example, if you want to swim faster, find out what jacket Michael Phelps wears and buy one for yourself.  On an unconscious level, you will be inspired to swim faster - at least that's the theory.

I decided to test this for myself.  I'd put on a couple of kilos and was no longer game to attempt to fit into my skinny jeans.  I'd got to the point were I was once again thinking "skinny jeans are for skinny people, I'm not a skinny person, might as well toss them and get back to where I belong in my boring boot cuts".  However, using Fitzsimons theory, I should put on my skinny jeans and miraculously everything would turn around.

And that's pretty much what happened, strangely enough.  I put on my skinny jeans and about a hour later, rather than thinking "here I am at my normal, too-high-for-skinny-jeans weight", I found myself thinking "gotta lose those extra couple of kilos and get back to my normal weight so these jeans aren't so tight".

Odd the way the mind works.  Anyway, the two kilos are now gone, and this week I got back to the gym after three months absence and have now exercised four days in a row.

Here's me at Healsville Santuary, on the first day I decided to put my skinny jeans back on:

I don't know what that expression on my face is about either.

And rather than my usual music video, here's some video my husband took of the red-tailed black cockatoo from the fantastic bird show at Healsville Sanctuary. (Fantastic? Yes, surprised me too.)

The Stats:

Hair
Time: 2 minutes, just brushed it
Tools: Kevin Murphy Smoothing Brush

Face
Time: 2 minutes
Moisturiser: YSL Forever - stayed tuned for product review in coming weeks

Outfit
Hat: Straw cowboy hat from the Rye Market
Zip Up Top: No name brand from a shop in down town Cowes, Phillip Island
Top: Ferris Buller T-Shirt my husband bought me in the Black Friday sales (gotta love online shopping)
Jeans: Nudie Jeans bought at the local Salvos (ooh, that officially makes me an op / thrift shopper)
Belt: David Lawrence, from back when they stuck to their knitting
Sneakers: Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star Lo, can't explain why I love these shoes so much



I'm joining the party over at Not Dead Yet Style for the 100th Visible Monday. Whoo Hoo! Congratulations Patti.