Sunday 27 January 2013

2013 Weekly weight loss

17th January = +3lbs
22nd January = 0lbs
27th January = -1lb
3rd February = -2lbs
10th February = +1lb
17th February = +4lbs
24th February = +2lbs
10th March = +3lbs
6th April = +15lbs
21st April = +1lb
27th May = +4lbs
1st June = +1lb
15th June = -3lbs
22nd June = -1lb
29th June = -2lbs
7th July = 0lbs
14th July = -1lb
22nd July = +1lb
28th July = -6lbs
4th Aug = -11lbs
11th Aug = 0lb
18th Aug = -2lbs
25th Aug = +3lbs
11th Sep = +5lbs
15th Sep = -2lbs
22nd Sep = -1lb
29th Sep = didn't weigh-in
6th Oct = +4lbs
13th Oct = didn't weigh-in
20th Oct = didn't weigh-in
26th Oct = +1lb
10th Nov = +7lbs
15th Dec = +1lb

Total weight loss since 2nd Jan 2012:
54lbs (3st 12lbs)

Total weight gained whilst being pregnant (26.11.12 - 24.07.13):
28lbs (2st)

Thursday 24 January 2013

The next challenge

Hello everyone,

As you may have noticed I've not been on here much over the last couple of months. At the end of November I found out that I was pregnant! My husband and I have been trying for quite a while. Those closest to us will know what we went through to have our first child & we had to do the same for this baby (who we affectionately call 'Squeak').

I knew at the beginning of 2012 that we were going to be trying for another baby and I had also changed my eating habits. As the year went on and I lost more & more I was thrilled, but at the same time every month came the disappointment of no baby. In the end I decided that 2012 was my year to lose weight and that hopefully, 2013 would bring us a baby. I reckon in the end it turned out perfectly.

This post is probably going to be fairly long as I need to get a lot off my chest. So grab a cuppa and then I'll begin....

On 26th November I weighed in and I had lost a total of 5st 12lb. I had only 2lbs to go until I reached my 6 stone goal. some of you may remember that I really wanted to do this by my birthday which is 3 days before Christmas. Then on the 27th November I did my first pregnancy test (yes, I did more than one.....three in fact). We were thrilled to find out that this was our month. That night we celebrated with a Chinese takeaway with my parents.

The next day I realised that I had to think about my weight and what I ate. I knew that it is unsafe to restrict your calories when pregnant. I didn't want anything to impact the growth of my baby. So I went from 1300 calories a day to 1800 immediately. During 2012 I always hoped that this day would come but knew it would being a whole new set of challenges. Initially I found it really difficult to eat that many calories. It was quite a struggle for the first few days to be honest.

The weekend after I found out I was pregnant, my son and I went to visit my sister with my parents for a few days. I was unable to weigh-in that week. I had been fairly good up to the point of going away. But holidays always bring temptation so I wasn't great whilst I was away. When I came back I started to suffer with dreadful morning sickness. Although I wasn't actually vomiting, I was feeling nauseous from the moment I woke up to the moment I fell asleep. It got to a stage where I couldn't even get out of bed. Food was the last thing on my mind. Just the thought of it was making me feel sick. My mum came round to look after me (whilst my wonderful husband & in-laws looked after our son) and made me eat something each day. I mainly survived on toast. It was pretty awful.

On Dec 17th I weighed in and had lost 3lbs. This was a real bitter-sweet moment. On one hand I only lost weight because I was so poorly and knew that losing weight when pregnant isn't best, but on the other hand I had reached my 6 stone weight loss goal. I was still feeling rough so was in no mood to celebrate. By my birthday I had managed to get some anti-sickness medication from the doctor and I was beginning to feel normal again, albeit very weak.

Then followed my birthday, Christmas and New Year. Now as everyone knows these occasions bring a huge amount of food temptation with them. I had just got my appetite back and had been starved for a couple of weeks. So I'm afraid I went a bit mad. I was partly thinking 'I'm pregnant and need to eat a bit more' & 'Oh it's Christmas'. On New years Eve I weighed in, purely because I knew that I was getting out of hand. I had put on 6lbs. I was gutted. And then my husband had a few days off work, we saw friends, family and had basically just lost control. On 17th January I weighed in again and had put on 3lbs. This was upsetting me and I knew that I had to take control. I also had some midwife appointments coming up and I knew that I'd be weighed there too. I think this was what I needed. At this point I'd been saying that I was going to start again. In the last 5 weeks I hadn't tracked any of my foods. This was a major downfall as it's so easy to forget exactly what you've eaten.

What I found weird was mid-January I was getting a real craving for healthier foods. I don't think this has anything to do with being pregnant, I think that my body was used to having lovely fresh fruit & veg everyday and then I filled it with rubbish. I also noticed it have an impact on my skin (the dreaded spots appeared) and also my energy levels were at rock bottom (although being pregnant and running round after a 2 1/2 yr old is pretty tiring in itself). So about a week ago I started to go back to eating more healthy foods. On Tuesday 22nd Jan I started to track what I was eating again.

So my weight loss round-up for the last few weeks is as follows:
Week 47 = -2lb (26th Nov - found out I was pregnant the next day)
Week 48 = HOLIDAY (3rd Dec)
Week 49 = +1lb (10th Dec)
Week 50 = -3lb (17th Dec)
Week 51 = CHRISTMAS EVE
Week 52 = +6lb (31st Dec)
17th January = +3lbs
22nd January = 0lbs

I spent the best part of a year changing my life for the better and in the process I lost 6 stones. I am NOT about to throw that away just because I'm pregnant!

Now I enter a whole new world. I know that I will have to put on weight during my pregnancy and continue to eat healthily. I am now going to stick at 1900 calories a day until I hit my third trimester. Hopefully I will be able to speak to my midwife in detail about it too and she can offer some advice. Since I found out I was pregnant I have put on 6lbs. When refering to weight gained in my pregnancy I will always use the weigh in on 26th November and my reference point.

When I was pregnant last time I was 4 stones heavier than I am now. I cannot believe that my I put my body through that. Not only did I have to carry round my baby and everything associated with that i.e.extra blood etc, I had all that excess weight. I'm hoping that being 4 stones lighter I will be able to be more active during this pregnancy and keep my weight gain under a healthy control. During my last pregnancy I gained 2 stones before I had my son. I ate so much rubbish in that pregnancy, as well as my craving which was actually fruit. So hoping that I may not put on as much this time.

Another thing that I have found a problem is exercise. I've not been to the gym for over a month now. Obviously we had Christmas etc and I was poorly, but I haven't done anything really. So I am looking at ways that I can change that. 2 weeks ago I started Pregnancy yoga. I've never done yoga before and it was not what I expected but it was very nice. I have another class tonight which I'm looking forward to. I'm hoping that it will help keep me fitter and also help when it comes to giving birth. I'm only doing a 6 week course, but I'm hoping to do another one later on in my pregnancy. So in the meantime I need to find somehting that I can do to keep fit. I think I'm going to try doing my wii fit again to ease back gently. The weather hasn't helped either. Not been going out for as many walks in all this snow. Really hoping to go for more walks as the weather improves. Then I need to start thinking of things I can do that aren't expensive but will will me stay fit.

Sorry for not posting since I found out I was pregnant. I didn't feel comfortable coming on here and not telling the truth about how my journey had changed. I wanted to wait until I'd had my 12 weeks scan. I knew that then I could go back to posting my weigh-ins and thoughts as I'd done before.

Here's a before and after of me.



From now on I will be weighing in on a Sunday because that is now my husbands day off.

My journey is far from over as you can see. I have to allow myself to gain a healthy amount of weight whilst I'm pregnant. Then I have the challenge of losing the weight I've put on, and carrying on my losing the rest that I wanted to lose (only about stone or so). Thank you for joing me so far on this amazing journey - I hope you will join me in my next challenge.

xx

P.S. Here's a little picture of Squeak for those that haven't seen it yet (can't seem to get it to turn the right way - grrrr)





Wednesday 2 January 2013

One year on...

Today marks a year since I decided to take control, eat less & move more with a healthier way of life.

What a year it has been. A real roller coaster of emotion. I cannot lie, it has been a struggle at times. But in the end it took sheer determination & willpower.

In the last month I've not posted much which was due to me being poorly for 2 weeks before Christmas, then I had my birthday and all the Christmas festivities. I put on 6lb over Christmas. I'm not upset by this as my plan has always been to have a life whilst losing weight. There will be plenty of time to get rid of that 6lb. Just before my birthday I lost weight and managed to hit my goal of losing 6 stones.

This time last year I wasn't sure how far I'd get on this journey. But I think that because I made a conscious effort to change my lifestyle rather than go on a diet, I was able to go over & above my own expectations.

Many people will be wanting to start losing weight now following the festive bingeing. What I would say to you is that it is possible, but only if you truly want it. Good luck to any of you who are about to start your own journey, or those who are continuing on your journey.

But my journey doesn't end here. I still would like to lose a bit more than my lowest, maybe another 7-14lb. I won't know until I get there and see how I feel. I think this stage of my journey will take longer though due to being closer to my goal weight. I now know how feeling slimmer feels and I'm NEVER going back to where I was.

The year ahead will bring many challenges but ultimately I want to carry on with eating a variety of healthy foods.

Thank you for joining me on my journey for the last year.
Happy New Year to you all!