New Mum seeking new body by Christmas!

[CoraBear]

My baby boy is 6 months old and I am quite overweight. Ok, I'm alot overweight (takes deep breath) I'm 15 stone. At 5 ft 7 this is waaay to much. I am sitting here in the one pair of trousers that fit me and my DP's tee shirt because none of my tops fit properly. Basically my stomach looks like a deflated paddling pool and my thighs are so big that I'm fairly sure that if I sit down too much longer they will burst open.

After I had the baby I took the very grown up approach to weight loss and I hoped that if I ignored the problem it would go away and somehow I would have a body like posh spice-because all new mothers lose all the weight instantly don't they? Turns out they don't, and surviving on mini aero's didn't help. I weigh more now than when I gave birth.

I have a serious lack of motivation but I decided to see if I could lose some pounds before Christmas, as I'll be seeing people I haven't seen since I was pregnant and want to look casually fabulous. So are any of you interested in holding my hand, kicking my arse and generally helping each other to stay on track? I really want to do this but I know if I'm not answerable to others my resolve will slip.

I have my first weight watchers meeting tomorrow, which I'm dreading as it will mean that the leader will weigh me and know what a tubby fecker I am. So, if any of you weight watcher followers or followers of other plans would like to come and join me and share stories of jogging up and down while eating maltesers so the points are being eaten and burned off simultaneously or just have a rant about how unfair the world is when you're hungry, you are welcome.

Right, I'm off to remove all the biscuits, chocolate and sweets from my house before tomorrow. That's right, when I say "remove" I do of course mean "eat them".

Love your post Cora, it's made me feel very motivated haha. I am def on board to be skinny for summer. I've been pretty bad this weekend with fatty food and drink again so that has to stop!!

Your post has made me think of all the pretty summer clothes I can buy if I lose some weight. With a 2 year old and 5 month old (cannot believe my baby girl is 5 months already) I feel like I've been pregnant forever. It will be nice to have a summer where I can buy what I want.

So it's back to the home made soup for lunches, no treats during the week at all, drink a tonne of water and as much walking / shredding as my body can handle :)

Good post Cora - finding it hard t get my motivation back too.

By coincidence, I had a discussion with DH and my best friend (whilst tucking into a pub lunch!) about giving up chocolate for lent. I have never managed more than a couple of days but I am going to go for it. With the view that I may turn to over naughty food, I am going to give up crisps too (not normally bothered by crisps but worried may turn to them in my hours of need!). I will also be following ww strictly for the 30 days. It will be a really good opportunity to see how much I can lose when focused.

Anyways needs must - I am still carrying the 5lbs from Christmas..... my baby will be one soon and I a party in May and so I'd really like to be in a 12. It would be so nice to have a slim summer before we try for baby no 2.

That's me spurred on - going to walk into town this morning as I am not in work today and will dust off the wii fit later!

Hi SayHello,

I ate so much crap over the weekend, we had a huge family night out on Saturday and then there was a ton of hangover food yesterday. But lent isn't 'til tomorrow-ha ha ha. I will really sick to ww this time. I think you're eating plan sounds manageable. It's not too hardcore. How goes the shredding?

I think you should definitely buy some gorgeous summer clothes, you deserve them. It can be so hard to find your style again after pregnancy. I was telling my friend that I had size 14 plans for summer and I was saying how I love white vest tops and 3/4 length jeans and she was saying there's no where to hide any bulges in a white vest top. And she's right. And that's what's going to keep me focused.

Right, I'm off to set up the wii I got yesterday. There are 4 million cables but no book telling me how to put it all together. If you hear some expletive filled ranting-that's me!

Hope everyone has a good day.

I mean 40 days of course and apologies for typo's - not much sleep last night!

Hi Choos,

we posted at the same time so I didn't see your post earlier. That's exiting that you're going to try for baby number 2. I have a child minding job for the summer so I think that we'll try for another baby in 2013. I can't believe my once tiny baby is now walking and talking (sort of) and I still look five months pregnant. It's not a good look.

I know what you mean about turning to food that you might not usually eat when you are denying yourself your usual treats. I would pick crisps over chocolate any day, but I have accepted that I have to give them up. My rapidly expanding arse is a testament to the fact that I need to stop eating so much.

Hi Cora,

Exciting but bit scary as finding having a baby, DH and work a bit of a juggle so no idea how we will find (hopefully) 2 babies. But we both know we don't want an only child. A big stress is work but I guess I will work things out one way or another.

You have lost so much weight, I am sure you are a shadow :)

I think I am going to start to tell people I am giving up chocolate etc for lent and then I will be forced into it:
I am wondering if this would be too ambitious:
Chocolate (any form of)
Crisps
Pastry (step away from the croissants)
Cake
Biscuits

But is's only got 40 days and maybe that would be a stone and a half gone...forever......

Well I have lost one and a half pounds (this is over more than a week though so not great) however I'm hopeful that by this time next week I'll be 9 stone something. I have a work night out in a month and I would love to be a bit slimmer by then, even if I could lose a pund a week it's still something.

Good luck in giving up chocolate, cakes etc Newchoos. Just think how proud of yourself you'll be if you do it, not to mention how slim :)

I don't know how to break this to you Choos, for I fear you will freak out, but here goes...Lent is 40 days but not including Sundays. Sundays don't count as they are "holy days" and you shouldn't be indulging on those days. So it's 40 days plus however many Sundays fall within this time. (listens to hear if Choos has fainted...No, all seems fine).

I have decided to say that I have given up junk food because I don't want to explain that I am sticking to ww as I find this leads to people looking me up and down and internally critiquing my figure, whereas they mightn't if I just say I've given up junk. Crisps are my downfall, I love them so very much. I love their cheese and onion-y goodness, they are so delicious. But they are so heavy in points that to have one packet means I can't have dinner and when you look at it that way it's not really worth it. I will give up all that stuff with you Choos.

Congrats on losing one and a half pounds SayHello, that's brilliant. Especially as you hadn't been watching what you had been eating. Nine stone something is amazing, you have to be very proud of yourself considering your baby is only 5 months old.

Congrats on the weight loss SayHello.

Cora - it's ok, my friend had already broken that news to me - I had a slight waver but I am now standing firm ish. Thanks for offering to give up crisps - I am also including bread. Yep, I am that hardcore. But to be honest, I'm am doing it to save myself as I fear I would lose control (what with the lack of chocolate and cake).
So. for 46 days I will be eating mostly water ie fruit and veg. I have decided not to give up cheese as I might not be able to force myself out of bed in the morning and of course fish and lean meats.

I'm starving already.
I've already had lunch.
Can do this!

That is one extreme lent giving up resolution Choos. I bow to your self control. Do you think you'll be able to do it and stick to it? Can you make it 46 days? 46 DAYS! I have had the crappiest first diet day in the history of the world. (Oh that's right, I'm being hungrily dramatic).

My darling son has decided to be the brattiest, monkey child in the history of brat monkey children. He has fallen over a million times, knocked over the kitchen chairs on his head, picked up the record player and fired it across the room and the best one, he chewed the fake coal in the gas fire. Between minding him and cleaning up his extensive mess I stuck to ww but it was so difficult. I want a bag of crisps. And wine.

Glad the first day is over.Only 45 left!

Oh, I forgot to say that I weighed myself after having 10 days off ww and eating like a fat kid freshly released from fat camp. I only put on 2 lbs and I'm not sure if that's actual weight or the fact I'm retaining alot of water. So not too much damage done!

Oh and I'm starving too Choos!

Day 2 of ww based lent was ok. I bought a goats cheese pizza and had half of it (half of it was 14 points) it was delish but half a feckin pizza does not fill a hungry belly. I always rolled my eyes at couples who split a normal sized pizza and claimed that it filled them- I now know of course that they are lying.

This morning, because I am an impatient idiot, I weighed myself and I have lost the 2 lbs I had put on so I am back at my 13 stone 10 weight. Yay! Unfortunately my foray into exercise world has been less than successful because the stupid wii won't work. It's failing to recognise the wii balance board thingy so I can't use it. I don't have the instruction book so the DP is going to look up how to fix it on the internet, I just don't have the patience to fix it myself.

How is everyone else getting on?

Day 4 checking in.
I have been surrounded by chocolate cake and cookies, it's almost like there's a little chocolate magnet around me. It's so unfair, I have resisted so far (even carrot cake yesterday).
DH has friends round for Rugby today and we have an enormous supply of chocolate cake, profiteroles and crisps. I have washed some grapes and strawberries.... but have a bottle of prosecco chilling.

Well done on your 2lbs Cora! weigh in Tuesday for myself.
Hope everyone is having good weekends.

You have some serious will power Choos. I would have been homicidal with all of that tasty food around. I refused to drive DP to the chipper yesterday, I'm such a cow! But if I wasn't having chips, he wasn't having chips. Did you enjoy your prosecco and grapes?

I have to say I won't mind if I don't have a big weight loss this week, I'm in it for the long haul now. And I had a bit of a good day yesterday when I fitted in to a top I haven't worn since waaaay before I got pregnant. I had forgotten I had it.

Off to lunch for MIL's birthday later, we're going to some snooty restaurant. I rang to check the menu and for vegetarian option they only have creamy risotto or a cheese tartlet. I feel my weeklies are going to take a battering today.

Good luck everyone!

Oh my God, just back from the lunch from hell. It was a complete disaster.

We arrived at the restaurant which turned out to be a pub and then it all kicked off. We arrived prior to DP's family so found a suitable table and got sorted with a high chair for the baby and settled my niece (she's 3). I ask to see the children's menu, they don't have a children's menu, so I had to order from the regular menu and there was sod all to feed the baby. He was already milling through the banana and crackers I had brought for him, so I ended up going to the local shop and spending a fortune on food for him.

There was also nothing nice for me to eat- I'm vegetarian, all they could offer was a salad (the tartlet and risotto are on the evening menu, not the lunch one). The salad was so expensive, I couldn't bear to pay that amount for lettuce leaves. So I spent the afternoon feeding my son over priced food, feeding my niece chips (all they had that she could eat) and I had nothing for myself. I am STARVING!

I spent the drive home in the car dreaming about what I would have to eat. So I bolt in the door, put the kettle on to boil and put the cooker on to heat. Then- ring ring ring- it's the doorbell. My DP's family have decided to come to ours for coffee and now I can't make anything to eat. They're all a bit pissed after spending the afternoon in the pub and I'm just pissed off. My stomach is growling.

Thank you for listening to my rant. I needed to have one or else I am in danger of barging in to the kitchen and telling them all to go home. You know how angry us hungry girls can get.

I hope you're all going having a better weekend than me!

Oh that sounds awful - tbh I think I would have told them to go home, I'm not good when hungry!

Well I weighed myself this morning and I have managed to put on a lb. Unbelievable! I have had no cake, biscuits, chocolate or crisps. I have had 2x cereal bars and some rice cakes and 2 glasses of prosecco but still can't help but feel there is a huge injustice! I must admit to not keeping track of my points because I felt I simply couldn't be over.
Anyway, I have decided to cut out down on carbs now which always seem to work for me.
My official weigh in day is Wednesday, which I will do this week but thinking of moving to Friday maybe.
On a brighter note, DS spent several hours in his cot last night.
Have a good day!

Yay Choos! Congratulations on the sleeping baby, not so yay about the pound gain though. Maybe it's just fluid. It does seem very unfair, if you had caved and had a massive box of biscuits I could understand, but you haven't really gone mental.

Nothing counts 'til weigh in day is my motto. My weigh in day is tomorrow, I'm in the habit of a Tuesday weigh in. I have my zero point soup on the hob for lunch, I'm trying to save my points for aubergine pasta pesto for my dinner. It's the weigh in tomorrow so fingers crossed for some sort of loss. I would even be happy with a pound.

I was fit to slaughter my DP's family yesterday. I am so narky when I'm hungry but I had to keep a lid on it because it was MIL's birthday. I stuffed my face with noodle stir fry when they had left though.

Poor you Cora, that sounds like a nightmare lunch :( I'd be the same as you wishing they'd go home, I think I would've just tucked in to my dinner with them sat there anyway!!

Well done on the sleeping baby NewChoos, I'm moving my little one out of her moses basket today (not sure yet if she'll go in to her cot or crib though) as for the one pound, I agree with Cora I bet it's just fluid :)

Hi SayHello- how goes your weightloss? It's such a sign that babies aren't so tiny any more when they're out of the moses basket. It was a little milestone to me.

It's weigh in day for me and I am 14 stone, so I've gained weight. I'm not too fussed, I'll just continue on my ww way. I have the wii up and running at last so I'll be exercising everyday if I can. I think I need to move a bit more to shift the weight. I'll let you all know how that goes!!!

I've just weighed myself and I'm 9,12 and a half which I wasn't expecting tbh. However, I haven't yet eaten today and have just been on a mad clean / clear out in my house so I will probably have lunch and be back to 10 stone again.

It's a little milestone for me too Cora. Dp thought I was mad for feeling a bit sad she'd be moving in to her "big" bed.

Enjoy the wii, I have a exercise game for the ps3 I'll have to use again. Meant to ask, did you try zumba? If not, you can get zumba games. I'm sure you could get one for the wii.

That's brill SayHello, I think that counts as your official weigh in weight. In the style of a quiz show host- you have to take the scales first answer!

I never got to go to zumba, the teacher is pregnant so we're waiting for a stand in teacher. The class starts up next week so I plan to go then. I did wii boxing last night and my arms are killing me (unfit cow emoticon), I'm going to set up the wii fit but I need time alone to do that, my DP set up his mii last night and it told him he was overweight, I do not want DP seeing how much I weigh.

I was sad to see my son out of his moses basket, he went straight in to a big cot/bed and he looked so tiny.

Morning!

How are all the babies? Little choos managed 6 hours in his cot again. I am wondering how we will get over bringing him in our bed to get a bit more sleep in the early hours - I just don't have the energy at the moment to consider anything else. I have another virus and so fed up of being ill. Luckily am on a day off today anyway so planning on staying in and catching up on housework.
vv stressed with work at the moment for a variety of reasons and really considering my career options especially as we are hoping for baby no 2 soon ish. I am having a real dilemma in my head about work/family life balance (tied in with whether we want to move and if I gave up work we would need to change our lifestyle quite a bit). I"m in a muddle!

I haven't been counting as so stressed etc but am day 8 of no chocolate/cake/crisps. I have to confess to bread (sandwich yesterday) and 2 oat cookies eaten in crisis.
I wish I had picked carbs to give up and not chocolate..... However, feel a bit more motivated again and once feeling better will be low carbing again. Think will stick to Tuesday weigh in.

Cora - I felt the same about my weight on the wii and DH promised faithfully not to look, in the end I told him as I felt it was a silly thing for me to stress about. Well done on all your exercise! I haven't used the wii since December - I will dust it off as soon as I shake off all my bugs! Feeling happier that Spring seems near.

Sayhello - well done - your weight is around what I am aiming for!

I am thinking of doing some internet shopping to cheer myself up a little.

Sorry for enormous post!

Hi Choos,

You sound like you are having a hard time of it. I wouldn't worry about counting your points, you sound like you have an awful lot going on. And I think a bit of lent breaking is allowed if you are sick and stressed. I am watching Masterchef re-runs (Does anyone else get a major case of the munchies when watching Masterchef?) and then I plan to set up the wii fit for me (DP is at the football).

My darling boy is teething, his back teeth are coming through and he is in agony. We've had some late nights (4am last night), my heart breaks for him. He cries a bit but mostly just wants to be cuddled. I find it very hard to stick to ww when I am exhausted, I never feel like cooking when I am tired, I want an immediate meal or something I can just chuck in the oven and take out 30 mins later.

I have a lent related question-are you allowed break lent for Patrick's Day? In Ireland we're allowed break lent for Patrick's Day because all the men used to give up alcohol but would be allowed indulge on Patrick's Day. It's a really old rule but I always stick to it!!!

Oh I forgot to say, I tricked my son into sleeping in his cot last night. When he is looking for a snuggle in the middle of the night and wants to sleep in our bed I am usually quite accommodating if it means I'll get a nights sleep. But last night I put my pillow in his cot and swaddled him up in his blanket and he felt like he was in our bed, and he slept like a log until 8am (from 4am).

Disclaimer-my son sleeps on his back all the time. Will not suit all babies! I take no responsibility for other children.

You can def break the rule for Patricks Day, if it's an old tradition it would be rude to break it haha.

Hope everythings ok with you today Choos, it's so hard to stick to a diet when your stressed or tired so you're doing well.

Well I have now officially been made redundant! I'm not sure what to do now tbh. I only worked part time and the hours / days suited me for childcare. I'm still entitled to my maternity pay though so I have a few months to get sorted at least.

Hope you're all doing well today!