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At the end of July, I posted a picture on social media of myself on holiday – and it ended up in the papers.
Wearing an old blue swimming costume, I’m smiling, and rightly so, because I’ve lost more than a stone.
As I pointed out in the caption, ‘This is a weight loss drug-free body. It’s still got shoulder-splitting G cups. Still has a muffin top. Still has crepey skin and is about as toned as a water bed.’
But it was different – I was slimmer, less bloated and happier looking – and that’s because in February this year I gave up sugar. It’s no exaggeration to say that it’s changed my entire life.
I’ve always stayed fit through running, but last winter I weighed almost 11st 7lb. Not only was I bigger than I wanted to be, but my brain wasn’t functioning. I felt clouded the entire time, I had no energy, and my mood was low.
I haven’t had an alcoholic drink for 14 years, but addiction manifests in many ways. I love chocolate, especially nutty milk chocolate, but I could never have just one piece or even one bar. I’d have a whole bar, and then maybe another one, settling down in the evening with a cup of tea, a box set, and my chocolate.
Harmless, right? Yet still I’d take each bar and break it into little bits to hide how much I was consuming. There was secrecy, and there was ritual, and that meant that it had become another addiction – I’m always all or nothing.
Alongside my obsession with sugar, everything felt such an effort. I now realise I was putting on a continual, exhausting performance to prove to the world that everything was okay with my physical and mental health. In truth, it really wasn’t.
Susannah Constantine posted a photo of herself in a swimming costume on Instagram in July
So, in February, I went to Portugal to stay with an old friend Lulu, to take some time out and do some writing. To be honest, she staged a bit of an intervention. An amazing Brazilian nutritionist friend had been running a retreat the previous week, and Lulu asked her to stay on a few extra days because she knew I wasn’t in a good place.
I was told in no uncertain terms that I was going on a detox – which included no sugar. My body was apparently in a state of inflammation. ‘Your eyes, your tongue, your gut… Oh my God!’ exclaimed the nutritionist when she looked at me.
I looked in the mirror and saw myself as she saw me: dull eyes shot through with tiredness, a coated tongue, a grey tinge to my skin, and that out-of-control muffin top.
She attributed it all to ultra-processed foods, which I don’t eat much of, and sugar, which of course I did.
I was effectively forced into eating barely a thing for seven days! I had lemon and bicarbonate of soda in the morning, which went through me like an upside-down volcano, green juice for breakfast, a couple of leaves at lunchtime, and nothing till dinner – which was soup. We walked a lot to take my mind off it.
When I got home, I weighed myself, and I’d lost five pounds, which was a huge incentive not to leap back into chocolate eating.
But giving up sugar was really difficult to do – harder than ditching alcohol. My day was punctuated around treats, so I had to reframe my eating, and find new ways to reward myself. I felt crabby and fed up, and may have snapped at my family a couple of times!
Still, I was very determined and after more than six months of barely touching the stuff, I sleep better and am far happier. I am still generally anxious, but about 40 per cent less so.
The biggest difference is physical. My weight, my energy, and my skin (on my face and body) is less dry and saggy, and my morning eye bags are less evident.
That picture from July shows how far I’ve come. My three grown-up kids didn’t notice, but my husband Sten did – mentioning both my increased confidence and my looks, commenting on what I wore for the first time in years. I’m 64, and this year I’ve had more compliments than ever before in my life. It’s weight loss, yes, but it’s also about happiness.
Here are my other tips for being healthy, happy and slim at 64.
Blasting the years with red light
I’ve only recently accepted my age. I’ve got over that hump where a part of me wanted to be noticed in some way – that was up to my mid-fifties. I don’t feel that anymore, and I don’t mind that I’m invisible. Ageing is a privilege.
However, like every woman, I have a certain level of vanity, and more often than not I try to avoid looking at myself in the mirror, because I think to myself that there’s so much work to be done and I can’t be bothered!
I don’t have Botox, but I do love the CurrentBody Red Light Therapy Face Mask (£499, currentbody.com). Genuinely, I’m such a sceptic about beauty gadgets, but this is one of the few things I really believe in for reducing wrinkles and improving skin plumpness. I try to use it for around ten minutes three or more times a week.
Making a face
I don’t wear make-up every day; just a bit of Trinny London BFF All Day (£42, trinnylondon.com) if I’m mooching about at home, and maybe her Just A Touch Concealer (£29). I love the PrimeLash mascara by US brand Prime Prometics (£8.58, amazon.co.uk). It’s great for lash thickening and it’s vegan and cruelty-free.
I know you’re supposed to wear SPF every day, but I only wear it on holiday. Sten introduced me to Altruist sunscreen (from £11, altruistsun.com), which I know a lot of beauty experts swear by.
Susannah with her husband Sten on their holiday in Nice, France, this August. Sten introduced her to Altruist sunscreen
I also wear a vitamin C serum day and night to brighten and protect my skin.
Body-wise, Trinny told me about this amazing body lotion called Aestura Atobarrier365 Ceramide Lotion (£26, sephora.co.uk) – it’s transformed my skin, which is far less dry.
I’ll tell you what I hate – products designed for over-50s. So patronising.
Take a nap if you need to
We need to be able to say: ’Do you know what, if I want to have a sleep in the afternoon I’m going to.’
I’m not great at this, admittedly, and tend to try to hide the fact I’m having a rest.
Everything around us is moving at such a pace that if you stand still for a second, you stand out like a sore thumb. People don’t notice you doing all the housework, the cooking and writing a book. But they notice a sleep in the afternoon.
I get around this by looking as though I’m on my laptop, but in fact I’ll be watching a box set on Netflix.
I still find my husband handsome
If you’ve been a parent, your children have been the priority. To some extent you forget that you’re married. When the children leave home, you’re suddenly meeting this person almost as though it’s the first time, and you’ve no idea how they’ve evolved emotionally.
I think to some extent it’s down to luck whether you still have the chemistry that initially drew you to them. With Sten, who’s 62 now, I’m lucky – he’s incredibly handsome.
It wasn’t like falling in love all over again, but it was easy to say let’s move on, let’s get to the next stage. It’s about having common interests, complementing each other, and recognising and accepting each other’s weaknesses. For example, if he gives me a spreadsheet to fill in, he knows it won’t happen.
Exercise
I know everyone talks about weights and strength training, and I’m sure the science is there, but I think you have to find your own way. And there’s no magic wand – you have to put in the work, which is incredibly annoying.
I’ve run for years and try to do around 25 miles a week, even though it isn’t as easy as it used to be. I’m sure people look at me and they say, ‘Why is she literally lolloping along?’ But it’s good enough for me. I used to take a bag of buttermint sweets in a bumbag to eat on the way round, but I’ve stopped that!
I used to be a huge wild swimming fan, but I haven’t been for ages, and the main reason is because the water quality is so poor. I do have a cold water therapy barrel in my back garden, though, and I’m going to start leaping in and out of that again – possibly every day.
I still do breathing exercises recommended by the wellness guru Wim Hof, which is like meditation. They make a huge difference to stress and energy levels.
Spend time with the young
I love to spend time with young people and hear their opinions – they have such strong ones and more courage than I ever did at that age. That makes me reassured for the future.
I don’t inform myself about new developments in tech like AI – I just get my kids, now aged 26, 23 and 21, to explain it.
But you know what? They’ve spent their lives coming to me and asking things, and now the shoe’s on the other foot. They love it. They feel like they’re the boss.
Ditch FOMO
I would rather put a rock around my neck and walk into a lake than go to a big party. Sten and I are very antisocial.
But I do have lots of good friends, and I FaceTime one in particular every day, wherever we are in the world. He’s 80, and we acted as each other’s sponsors a little whilst in recovery from alcohol addiction.
What To Wear
I still follow the old diktats about dressing for your shape from the What Not To Wear shows that Trinny and I had such fun doing.
If you have big boobs, which I do, wear a lower top. That was one of our rules, but they do change a little with age. These days, I don’t go for overt cleavage display too often, and I don’t wear anything too tight either.
Susannah still follows the old rules of What Not To Wear, a show she and Trinny Woodall used to host in the 2000s
I’m conscious of dressing differently, in an age-flattering way, and I’m not aiming to be sexy. Personally, I feel I look older if I try and dress younger.
I don’t have many clothes, and I do sometimes wear the same outfit four days in a row (except for pants!), but I never just grab the first thing that falls out of the wardrobe. I err towards more masculine clothes; flared trousers with a sweater or a plain white T-shirt in the summer.
Even if I’m working at home, I feel I have a responsibility to the work I’m doing as an author to look stylish. It also helps focus me and it’s respecting my job. I couldn’t work in pyjamas.
Shape. Where?
Trinny and I were virtually defined by our love of shapewear – what we called ‘magic pants’ – back in the early 2000s.
I don’t need to lose weight anymore, and I hadn’t actually worn shapewear for a very long time, until I partnered with Shapermint this summer and reignited my love affair with it. Together we’ve created a What To Wear edit of five foundational pieces, which we have just launched.
It’s not about looking smaller but about looking more toned. I see it as being akin to putting make-up on your face – you’re not inherently changing it, but it’s making it look the best it can.
The cami, shorts and leggings (from £45, shapermint.com) give me a wonderful, smooth outline and also make me feel more comfortable in lighter, silky fabrics. I honestly feel that it’s working with my body, not against it.
Food for thought
I always have a savoury breakfast. On a good day, I’ll have broccoli with homemade salad dressing, and protein in the form of cottage cheese or tinned tuna, as well as a coffee that’s so strong you could stand a spoon up in it with a little natural sweetness from Rude Health Organic Coconut Milk. If I get a bit hungry during the morning I might have some blueberries.
At lunchtime I chuck whatever veg is in the fridge into my Vitamix – it’s so powerful you could juice a Mini Cooper. At teatime, I have a Peter’s Yard Sourdough crispbread with peanut butter, and a small packet of Twiglets if I’ve been for a run.
We always eat dinner as a family when the kids are home – and it’s always homemade and protein-rich. Sten and I go out so rarely that it’s a treat to have a meal cooked by someone else, and I’ll eat pretty much anything… except pudding!
I still have treats, but they’re more considered – a couple of squares of 80 per cent dark chocolate (amazingly the amount hasn’t crept up), sugar-free chewing gum or a couple of dates.
Don’t go overboard on hair treatments
My thick blonde hair has always been great. I don’t go to a fancy London salon, but to a little place in my Sussex village called Aaron Russell which is a walk from my house. They are all so good that any one of them can do my cut and colour. I have a blow-dry once every two weeks, but otherwise I leave it alone.
I find Sam McKnight products are amazing, such as the Hair by Sam McKnight Rich Cleanse Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner (£50, sammcknight.com), or Redken’s new Acidic Bonding range (from £12.95, boots.com) is fantastic for repairing damaged hair.
My girls use that too. Esme is evangelical about it, and her hair is incredible. Whenever I buy anything beauty-related, I have to keep them in mind because they steal my stuff.
You don’t have to take HRT
I had a chat with Trinny and a friend over supper a few weeks ago and I said that I didn’t take HRT. They were so horrified it was like I’d told them I had a terminal illness and was going to die in a few days’ time.
It sometimes feels as though menopause has become an insult for the young to chuck at their mothers. ‘Oh my god, you’re so menopausal!’
Honestly, I didn’t sail through menopause very well mentally, but I didn’t have physical symptoms. There’s no question that menopausal women really suffer, but I slightly ignored the whole noise around the subject because it didn’t sound as though it applied to me.
Unfortunately, I think it’s put the fear of God into the younger generation. We need more balance in the messaging and more education for everyone.
I love some supplements….
I take magnesium for sleep, and saffron and turmeric for their anti-inflammatory properties. I like Naked Pharmacy products – you can book a call with a pharmacist if you’ve got questions. They don’t contain synthetic ingredients like fillers and binders.
Collagen-wise I’m currently trying out Elavate (from £39, elavate.com) – just a scoop in the morning. Perhaps that’s why my joints hurt less.
Ignore the ageist trolls
If someone hurts me, I become a pathetic ball of fear and anxiety. But I’ve had very little online trolling thankfully – only about five unkind comments on Instagram over the years.
Last week someone commented on my looks, and I just leant into it and said, ‘shut your hole’. Lots of my followers stuck up for me.
While on Strictly in 2018, Susannah attracted lots of unkind attention. She said she agreed with all the comments, ‘and that shut them all up!’
When I was doing Strictly, I attracted lots of unkind attention, but that was all justified, because I was appalling. So, I just agreed with all the comments, and that shut them all up!
Have the confidence to stop
However grown-up we are, we’re still insecure and need to feel valued. For women, I think the easiest, least complicated way to achieve this is to be busy, to help others and to make yourself more indispensable than ever. I am absolutely guilty of that.
‘Don’t worry,’ I say. ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it.’ And then I feel resentful and stop. But on the whole, I’m contented with my body and mind, my relationships and my work, and you can’t ask for much more than that!
As told to Alice Smellie
Susannah Constantine has created a new What To Wear edit with shapewear brand Shapermint, shapermint.com
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