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".

It sounds like you have a bad habit to break with your eating cycle SayHello. I find that really hard but usually end up doing something drastic to break them. For instance; I only buy biscuits, bars, cakes that I don't like so I'm never tempted. I tend not to have that sort of stuff in the house because I'm a little piglet when it comes to junk food.

The weather here is appalling. It's day 3 of non-stop rain so there are flood warnings and such and it is bitterly, bitterly cold so we can't go out. I find points free soup a life saver, I put 3/4 onions, four carrots, punnet of mushrooms, broccoli, 2 parsnips and a courgette in to mine and then cover it with water. Add garlic, parsley, a stock cube and pepper and a big whack of chilli to warm it all up and it is yum. I cook it 'til the carrots are soft and then blitz the living day lights out of it.

I weighed myself yesterday and I have lost 2 lbs so I am out of the 14's and in to the 13's. I'm really motivated this time so I'm being very strict with myself. I'm so sick of being fat. I hope by Hallowe'en I will be out of the 13's or at least down very close to the 12's. I would really like to be slim again, I miss sliding in to my jeans instead of wrestling myself in to them.

Hope everyone has a good day today.

I really do just have to break the bad habits, it's weird because during the day while he's at work I eat pretty well. We're still eating later due to his work so I know that's not helping. I may be starting a job in November though where I'll be starting at 5pm so if that happens it will solve my late eating / snacking issue.

I've resisted Chocolate / junk since Sunday (not very long but still, I'm feeling positive) and I'll def try your soup, sounds yum.

Big well done on losing 2 pounds, that's fab!! i really do think you'll reach your goal by halloween :)

Well done on resisting the chocolate SayHello, does it sometimes call out to you as it does to me? Breaking habits can be really hard but I think the easiest way to do it is to not buy whatever it is that you tend to eat. I'm on week 2 of trying to break my weekend Dorito habit and come Friday night I really crave the taste of them but it's just a bad habit I need to break. I'm having to be very hard on myself and I've replaced them with hummous.

I just like eating in the evening time, so now I heat up a few cups of no points soup and dig in to them and because they're thicker they take ages to eat. We will be skinny by Hallowe'en.

That's great about the new job, are you exited?

I have been up since 3.45am and I have to say I started the day (at 4.15am) with a coffee and a bar of galaxy. I pointed it all up and I have been careful about what I've eaten all day, I even had an enormous salad for dinner instead of the carbtastic pasta I was craving. I think I reach a point where all I want is carbs for energy.

I've noticed a small shrinkage in my muffin top and my face seems a little more slender but I have a hell of a long way to go. My goal of being out of the 13's by Hallowe'en is still what I'm aiming for. I am clinging desperately to it.

Hope everyone else is getting on well.

Well done on the 2lbs Cora, really well done and super news on being in the 13's.
Hope all is well with you Sayhello and you are managing to stay away from chocolate.

We had a very relaxing break away, wine, chocolate and have discovered a love of Baileys Biscotti. I am now planning on having a low carb week with soup for lunches.
Cora- would a couple of bread sticks help you stay away from other breads?

I went shopping yesterday and purchased a couple of tops and a dress. It reminded me on how much better I feel a stone lighter - so I will be trying harder. Perhaps if I lose the stone I have put on (since my lightest post pregnancy weight), then the other elusive stone will follow!

I'm glad you had a good time away Choos. Are you feeling a bit more relaxed? Did Little Choos enjoy his holiday?

I have been eating salads and soup (and drinking wine) and there has been a change to my stomach so I think perhaps reducing the bread/pasta sort of carbs will help - my post CS belly overhang is finally receding. Woo-hoo! I am willing to give up my pasta and bread as long as I don't have to give up my wine.

I was a birthday party today and someone took a photo of DS and me and I was surprised at how well I looked in the picture. I'm not bragging or anything but it got me wondering - do we always see ourselves as our "fat" selves even when our shapes change? I even snapped a few photos on my phone and my face definitely looks less chubby.

Here's to us and our impending skinny-selves!

Yay - can you post a pic? Salads, soup and wine are the way to go!

LittleChoos had fun although he hated his swimming lesson, but Mama and Dada have been wrapped round his little finger all week and he loves it!
He has been snoozing in our bed all the time we were away and now he thinks this can continue!
I am going to try really hard to low carb this week - Cora you will spur me on!

Not sure how to post a picture. I'm not sure how to get the photo's from the phone to the computer, I am really not very technically minded.

I can imagine Little Choos loved the attention. No matter how big the babies are getting, they still revel in being the main focus.

DP is away this week and DS said "I miss my Dada" and my heart broke. I didn't know he could put a sentence together. He's only started talking recently so a sentence was jaw dropping, I just wish his first one hadn't been so sad.

Glad you had a great time Choos and sounds like little choos had lots of fun :) I think I'll join you on the low carb diet too because I'm sure that'll make a difference.

I know what you mean about the photo Cora, it's good that you can see a positive change in yourself though and I bet it spurs you on to do even better!!
As for your ds speaking, what a clever boy :) and try not to feel too sad about what he said although I know that's easier said than done.

I weighed myself this morning (after at least 2 weeks away from the scales) and I've lost 2lbs so I'm very chuffed with that. Especially as weekends are my worst times for eating, and I've done really well to stay away from chocolate.

Hope you've both had lovely weekends.

Yay for the 2 lb weight loss SayHello, that's great. Well done for keeping away from the chocolate too.

So we're all low-carbing next week. Let's see how it goes, if I start hallucinating about fresh bread and pastries you will all have to talk me down, I do so love them.

I hope we weigh in next week and we've lost weight again.

I did the Dukan diet to get ready for my daughter's wedding. Have to say I thought it was ridiculous but was desperate, wedding has been planned for over a year and for ten months I'd been saying, oh, I must go on a diet. I did the Dukan diet, very cynically - lost more than a stone in eight weeks!!!!!! was never ever hungry, ate as much as I wanted (and I am a grazer, eat all the time). Only thing I will say is that I found I didn't lose anything at all in the first stage - the opposite of what they say, which is that the weight will fall off - but then lost a very respectable 2 - 3 lbs every week, effortlessly, and DIDN'T HAVE TO GO TO THE GYM thank God.

Don't buy the book! if you Google it, there's a Daily Mail plan for free, and read all the articles about people who did it, very inspirational. but do go on the website for Dukan and fill in the appraisal form, they tell you what your ideal weight is (not what you might think) and give you a date for when you will achieve it, which was bang on, for me.

Oh, I should have said - I am a cakes and bread-a-holic - on the Dukan you do NO CARBS at all and I thought that would be a nightmare. But I completely lost the craving for fats and carbs - which is what made it so easy. Ate a lot of boiled eggs, though, lol.

Well done on the 2lbs SayHello.
Cora - your little boy is so sweet, gosh and how great that he can say sentences. Little Choos has about 5 words, mama, Dada, Shoes, Juice and Nana (Banana)!
Thanks for the Dukan advice , is the diet quite rigid? Not sure I would be able to stick to it (or any diet!!)
Hope everyone had a good weekend x

Thanks for that Verity, is the plan expensive to follow? I had heard it was. Mind you I seem to spend a lot of money on food. I think I'll look in to that to see what options I would have - I'm vegetarian.

Choos I never knew DS could say sentences, his speech has only really started in the last 4 weeks or so. He was just jibbering previously. Having said that, I feel as if I'm his interpreter because I seem to be the only one who understands him clearly. Apparently it's common for children with heart problems to be slow speakers because they have less muscle tone. I was told that by someone who works for a childrens heart foundation here.

The Dukan works like this. You can eat as much as you like of an extremely limited choice of just protein. You have this oatbran pancake thing each day which you can jazz up. (I added lemon and low-calories sugar) then after a few days of this you can eat limited amounts of veggies as well. I think I liked it because I can't be faffed to count points and weigh things and I like to go to the fridge and eat something every ten minutes! and the shopping was so easy. Not so sure is do-able if you are vegetarian though I ate a lot of low-fat yoghurts and boiled eggs but pure protein when you can't eat beans or cheese is probably difficult to achieve. Do google it, though - there's masses of help and comments.

Perhaps not the road for me then. I love the idea of going to the fridge and eating things out of it. I tend to stare wistfully in to the fridge and ignore the celery that's been there a week.

This week I'm cutting back on carbs and over the weekend I made a decision to drink less - I don't drink a lot but it's all calories really. I'm desperate to lose the pudge so I'm on gallons of zero point soup, veg with plain quorn fillets and low-fat hummus with crudités. It's not exciting but I'm looking for results. Bye bye tasty carbs, see you in February (and possibly a little over Christmas).

I have a goal and I want to see it through. I am against the clock. I also want to lose a stone by Hallowe'en if I can, but even to lose the majority of a stone would suit me.

That's such a good plan Cora. I think you could be right and going hard core may be the way, faster results. Having said that I feel totally unmotivated with little will power - how can I get back on track?!

Day One of low-carb has been pretty crap.

I am hungry.
I had a terrible headache all day to the point where I had to take painkillers.
I feel really bloated.

Why haven't I lost a stone yet. I think low-carb is broken? My pounding head has had me in foul humour and I just feel lousy. I'm determined not to give up though because every diet has side-effects and I'm hoping these don't last.
Is the bad headache normal.

I ate a bit today:

I didn't have breakfast, I just had a coffee. I never eat breakfast because I am hungry for the whole day if I do.

I had hummous with carrot sticks and another coffee for lunch.

Then I had a cup of low-cal hot chocolate.

For dinner I had veggies (carrots, onions, aubergines, courgettes and mushrooms) in pesto with 2 quorn fillets.

Is that too much?

I think I need some diet guidance here. I can cope with being hungry but the headache is too much. Also, what are the low-carb booze options for the weekend? Yeah I knew I was going to cut down but I am going out for dinner so I need a few choices.

I hop everyone else is getting on well today!

Cora the bad headache doesn't sound right. I know some diets do have side effects and we're meant to be encouraging each other to carry on but I just wouldn't feel right telling you to when it's making you feel so rough!! Also, your lunch was tiny. You must have been starving :(

I haven't done well low carbing, I feel ill! I'm not sure what's wrong with me but I've had a sore throat on and off for a few weeks but it's been so bad this week. It hurts to swallow and I can't open my mouth properly (should help my diet though I guess) If I still feel like this tomorrow I'm going to make an appointment for the doctor.

Hope you feel a bit better today Cora.

Oh SayHello I think you should go to the doctor, that doesn't sound right at all. A trip to the doctors might be worth your while.

I feel much better today. I'm not sure if it was from the diet or because I'm so tired. I'm going to stick with it for today. I was starving after lunch, but I thought that was because I had no bread with it.

I hope you feel better today SayHello.

How are you feeling today SayHello?

I added quorn sausages to my meals yesterday and I found it all far easier. However, I think my scales might be broken. I swear this is not a made up excuse! When I stand the normal way I weigh just under 14 stone, if I move my foot a mm to the right I weigh 15 and a half stone, if I move my foot a mm to the left I weigh 12 stone 3 lbs. I think I'll buy a new one. That's such a big difference, I think it merits investigation.

I have been day dreaming that I will stand on the new scales and I will be 12 stone 3lbs but I don't think that will happen.

Hope everyone has a good day!

I went to the doctors today and he gave me antibiotics so hopefully I'll feel better soon.

I'm glad you're feeling better today Cora, sounds like you're doing really well with your diet. Def get some new scales, that's a huge difference. Fingers crossed you'll be 12,3 on the new ones, that would be fab!!

I hope you feel better soon SayHello. It sounds like antibiotics are the way to go.

I weighed myself on a weight watchers weighing scales and I am over 14 stone. Balls.

Hope you feel better soon SayHello.

Keep going Cora! You are doing really well, if you keep being so good you are bound to see a difference on the scales. Maybe invest in some new scales but trying and restrict yourself to a weekly weigh?

I'm not doing that well but I am being healthier and having lots more fruit and veg - so small steps and all that!

Choos, baby steps are still steps in the right direction! We will get there. I think I might invest in some new scales, suddenly weighing a stone and a half more than yesterday does nothing for a girls self-esteem.

I am still very determined, in fact I'm probably more so. I pointed up my day and I've only had 23 points, not eating as many carbs has made such a difference. I generally weigh myself every day but only count the amount I weigh on a Tuesday as my real weight (writing that down makes me look like a lunatic).

Also, 3 plain rice cakes are only 2 points. Which is ace. I had to have a few today as I was at a friends house for lunch and I thought they were the better, low-carb option than the bread that was there. They may join my crudites and hummous as my x-factor watching food. Yum!

I hope everyone has a good day tomorrow.