My name is Helen and I'm a Bloater - MUMenTUM

In under two weeks time I'm going to be attending a book launch  and a week after that I'm going to Ladies Day at Royal Ascot. I have a dress to wear (shhh it's the same dress for both occasions!) and I feel ok in it but I know I will hate any photos of myself in it because I look and feel such a blob. I know there's not much I can do about the way I look in less than 2 weeks but I'm determined to make myself feel a bit better and at least get rid of some of the bloatiness. I know what I should be doing, I've known it for the past six months, and yet here I am still overweight and bloaty.




After reading Wendy's (Inside The Wendy House) post about her struggle with losing her last stone of baby weight it has inspired me to give MUMenTUM a try too. Unlike Wendy & Liska I'm not brave enough to post photo's of my flabby belly though, or any other photos of myself for that matter!


MUMenTUM is the brainchild of Liska and other Mums that have got together to support each other in an attempt to lose weight and their 'Mummy Tummies' . Read why Liska decided that enough was enough and something had to be done and the group was born.




My turn now.......
So, here I am biting the bullet and writing a post about how I'm going to change my habits. Maybe if I make it public I will actually stick to it.


For the next 10 days (until the book launch) I hereby swear that I will abide by the following :


1. Eat no chocolate or sweets or cakes or puddings 
I'm not a big chocolate or sweet eater but if I bake (Flapjacks for example) I find it difficult not to sample my wares. My biggest challenge will be not to eat any Vanilla Blondies when I make them for the book launch.

2. Eat no bread
I find that if I eat bread I want more, yet if I cut it out I don't seem to crave it. For the next 10 days at least I will cut it out and that means no leftover bits of Jack's toast too!

3.Cut down on caffeine
I only have around 2-3 cups of tea or coffee in a day but I find it difficult to have a cuppa without 'something to go with it'. I've bought some herbal teas as a replacement (yuk, I've never found a herbal tea that I like but I'm willing to give it a go). I won't say that I will cut it out completely as I don't fancy dealing with those withdrawal headaches.

4. No Alcohol
Contrary to popular belief I don't drink much, or rather I don't drink often, so I suppose that makes me a bit of a binge drinker, but for the next 10 days I have no need to have a drink so I wont (that is the plan).

5. Drink more water
I know I don't drink enough water, some days I don't drink any. I don't drink fizzy drinks or fruit juices so that means I'm only getting my fluids from the tea and coffee which I know is not nearly enough.

6. Eat my 5 a day
I do love fruits and vegetable and I always make sure the children get plenty but unless I make a big bowl of fruit salad to go in the fridge I rarely eat any fruit. I will try and make sure there is a bowl of fresh fruit salad in the fridge at all times and eat plenty of vegetables too.

7. Increase my exercise
Last week I started going out for a run/walk and I did it 3 times, then the weekend came and I didn't do it again.  We got a new Wii last week (little fingers broke the last one) so I really have no excuse not to do some exercise on the Wii fit - if anyone has any recommendations for good fitness games please let me know. I've looked at My Fitness Coach and Your Shape and these look like what I am looking for but if anyone has any experience using these please let me know.

(This will be the MOMenTUM group soon!)

8. Eat at regular times
Recently I have developed a bad habit of skipping breakfast. and often lunch too, and then by the evening I want food and lots of it, and usually end up eating too late, once all the children are in bed. I'm going to try and eat 3 healthy meals per day, at regular times of the day and not late into the evening.


I'm not going to stop being healthy after the 10 days but this is my first goal, I think I'll just take this one step at a time for now to avoid losing interest. I think that's all for now. I will update my progress as I go along with the other members of MUMenTUM, and thank you to all of them for welcoming me in.




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Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net