Welcome to my Wednesday weigh-in, the first in a series of posts about my weight-loss journey (I hesitate to say ‘success’, although I’m hopeful) over six months. I’m sure I’m not alone, as a woman, in struggling to stay happy with my body. Having had two children I now find it both easier and harder all at the same time. On the one hand I am agog at what my body has achieved: grown two beautiful, perfect human beings from nothing, birthed them, fed them from my body, nurtured them in my arms – I mean wow, right? Then on the other hand I have stretch marks from my hips to my lower ribs, the glorious C-section overhang, a wibbly tummy, boobs that (whilst miraculous sustainers of life) are unwieldy as to size and firmness and I just generally look and feel slightly run down and overweight.
The negatives of my appearance were brought home to me rather forcibly this weekend when I saw the photos of me in potential bridesmaid dresses for my little (tiny, even) sister’s wedding. At the time I tried them on I felt fab – curvy, glamorous, even a little bit sexy (there was a thigh-high slit in one, and some nice cleavage). When I saw the pics I looked…matronly. Bosom-y. Not awful, but definitely mumsy. It made me feel a little embarrassed. I imagine it would be even worse standing next to my size 6/8 sister in her wedding dress. I am, depending on the shop in question, anything between a 14 and an 18. The hot shame of that number 18 is burning my cheeks as I type. The reason isn’t anything unusual. I just eat too much food.
On the positive side I do a heck of a lot of walking in my day to day life – consisting of the school run twice a day at 20 minutes each, plus quite often a further walk of at least 20 minutes to try and get The Girl to sleep in her buggy. That’s all without factoring in trips to the shops, park, friends’ houses or just a country bimble for the hell of it. So my basic fitness levels are pretty good, although I should probably speed up a little to improve my aerobic exercise. Where I fall down is in my eating habits.
I’ve written about habits before – before I even conceived of this post and this weight loss plan – where I admitted that snacking was my biggest enemy. The thing about parenting two small children, especially whilst trying to work from home, is that you never, ever get enough sleep or rest. Tired mummies (and daddies I presume) turn to sugar to boost energy and feel better – there’s nothing like that lovely endorphin kick you get from a ‘naughty’ snack – and we eat too much of it, too.
If I could just cut the snacking I would probably see the weight dropping off, but since I can’t seem to do that just through willpower I’m going to have to research other options. Slimming World or Weight Watchers might be options, though I’m not sure how long I could sustain £5 a week. Forcing myself into some kind of exercise regime requiring trainers and a sports bra might be successful as it would replace the endorphin rush from snacks with a sports-induced boost, plus make me reluctant to ruin my hard work with a quick bowl of cereal. The difficulty there would be finding the time. Running with a buggy is not much fun and running in the dark is worse. Most nights the kids aren’t asleep until 7.30 or 8pm and chances are The Man might not be back yet, either, so just finding the opportunity is tricky. Maybe I could take The Girl to the sports field and just run circles around her or something – she’d probably find it funny!
This week’s goals
– Drink more water (at least 4 pints a day)
– Reduce sugar and refined carbohydrate intake.
– No snacking
– Dish up the same portion size of food that I give my 1 year old. I am allowed second helpings if still hungry 10 minutes after finishing.
– Do some of the 30 days of yoga programme every morning
– Walk faster.
So, lots of ‘to do’s, but easily achievable ones I think. I will report back.
Anyway. Feel free to send tips, or (if you’re a sports clothing brand) some running gear for fat lasses. My vital statistics are as follows, along with a photo so we can have a ‘before’ picture and pray that, by May, there’ll be a noticeable difference in the ‘after’…
I only have to lose a lb a week and I’ll hit that goal weight early.
This week’s vital statistics
Weight first thing: 78.8kg / 12 stone, 6lb
Bust: a matronly 43inches/ 102cm
Waist: 37 inches/94 cm
Hips: 43 inches/104cm
R. Thigh: 24 inches/61cm
L. Thigh: 24 inches/61cm
R. Arm: 12 inches/31cm
L. Arm: 12 inches/31cm
Neck: 15 inches/38cm
Overall inches: 210 inches/533cm
According to this chart my ideal waist measurement is 25.5inches. Not sure that’s even achievable (esp after two children), but ten inches less than my hips and bust probably is, so given that I’ll hopefully lose a couple of inches from those, also, I’m going to aim for a conservative 31inches, that is a 6inch loss from my waist.
Goals
Goal weight 11 stone
20lbs total weight to lose
6 inches off my waist
in 26 weeks from now!
Ooh I’m joining you in this challenge! I was 72 kg at the beginning of this year, when I used to be around 60. For some reason, I only noticed how out of hand things were getting when I saw photos. (I think I have body dysmorphia the other way round..) Now that I finally can ‘see’ it even without the photographic proof, I have the issue that I look pregnant having never been pregnant – and actually that’s also one of my motivations achieving my goal of a healthy weight anyway – to commit to a lifestyle change before the mother of all lifestyle changes – starting a family. (Although I think the stomach protruding isn’t just belly fat but also a lot to do with our pelvic floor muscles too, in my opinion). My goal is to get back to 60 (give and take – weight isn’t everything, as I also want muscle tone and core strength). With the reading I’ve done so far it seems that the exercise is good for our mental health and physical health but the food we eat is key to the weight loss/weight gain here. I would recommend the books Always Hungry (recipes are American but you can convert – the Shepherd’s Pie with cauliflower and cannellini beans mashed as substitue for the white potato topping is so creamy and surprisingly tasty – I reckon all ages would love this!) and The Food Hourglass for getting your head around the whole rethinking carbs and fats etc. (I hope I’m not coming across as some carb hating wacko as sometimes is the trend nowadays. I mean more low GI, drastically cutting down on the grains we so heavily depend on, but by no means advocating a ketogenic diet as that’s just silly. Veg and legumes are carbohydrates anyway as are fruit and I am not giving up those wholefoods!) I appreciate I’m starting from a different perspective – you’re a full time working mother of two and tiredness really doesn’t help with craving comfort foods – I know that when I am (the non-parent version!) of tired I’d find it awfully hard to quit the sugar and quick fixes. But definitely dip into those two books, as you’ll also feel a bit better about the whole ‘I don’t have the willpower’ thing – when you realise that it’s more to do with what sort of foods anyway. Also I don’t diet anymore (I’m not sure I ever did – but I did hold onto this vague notion that I was going to have to semi sort of starve myself to lose the weight/or via exercise – now I don’t eat any bread, pasta, white potato or shop bought pre packaged baked goods. I get my sweetness from whole fruits (no fruit juice and I eat dried fruit sparingly – or when I am in need of a cake/baked good, I will use dates as the sugar substitute) and I still enjoy my 85% dark chocolate. And lots of vegetables (potato is a vegatable – just that boiled potato is sthg like 90 on the GI scale and glucose is 100). I hope some of this may be of use – but I also understand that everyone is individual and there’s no one size fits all. Oh and also remember that what you’re battling is the disdvantage of being hourglass – I too am hourglass but it means I put on weight everywhere, and especially the belly, very easily. My friend who is tube has totally idifferent body composition and metabolism to me, then I have an apple who puts the weight on her thighs and butt. Unfortunately for us, belly fat is the worst for our organ health – but we do otherwise, when on top of things, have a very lovely figure to be celebrated – and I am glad that you do – as well as growing life twice! 🙂
This got a bit rambly – but currently I’m down to 67 and also want to get to 60 for April and my 30th birthday! Looking forward to your updates – it’s good to have others doing this too – makes me more determined to stick to it!