How I lost my baby weight...third time around

If I had to answer in 2 words it would be 'Weight Watchers',,, but that wouldn't make a very interesting blog post so let me go into more detail about Weight Watchers and losing my baby weight journey!

Annabel was born March 5th 2015.

A friend once said '9 months up, 9 months down' regarding baby weight and it really stuck with me, so that has always been in the back of my head, to be fair to myself and not put myself under too much pressure, but really at the end of the day I'm happier in myself when I'm at a healthy weight and my clothes fit nicely.

First baby: I was 21, it was 11 years ago, I actually don't remember thinking much about baby weight, we didn't have social media, it wasn't all over the magazines, none of my friends had babies so it wasn't a hot topic of conversation! My fashion sense consisted of O' Neils tracksuit bottoms so thinking back I was probably lucky that I didn't give much time or attention to baby weight, I just went on about life as normal.

Second baby: I was 29 when I had TJ (by emergency C-section), I was delighted I was pregnant and truthfully I did not watch what I ate when I was pregnant, in my head I was gonna get huge one way or another so I might as well eat plenty along the way. After TJ was born he was a very poor sleeper and quite a demanding baby so I was so tired and exhausted I really didn't think or care much about losing weight. With this post pregnancy I really took the approach of lots of exercising and still eating pretty much what I liked. When TJ was 6 months old myself and a friend ran a half marathon in Monaco, we had trained for maybe 3 months before hand, I jogged between 3 and 5km a few days during the week and a long jog at weekends,,, it did help me lose the baby weight and I think the running was great head space too.

Third baby: So baby Annabel was born March 2015 (by planned C-section). I definitely feel by this stage there was so much more pressure to 'lose the baby weight', tv programmes, magazines, Instagram, there were always so many images and articles about celebrities bouncing back to their pre pregnancy figures and while I knew to take it all with a pinch of salt it's still there at the back of your mind! At the end of April 2015 myself and my mother joined Weight Watchers together. It really helped that we did it together because we could talk about different food and recipes. If we were out and about we would help keep each other on track. I've always preferred saying I'm starting a healthy eating plan rather than I'm going on a diet. I really feel on Weight Watchers you can eat lots, even the treats, in moderation. We went to our meetings religiously every Thursday morning, we weighed in and stayed for the meeting which too was vital, the meetings have so much useful information and just keep you motivated to keep going. This time around I didn't really get to include any exercise, with 3 kids I just really didn't have the time. I had great will power most times, I ate porridge for breakfast, usually eggs of some sort for lunch and a healthy meat, spuds and veg with out all the extra sauces and butter for dinner. Every night I would have a weight watchers chocolate bar and a cup of tea. The treat at the end of the day really kept me focused not to pig out during the day. The weekends I was a lot more relaxed about my food, we usually went out for dinner or had a take away but I would watch my portion sizes and remind myself that I didn't have to eat every single morsel that was served up to me! I changed a few things things like using Brennans Be Good bread instead of regular white bread. I changed to unsweetened almond milk. I began to use brown rice and pasta instead of white. I made healthy alternatives for dessert. I really found small changes made a big difference. Over the course of 12 months I lost 2 stone. Genuinely this was by watching what I was eating, not including any exercises. Even though I lost all the weight and fitted into my clothes I still have what I call a 'pouch' from the C-section, but I just don't think that is gonna go!

My sisters wedding last November was the goal that kept me focused, I even got through Christmas fairly okay, but I definitely have hit a bump on the road. I am not watching what I eat at all, I'm being lazy about my food choices and the pounds are creeping back on. I'm planning on getting back to my weight watcher meetings every week, and what works for me is if I plan my food. So on a Sunday I want to write down what we will eat for the week and buy everything we need to keep me on track. I think it's important to have healthy food in the presses. The one time of day I really struggle with is when I get home from work at about 4, I find the biscuit tin is being raided, so I need to plan out a healthy snack for this time.
With my own wedding this November I think I have a good enough goal to work towards! I'll keep you posted how I am getting on!

I'd love to know how you stay on track with your healthy eating,,, please share any tips you have!