No, this isn't a challenge to myself or some super diet, it is infact how much weight I managed to put on whilst on holiday. Yes you read that right 7lbs! In 7 days! After eating chips, ice cream and drinking wine every day for a week I can't say I was actually surprised, just a bit disappointed! Ho hum, the food was goooood and definitely worth it! Here I am on the first night (on the left) with my sister in law before the mega consumption happened!
Anyway we had a great time and enjoyed every sip and mouthful, but now it is time to get back to normal! As I write this post we have been back for 10 days, 3 whole days longer than we were away for and alas, I am not 7lbs lighter as yet! I have however managed to shed 4lbs so we are not doing too badly!
I want to get back to my normal weight as soon as is sensibly possible, I am not one for fad or extreme diets, not least because I just love to eat!
I have reverted back to eating as I normally would, which consists of lots of fruit for breakfast, maybe with yogurt or swapped for wholemeal toast or porridge on occasion. I like sticking to fruit for breakfast because if I do eat cereal or toast then I find I am hungry by 10am, but with fruit I feel like I can keep eating an apple here and a handful of grapes there all throughout the morning and it feels like I have still had only one breakfast! Then at lunchtime I will typically have tomato soup or cous cous with sweetcorn, which does sound really boring but I love it!! I do tend to then have a yogurt and maybe more fruit! Between 3 and 4pm is usually my weak time of day and if I am going to have something naughty then it will be then! I try to keep something like branflakes or Special K in to have, because by this point I have had enough fruit, but I will admit that 9 times out of 10 I end up with a packet of crisps or some banana chips, which are a little addiction of mine!! Then for dinner we have lots of pasta dishes, lots of curries and chilli, and we also make a lot of meals from a Weightwatcher recipe book which I got after I had Thomas. We always make our meals from scratch, no matter how busy we are, I have saved so many calories on meals by doing this, not to mention cutting down on salt and fats whilst increasing our fresh veg intake which is surely all good stuff! I also always have brown bread, pasta, rice and couscous, this is for 2 reasons, the 1st and main one being that is is better for you nutritionally speaking and the 2nd is that I find it more filling and therefore have a smaller portion saving on calories bonus! Did you know that the milling process to make brown foods white destroys a huge % of the vitamins!
So overall my diet I think is not too bad right? Opps, did I forget to mention the odd meal out and choccy bar...
I also try to do a bit of exercise every day as well and I know that if you do the same thing over and over for more than 6 weeks your body tends to plateau so I try to mix it up if possible. My various activities include hula hooping, walking, my crosstrainer and treadmill as well as crunches, arm exercises and bum exercises! Sometimes this can be as simple as walking with Thomas for 30 minutes to the park, making sure I am walking briskly, and sometimes it can be a good hour work out! It all depends on what we are up to that day! I am also due to start a Pilates class this Thursday and I am excited for that! I was also doing ice skating once a week before I had Thomas and recently tried to start up my lessons again, but the nearest rink is a 40 minute drive away and after I had Thomas I found it was too far away too late at night. Maybe next year! Anyway I find that variety really helps to keep me motivated and keep going! I love to be active and running around after Thomas surely helps too!
What tips and tricks do you have for keeping healthy? Is there any exercise that you do for fun as much as the health benefits? I would love to hear of any healthy but yummy recipes you may have too!
x
