Hit goal, so time for a story & some pics...

When I found out I was (finally) pregnant, I was between 148lbs and 152lbs (depending on how many takeaways I had that week) after losing about 28lbs over the previous 2 years. As soon as I found out I was up the duffers, the exercise and diet went out the window and before I was even 12 weeks along, I had gained nearly 2 stone! I tried to keep active by walking as much as possible, but suffered from SPD from early on (probably from the weight gain) so I couldn’t do much!

I had no morning sickness but had a bit of nausea which was only helped by eating something sweet, thus began my daily love affair with chocolate bars, buns, pastries, ice cream and so on and son on! I gave birth to my son nearly 6 weeks early on 30 June 2011 and as of 1 August 2011, I weighed 171lbs (12 stone 3 lbs – which was a few pounds more than when I came home from hospital). I still had severe hip pain so still couldn’t do a lot apart from walk my dogs each day, so obviously, I did what most dieters do and tried to eat as little as possible! The weight fell off really easily, but as soon as my hips were strong enough for me to exercise properly (Zumba DVD’s, Jillian Michaels and Davina McCall work outs), I found I just didn’t have the energy. So I started eating to goal (1200) and saved my exercise calories for weekend takeaways and restaurant meals (sorry, but could never and will never give those up) and the weight continued to fall off! I have since upped my calories to 1400 (for a loss of .5lbs a week) and now eat 50-100% of my exercise calories back and low and behold, I am still losing over a lb a week – however I think this is more down to my recent discovery of my love for lifting heavy weights!

I’ve had 2 plateaus throughout all of this, once staying the same for 3 weigh ins and the other staying the same for 2 weigh ins. Each time, I upped my exercise intensity for a few days and had big losses the following weeks. It’s been hard graft, but super fun with the baby and the dogs (lots of walks, runs, quiet workouts trying not to wake the napping baby) and as of last weigh in, I recorded my weight at 124.6lbs! My initial goal weight was 125lbs (I'm a shorty at 5ft 4") so thought it was time to post the pics! (hopefully they work!)

30 June 2011 – in labour! Last pictures taken of me as a preggo!




August 2011 somewhere around 171lbs but no longer preggo:



3 March 2012 – with my older sister at my husband’s 30th birthday party:



Same night, side view! (We were trying to spell out 30th with our bodies!!)



Thanks for viewing!