I’ve just weighed myself for the first time in ages and I appear to have put on one and a half stone (21lbs) SINCE giving birth over a year ago.
I wasn’t exactly sylph-like before the birth either, though I was very careful whilst pregnant and fairly active throughout the pregnancy, so I actually weighed LESS a couple of weeks after giving birth than I did when I conceived.
But since then the weight has piled on. I used to be really active – cycling to work, rollerblading in the park and going to the gym – but since the birth I just haven’t had the free time to exercise much at all and over the winter even long walks to the park haven’t been on the agenda. And being at home with a baby is so boring and stressful sometimes that I may have occasionally sneaked one or two more slices of toast with (lashings of) butter and Marmite than were perhaps strictly necessary.
But I don’t want to be fat when I go to Seattle, and I have lots of pent-up fashion spending which it is impossible to indulge when one’s bosoms are this enormous, so I’d like to drop a couple of stone (28lbs) in the six months before we go.
To this end I am currently reading French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano, the GL Diet by Nigel Denby and I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna because I really need to address (I originally wrote ‘lick’ here, but that doesn’t seem entirely right in the circumstances) the mental problem of comfort eating (which I do mostly when I’m bored or stressed) once and for all. There is nothing like a bit of of strenuous reading, I find, to make those pounds just drop off (and into someone else’s pocket).
I will report back.
Oh I’m really with you on this one.
I found ditching the toast and marmite the hardest thing ever but now I go for ryvita with hummous and tomato, and maybe a wee bit of pesto. I eat 3 at a time, mostly and it’s made a huge difference. (poverty helps too).
And the old, eating from smaller plates trick has been the best. I use a tiny bowl (ikea 39p) for soup, cereal etc and a side plate for my dinner, so even if I have double helping I get the pyscological comfort but actually I’ve not eaten much.
Course there is that small problem of the family size Tiramisu that torments my dreams but I just don’t go into the shop if I can help it, I go to the Organic farm and MrP does the Sainsbury’s stuff. Chocolate covered sesame snaps are my concession to naughtiness.
Here are my tips/advice. Rule No 1 ALWAYS have breakfast. Make sure it’s a healthy cereal NO Coco Pops etc. My fave at the moment is M&S Unsweetened fruit muesli. Rule No 2 Keep bad things out of the house. In my experience what’s in the house will get eaten and quickly. So no more loaves of bread, buy rolls instead. Rule No 3 Find healthy snacks. If you get peckish make sure it’s good for you. I like raisins/sultanas, Cashew nuts, bananas and pears. Rule No 4 Set yourself a weekly target of losing a lb a week. By September that will be your two stone gone. Bit of a cheat I know, but when I’m in full racing/training mode I have a few nights a week where I have Muesli for my evening meal too. Rule No 5 Try to have your last meal as early as possible. Rule No6 I know it’s a bit anal but weigh your pasta it’s very easy to have too much Rule No 7 Get bike seat for you and the Minx, she will love it and you will quickly lose those pounds.
Good advice the brother gave;
French women are not all skinny, they aren’t fat…and most of them smoke alot.
So are you going to Seattle!!!! oh my !!
This might sound ludicrous, but is Marmite all the fattening?? I just had an almost cardboard piece of toast, and a little schmear. Am I fooling myself?? Thought I had finally found a substitute for the items that my husband will finish and not tell me. I once (ONCE!)had him try marmite, and he made the most sour face and reluctantly swallowed it! He wont be touching that jar, ever!
Share with us your progress! I could certainly use some tips!! Must look great in a bathing suit by September for Turkey!!
He he! Marmite on its own apparently has neglible calories and you eat it in such tiny quantities that it doesn’t count anyway. No, my problem is that I use Marmite as an excuse to eat toast with OODLES of butter. Funny story about your husband – here in the UK the ad campaigns for Marmite run under the slogan ‘you either love it or hate it’. Oh, and the fact that you eat Marmite conclusively proves that you’re English by the way….
I love the stuff! But he would rather lick a dirty tractor tire!
Vegemite for me … MMMMM …
You’re not alone here ~ I’m the perpetual yo~yo myself and I think most of us girls comfort eat.
Good luck Paola!
Have lost a stone since aug 28th by replacing most bread with cream crackers, spread with a little flora and marmite.
Lunch or dinner – it’s flexible is risooto with fresh tomatoes and peppers.
Here’s to the next stone.