I've been reading back a bit on the blog recently, I wanted to see just how much weight I lost 4 years ago after our wedding, to see what weight I was then when I felt so healthy and comfortable in my clothes. I was 12 stone 2 lbs at my lowest. It took me 14 weeks to get to that weight, having lost 1 stone and 2 lbs. I did it on my own sensible (still included cake) healthy eating and exercise plan including swimming, body pump and Pilates, I blogged every week with my food diary, exercise and weight and it kept me motivated and it worked.
Now that I am feeling good again having finally lost some weight 19 months after having the twins, I wanted to assess my goals as I'm now 2/3rds through my 90 day plan and want to keep going afterwards. For now, I've been aiming at losing a couple of stone. Ultimately I'd like to get back to around the 12 stone mark but for now, if I could even get below 13 stone I'd be delighted! It's funny reading my shock of being over 13 stone back in 2012 when I got a kick start into sorting out my post-wedding weight gain! And shocked again at being 14 stone when we were going through the stress of IVF and I turned to food as a comfort. Who knew I'd end up at 15 stone after having the twins!!
I've found it really interesting reading back my old posts on the blog, I'd forgotten a lot about my weight and how I lost it and then gained it again. I never realised quite how up and down it was! It definitely goes with the ups and downs of life! I'm hoping now I've found this plan and have managed to fit it in and enjoy it while also being a part time working mother of twins, I have proved to myself it can be part of my lifestyle and is definitely something I can maintain. It's so much better to be feeling healthy and strong as well as feeling good in my clothes. I hope this is it now and I can be a good example for my kids.
I've decided to chart my weight here to show myself just how far I've come. Looking up old photos (some of which have never before seen the light of the web) has been shocking and motivating! It's quite interesting to see the drastic differences with the photos side by side as when it's happening gradually you don't always notice just how bad it's gotten! Although I talk about my weight a lot in this post, I know that's just part of it - for me it's about being fit and healthy as well as comfortable in my clothes, it makes such a difference to my confidence and general happiness when I exercise and feel I have the balance right in general and not just on the scales.
Before our wedding, I don't really know how much I weighed. I never really paid a lot of attention to it as I'd been a fairly steady weight and size since university. I'd guess between 11 and 12 stone. Size 12.
It was only when I gained a lot of weight after our wedding that I knew I needed to keep an eye on it and make changes.
I was shocked to find I was suddenly 13 stone 4 lbs around 8 months after we got married and a size 14-16. I made changes to my diet and started doing a lot more exercise after being lazy for far too long.
Before we found out just how difficult it would be for us to get pregnant, after almost a year of trying, I was at my lightest weight since being a student in my teens and early 20s. Age 30, I had lost weight and was happy and comfortable with how I looked and felt at 12 stone 2 lbs.
I still managed to be a happy healthy weight (although I don't know the actual number) after Christmas and LOVED my birthday dress that year.
After 2 failed attempts at IVF and looking increasingly unlikely that it would ever work, I was 14 stone after months of stress and upset. Despite needing to keep my body healthy for the IVF and a potential pregnancy, I just found it difficult to care about my weight and ate for comfort.
I was just under 13 stone a few months before I got pregnant, back when it was all going wrong, but I'd started trying to get my body healthy again.
At my university 10 year reunion I felt pretty good about my body.
I think I was around 185 lbs just before our successful IVF and then lost 8 lbs in the first 4 months with the horrendous sickness!
Right at the start of my pregnancy, at 4-5 weeks, we went to Thailand (having booked it thinking we'd need an escape when the IVF failed again!) and I was in pretty good shape considering.
During the pregnancy, despite losing 8 lbs initially, I pretty much stayed the same everywhere except my huge bump. In fact, I think my legs and arms were thinner by the end. I was pretty healthy and loved my pregnancy once the sickness died down at 17 weeks or so. I weighed 203.4 lbs at the end (14 1/2 stones), having put on 18.4 lbs over the whole pregnancy.
After having the twins, initially it was all just residual bump. I even managed to wear some stretchy pre-pregnancy jeans sitting under the bump in November but I mostly wore my maternity jeans for comfort due to my Caesarian wound and big belly. I had my amazing, gorgeous babies and I didn't care about how I looked for a long time.
I didn't weigh myself until January, about 2 months after the birth and I was 195 lbs so about 10 lbs higher than I'd been before the IVF which I was fine with. Of course, after my section I hadn't been able to exercise, plus I had two newborns to cope with, was breastfeeding which made me hungry ALL THE TIME and it was winter. We mostly stayed cosied up indoors and ate yummy things like mince pies with cream and lots of cheese. Then Mum left to go home to Saudi and I did even less exercise and ate even worse as I was on my own with the twins all the time.
By summer I was at my heaviest EVER weight at just over 15 stones (210.4 lbs) - more than when I had TWO babies inside me!
As a result of all the bad eating and lack of exercise, I ballooned and put on 15 lbs over spring and early summer. I had no motivation to lose any weight and mostly wore baggy things to hide myself. I was incredibly lonely that first year with no local friends to meet up with, I just trundled along, me and the twins taking it day by day. I was a size 18-20 and wearing either maternity jeans or stretchy high-waisted trousers and massive tops due to my huge milky boobs! (I never did get them measured but I reckon they were at least a G cup. I had been a 36B before pregancy but then had to buy a 38DD when I was pregnant and just got XL stretchy nursing bras after that!)
Mum came back for a visit and then we went to Saudi and I managed to do lots of exercise there in the pool and lost 8 lbs.
It was in July that I discovered The Body Coach but I still didn't feel I was ready for that kind of commitment with the twins' sleep habits all over the place and knowing I was going back to solo parenting two (newly mobile) babies when I returned home. Plus I was going to be starting a new job part time and just wasn't sure how I'd be coping with life generally.
My weight stayed around the same, fluctuating by around 2-4 lbs over the next few months. I finally started getting back into exercise in 2016 when I became close to another mum from the twins' swimming class, she suggested we meet at a lovely local hotel pool where we ended up managing to get a good deal on day passes. We would swim (and sometimes even gym first), then chat in the steam room and Jacuzzi afterwards. It was wonderful and I finally started feeling better about myself. I finally felt motivated to sort myself out and get fit again.
By March I weighed 14 st 7.8 lbs and I felt ready to start The Body Coach 90 day SSS plan but we had a wedding to go to and Mum & Dad were back visiting so I knew we'd be going out to eat a lot, plus - Easter! I bought Joe's first book and started making some of the recipes to see how I liked them and whether I thought I could stick to the plan. I tried one of his youtube HIIT sessions and it killed me but I did it and it was only 20 minutes. Once Mum and Dad left, I signed up. I was pretty much back to the weight I was when I was 37 weeks pregnant and had to do something about it.
I lost just 6 lbs, from 14 st 6 lbs to 14 st, in Cycle 1 of the 90 day SSS plan but lost 8 inches including 1.5 from my waist and 2.5 from my hips. It was the before and after pictures where I noticed the big changes with my back rolls disappearing and stomach slowly but surely shrinking at last. My old belts which I couldn't even get to touch round my waist last summer fit me again.
On Cycle 2 I've noticed more changes as I've progressed and after 3 weeks on C2 (7 weeks into the plan), I tried on some of my old jeans for a night out at the cinema. They fit! I was delighted, so the next day, I tried some more of my old wardrobe. My NON-stretchy trousers and jeans fit me again, I'm back in my size 16 clothes! My size 20 trousers are now falling down, yay! Not only that but I've also gone down another 2 holes on my belt too! (My belts didn't even touch when I tried them around my waist last year!)
So here I am at 13 stone 6 lbs and I feel great! It's funny how I was horrified to be 13 st 4 lbs four and a half years ago and yet now, I'm delighted to be this weight! I never thought I'd be 15 stone but it happened and since then I've lost 22.4 lbs (1.6 stone)! I do still need to keep getting fitter though and want to fit back into my "thin jeans" I wore when I lost weight in 2012.
I've just submitted my results for Cycle 2 and am awaiting my 3rd and final cycle to complete Joe's plan before I am off on my own. Although I'm nowhere near my lowest weight of 12 stone 2 lbs, I'm definitely getting slimmer and more toned. I've lost a stone in 8 weeks!
I know I will never have the same body as before, no matter how much weight I lose. I have crazy loose, saggy, stretched skin on my stomach which hangs down after carrying two babies at the same time for 37 weeks, followed by a Caesarian, plus my boobs have gone all flat and empty (and also covered in saggy stretch marks) after breast-feeding the twins for 15 months but I just need to remind myself of what an achievement those things were and how amazing my body is to have managed it! Cheese alert! Not to mention the amazing little people we now have bringing us joy every day! I wouldn't be without them, whatever the cost to my body.
I will write more about Cycle 2 very soon. Obviously as I have more muscle from the weight training, I weigh more than I would if I'd just lost fat, despite probably being thinner so I only use weight as a rough guide nowadays. I'm trying to find my measurements from 2012 to compare. (I wrote them on a scrap of paper which may or may not have made it here through the move.) I know from which clothes I can fit into how I am doing and use them as my targets. I also got a great idea from a friend of mine recently, she tried on her wedding dress on her 5th wedding anniversary. Ours is in 2 weeks, I wonder if mine will fit!?
Here's to Cycle 3!
Update:
Now that I am feeling good again having finally lost some weight 19 months after having the twins, I wanted to assess my goals as I'm now 2/3rds through my 90 day plan and want to keep going afterwards. For now, I've been aiming at losing a couple of stone. Ultimately I'd like to get back to around the 12 stone mark but for now, if I could even get below 13 stone I'd be delighted! It's funny reading my shock of being over 13 stone back in 2012 when I got a kick start into sorting out my post-wedding weight gain! And shocked again at being 14 stone when we were going through the stress of IVF and I turned to food as a comfort. Who knew I'd end up at 15 stone after having the twins!!
I've found it really interesting reading back my old posts on the blog, I'd forgotten a lot about my weight and how I lost it and then gained it again. I never realised quite how up and down it was! It definitely goes with the ups and downs of life! I'm hoping now I've found this plan and have managed to fit it in and enjoy it while also being a part time working mother of twins, I have proved to myself it can be part of my lifestyle and is definitely something I can maintain. It's so much better to be feeling healthy and strong as well as feeling good in my clothes. I hope this is it now and I can be a good example for my kids.
I've decided to chart my weight here to show myself just how far I've come. Looking up old photos (some of which have never before seen the light of the web) has been shocking and motivating! It's quite interesting to see the drastic differences with the photos side by side as when it's happening gradually you don't always notice just how bad it's gotten! Although I talk about my weight a lot in this post, I know that's just part of it - for me it's about being fit and healthy as well as comfortable in my clothes, it makes such a difference to my confidence and general happiness when I exercise and feel I have the balance right in general and not just on the scales.
Pre-wedding - 2011 - 161 lbs
 |
| Me on Fraser Island, Australia 2004 - size 10-12 Weight 73kg (161 lbs) - I know because they wrote it on my hand when I bungy jumped in Cairns! |
 |
| On my first holiday with Nik back in 2009. |
It was only when I gained a lot of weight after our wedding that I knew I needed to keep an eye on it and make changes.
 |
| Dad and I on my wedding day |
Post-wedding - March 2012 - 186 lbs
 |
| Unhappy with my appearance in Feb 2012 |
May - June 2012 - 170 lbs
Before we found out just how difficult it would be for us to get pregnant, after almost a year of trying, I was at my lightest weight since being a student in my teens and early 20s. Age 30, I had lost weight and was happy and comfortable with how I looked and felt at 12 stone 2 lbs.
 |
| On holiday in Sorrento, I can't wait to fit back in to my favourite dresses and skirts! |
December 2012
I still managed to be a happy healthy weight (although I don't know the actual number) after Christmas and LOVED my birthday dress that year.
 |
| 30th Dec, my 31st birthday |
November 2013 - 196 lbs
Pre-pregnancy - Dec 2013 - 181 lbs
At my university 10 year reunion I felt pretty good about my body.
March 2014 - 185 lbs
Right at the start of my pregnancy, at 4-5 weeks, we went to Thailand (having booked it thinking we'd need an escape when the IVF failed again!) and I was in pretty good shape considering.
Pregnancy - March - November 2014 -
185 - 177 - 203.4 lbs
During the pregnancy, despite losing 8 lbs initially, I pretty much stayed the same everywhere except my huge bump. In fact, I think my legs and arms were thinner by the end. I was pretty healthy and loved my pregnancy once the sickness died down at 17 weeks or so. I weighed 203.4 lbs at the end (14 1/2 stones), having put on 18.4 lbs over the whole pregnancy.
 |
| 21 weeks |
 |
| 34 weeks |
Post-pregnancy - November 2014 - January 2015 - 195 lbs
After having the twins, initially it was all just residual bump. I even managed to wear some stretchy pre-pregnancy jeans sitting under the bump in November but I mostly wore my maternity jeans for comfort due to my Caesarian wound and big belly. I had my amazing, gorgeous babies and I didn't care about how I looked for a long time.
 |
| November |
I didn't weigh myself until January, about 2 months after the birth and I was 195 lbs so about 10 lbs higher than I'd been before the IVF which I was fine with. Of course, after my section I hadn't been able to exercise, plus I had two newborns to cope with, was breastfeeding which made me hungry ALL THE TIME and it was winter. We mostly stayed cosied up indoors and ate yummy things like mince pies with cream and lots of cheese. Then Mum left to go home to Saudi and I did even less exercise and ate even worse as I was on my own with the twins all the time.
 |
| 5 months after the birth (April) |
June-July 2015 - 210.4 lbs!
By summer I was at my heaviest EVER weight at just over 15 stones (210.4 lbs) - more than when I had TWO babies inside me!
As a result of all the bad eating and lack of exercise, I ballooned and put on 15 lbs over spring and early summer. I had no motivation to lose any weight and mostly wore baggy things to hide myself. I was incredibly lonely that first year with no local friends to meet up with, I just trundled along, me and the twins taking it day by day. I was a size 18-20 and wearing either maternity jeans or stretchy high-waisted trousers and massive tops due to my huge milky boobs! (I never did get them measured but I reckon they were at least a G cup. I had been a 36B before pregancy but then had to buy a 38DD when I was pregnant and just got XL stretchy nursing bras after that!)
It was in July that I discovered The Body Coach but I still didn't feel I was ready for that kind of commitment with the twins' sleep habits all over the place and knowing I was going back to solo parenting two (newly mobile) babies when I returned home. Plus I was going to be starting a new job part time and just wasn't sure how I'd be coping with life generally.
August 2015 - 204 lbs - Jan 2016 - 204.6 lbs
My weight stayed around the same, fluctuating by around 2-4 lbs over the next few months. I finally started getting back into exercise in 2016 when I became close to another mum from the twins' swimming class, she suggested we meet at a lovely local hotel pool where we ended up managing to get a good deal on day passes. We would swim (and sometimes even gym first), then chat in the steam room and Jacuzzi afterwards. It was wonderful and I finally started feeling better about myself. I finally felt motivated to sort myself out and get fit again.
March 2016 - 203.8 lbs
 |
| In full on spanx! |
 |
| Minus the spanx! |
April - May 2016 - Cycle 1
202 lbs - 195.8 lbs
May - June 2016
195.8 lbs - 190 lbs
June 2016 - 188 lbs
So here I am at 13 stone 6 lbs and I feel great! It's funny how I was horrified to be 13 st 4 lbs four and a half years ago and yet now, I'm delighted to be this weight! I never thought I'd be 15 stone but it happened and since then I've lost 22.4 lbs (1.6 stone)! I do still need to keep getting fitter though and want to fit back into my "thin jeans" I wore when I lost weight in 2012.
I've just submitted my results for Cycle 2 and am awaiting my 3rd and final cycle to complete Joe's plan before I am off on my own. Although I'm nowhere near my lowest weight of 12 stone 2 lbs, I'm definitely getting slimmer and more toned. I've lost a stone in 8 weeks!
 |
| Start - End of C1 - End of C2 Start - 4 weeks - 8 weeks |
I know I will never have the same body as before, no matter how much weight I lose. I have crazy loose, saggy, stretched skin on my stomach which hangs down after carrying two babies at the same time for 37 weeks, followed by a Caesarian, plus my boobs have gone all flat and empty (and also covered in saggy stretch marks) after breast-feeding the twins for 15 months but I just need to remind myself of what an achievement those things were and how amazing my body is to have managed it! Cheese alert! Not to mention the amazing little people we now have bringing us joy every day! I wouldn't be without them, whatever the cost to my body.
I will write more about Cycle 2 very soon. Obviously as I have more muscle from the weight training, I weigh more than I would if I'd just lost fat, despite probably being thinner so I only use weight as a rough guide nowadays. I'm trying to find my measurements from 2012 to compare. (I wrote them on a scrap of paper which may or may not have made it here through the move.) I know from which clothes I can fit into how I am doing and use them as my targets. I also got a great idea from a friend of mine recently, she tried on her wedding dress on her 5th wedding anniversary. Ours is in 2 weeks, I wonder if mine will fit!?
Here's to Cycle 3!
Update:
3 comments:
You look AMAZING and well done for sticking to the body coach plan while juggling work and two toddlers... I don't think I'd manage it! Xxx
Great post- very inspirational! I'm similar to you in that I have struggled with my weight most of my adult life until I found a diet that worked for me -in my case the 5/2 fasting diet which I've been doing for over 3yrs and has led to me being my lowest ever adult weight (well not right now following a very indulgent holiday in Canada recently, but I know it will settle once I have been back on 5/2 for a couple of weeks). It's hard being honest with yourself when changes need to be made but the results are worth it! good on you for sticking with it!
Fab, honest post. Great photos too, you have such funky colourful style, great to see you enjoying clothes again. As mothers I think we tend to just throw clothes on in the morning rush but it really can change your mood when we dress in our favourite clothes. Keep up the good work. And I love reading your more frequent blog posts again x
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