Hello, it's My Fitness Story time again. I didn't think I was going to have a post this week but I put out a plea on Tuesday and I was deluged by offers so I'm pleased to say I've got a few posts lined up for August now. Please don't let that stop you submitting your own - you can never have too many posts lined up, I've found!
The first person who came forward to volunteer was Annie, who blogs at Mammasaurus. Annie is a mum to 8 (yes, eight!) children. With that many children, you could forgive her for not having the time to lead a healthy lifestyle. However, she lost 3 stone when her youngest was 18 months old - and she did it alone. Here, she talks about her motivation and how she did it so without further ado, here's Annie's tale which she has chosen to call...
That right there is the photo. We all have one like it at some time in our lives, one that you look at and suddenly realise that you are in fact a fair bit bigger in size than you imagined and think ‘how?!'
I have always used the ‘it took 9 months to put the weight on and it’ll take at least 9 months to lose it after’ theory. But this picky was snapped 18 months after Ozzys birth, there was no escaping it- I wasn’t happy with my weight and had to do something about it – pronto!
I’ve never been one for diets and the thought of Weight Watchers or Slimming World makes me want to hide in a corner and suck my thumb. I’m sure they work very well but I’m buggered if I’m going to let myself be herded into the village hall every fortnight for a mass weigh in. Besides, I love cooking family meals and just haven’t got the time, or inclination, to cook a separate meal for myself every day of the week.
There and then, I decided to ‘eat less and do more’. This involved 3 whole months of my own ‘diet’ – this was just something I thought up in a ‘hey let’s see if that works’ moment of probable madness. All I had to do was eat an apple for breakfast, nothing for lunch and a normal evening meal – oh, and run 2 miles each evening. And sometimes if I felt really naughty I’d have a packet of sugar free polos in the day time. No biccies, no cheese, no alcohol, no choccy. Basically – no fun!
Hubby says it was more of an eating disorder than a diet, however I did it for 3 months, lost the weight I wanted to and have switched back to normal eating now and the weight has stayed off. Maybe he was right, maybe not. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t have a cast iron will.
The first 2-3 weeks of this ‘diet’ I was really grumpy, not just bah humbug grumpy but damn, snap-your-head-off kind of grumpy. I missed biccies and booze A LOT! Also, I had never run much before so my daily 2 mile run was in the evening when no one could see me sweating along the streets all red faced and baggy bellied. To start with I could only run a bit, and then walk, then run and so on.
After a month I felt much better, I started to see a huge difference in my weight, clothes got baggier and passing an offer of a biccy felt empowering not depressing. I also noticed that I could run the 2 miles without walking, I invested in some slinky new running shorts and vest. My mood was much improved and I loved the new, slightly thinner me.
At the end of 3 months I had gone from 12 stone 5 lbs to 9 stone 5 lbs, a size 14 to a size 8. My boobies suffered along the way – 36FF to 32 D but I can live with that. My belly is still baggy- but after 8 children I don’t think it’ll ever be any other way. I eat normally but try not to overdo the ‘treats’ too much…
Well done and thank you to Annie for a great story today. As Annie found, the hardest part of any diet or fitness regime is the getting started part - it takes a good three weeks to create new habits but those 3 weeks can be really hard, but often, it is SO worth it once you've got those weeks out of the way.
Feel free to share experiences, as always, in the comments below. My guest posters really do appreciate the messages of support they get from readers.
If you would like to share your fitness story, then please contact me on Twitter or email me on the address on the About Me page. All contributions are really appreciated so do get in touch, even if you feel yours is not a worthwhile story. If it's a personal experience, it is. Do please join in - or ask your friends if you know someone has a story to tell, even if they don't blog.
Thanks for supporting My Fitness Story... and do come back for another guest post next week.
Well done and thank you to Annie for a great story today. As Annie found, the hardest part of any diet or fitness regime is the getting started part - it takes a good three weeks to create new habits but those 3 weeks can be really hard, but often, it is SO worth it once you've got those weeks out of the way.
Feel free to share experiences, as always, in the comments below. My guest posters really do appreciate the messages of support they get from readers.
If you would like to share your fitness story, then please contact me on Twitter or email me on the address on the About Me page. All contributions are really appreciated so do get in touch, even if you feel yours is not a worthwhile story. If it's a personal experience, it is. Do please join in - or ask your friends if you know someone has a story to tell, even if they don't blog.
Thanks for supporting My Fitness Story... and do come back for another guest post next week.
