The Con of Child Bearing

Losing the baby weight

Before I had our son Rohan I was a healthy weight for my height and I felt pretty good too. I did the same amount of exercise as I do now, I ate a mix of fast food and healthy food. I didn't keep track of my weight when I got pregnant with Rohan as I went by what I looked like and I looked relatively normal for a pregnant woman it was the bump that didn't! "Are you having twins!?". To be honest when I did get weighed at the doctors during pregnancy they said I was fine, so I'm thinking they might of lied, or it wasn't till after I had Rohan did I gain the weight?

After you have a baby I think you get used to the diet of stuffing food in your mouth, I call it the "Eating for two syndrome" and then as they get older you finish what ever they leave on their plate. This is what slowly adds on the pounds. But the weight only started to get me down when I noticed my arms were bruising and hurting from the excess fat and skin hanging off the muscles. THIS I had never experienced before? I went through a faze when I was a kid where I gained weight then lost it then gained it, so I wasn't new to the whole fat clothes and extra padding but now I was physically hurting!. My back is going, yes because of picking up our son but mainly because, excuse me for a second, my breasts have reached a size that my body is having a hard time coping with. Not only that but I'm so tired physically its disturbing! So I decided this was not the NEW me, I needed a new, new me, after all I need all the energy I can get running after this ball of terror. I decided to go on a gluten free diet, one because I was being tested for celiac disease (severe allergy to gluten, wheat, etc.) but I also new it was a healthy way to loose weight. It's been life changing and brought me closer to my father who also suffers from celiac disease along with my late grandfather.

Before I got pregnant I weighed in at 9 1/2 stone (136lbs)
6 Months after having Rohan I reached, *cough *cough .... 14 stone (196lbs)
I'm 5ft 5inch.

Before I got pregnant in 2011 at 9 1/2 stone.

1 day past my due date August 11th 2012

Christmas 2012

February 2013 right before my weight started going back up, I'd made it to 13 stone.

This last photo I was really proud of, I'd lost a lot of the baby weight and was feeling quite good. Sadly this was the last time (until now) I would feel that great. Not being on a set eating plan or exercise I started gaining again, even though I wasn't eating any different from when Rohan was born (or so I thought) I then started getting ill and catching everything that was going around, something you can't do being a mum as any parent will tell you. I started to worry that Ralph was resenting me for being bed ridden at times and worse wondering if he thought I was faking it. I don't know why I thought these things as he never showed that (if it was going through his mind) and he was extremely supportive through everything. It got to the point that I couldn't take it anymore, I felt like I was missing out on the milestones our family was reaching and letting them down. Test after test was taken then the very last test which happened a month ago was for celiac disease. It came back negative. I was not allergic to gluten and this was not making me ill. But I decided this wasn't going to stop me, I wanted to see if going on a gluten free diet would not only help me loose weight but help me feel better. It's been three weeks and I feel lighter, brighter and more energetic, as I am writing this I am getting over another sickness that I caught from our son but amazingly I haven't needed to stay in bed like My son and my grizzly other half <- who never gets sick. This in it's self may be a small triumph but it's still a triumph for me and my immune system!

Here are some of the things that have helped me and I recommend for anyone who wants to feel better and maybe shed some weight along the way?

The things that helped me change for the better!

This book

This book was given to me by my lovely and very supportive friend when she found out I was going on a gluten free diet. She had used it when she tried gluten free for a year as she'd been told she was slightly gluten intolerant. Her favorite recipe is the sweet and sour chicken. You can find it on amazon

This Blog

This blog was created by a woman named Christie, a mother to a daughter with celiac disease. Who started   blogging her recipes after her daughter was losing her hair and being crippled by stomach pain and they found out she was slowly being eaten away by gluten. This woman has dedicated her cooking to her daughter and created a new lifestyle of food, food that tastes beautiful. She has the only recipe for gluten free bread that I've found to come close to normal bread. And she has inspired most of my gluten free dishes. If you get really addicted to her recipes DO purchase her book and follow her blog here.

This workout

I'm in love with this workout, I never had a bum before this. Seriously, I am the poster girl for a white butt but now you would never think that. Plus this workout is slowly getting my legs and even my belly back into shape and amazingly gives me a boost of energy. 

This Yoga

I found this yoga chart on pinterest (posted from http://observando.net/post/30154667348). I still can't do ALL the positions but I'm nearly there and they do make you feel really good after, great for my back!

This facial care

I first came across this brand when I was grazing through a wedding fair. They had set up a quaint little booth at fingask castle and were running a competition to win a set of temple spa cosmetics. I entered myself into the competition not thinking much of it as there were hundreds of people there. A week later I got a phone call saying I had won the gift set. These are a treasure of a find. Great for all skin types and not only that, they are mood changing! I suffer from migraines, still unsure as to why but whenever I feel the onset of one I use temple spa's calming balm and my headache disappears, it's also given me the best sleep ever, no sleeping pill can compare! What tops it is it's all natural ingredients and smells delightful! I am now addicted to this stuff and it's cleared all the wrongs pregnancy hormones had done to my skin.
http://www.templespa.com/

~

I am still traveling along my journey of becoming healthier and learning new stuff each day. But these have been my support so far, along with family members I could never live without. I hope that these will be inspiration for those of you who have been seeking A mentor in their quest for a better self. Each one of us experience something different and each one of us benefit from something unique to there own.
This has been my experience and I'm glad I've been able to share it with you.
Now take whatever you've been given from this and start your road to the part of you you've been longing for!