Motivating Mum Kate O’Brien shares how she stays organised with Lose Baby Weight after losing over 8kg on our weight loss plans
kateo

Wow 1/3 of the way through the first month of the year already! I love what the New Year has brought and how ready I am to shift this baby weight and focus on being healthy and fit.
The January 28 Day Challenge has been so much fun and I love all the new recipes that have come out so far. The exercises are heart pumping but don’t require any major fitness equipment or gym memberships and can be done around the kids and fit really well into our daily routine. Perfect in my eyes.
I am a massive believer in being prepared to succeed (and I am also an organised freak). I love routines and lists and being organised. I have routine lists on the wall in the kitchen and have scheduled times to exercise so that I don’t get to the end of the day, exhausted about to climb into bed and remember I haven’t done any scheduled exercise today (life is always full of incidental exercise – who else squats whilst waiting for the kettle to boil?) I love menu plans, I plan out the entire week and love that I don’t have to try and think about what is in the cupboard and what I can make for dinner, it’s always planned out and unless something is forgotten at the supermarket its ready to be transformed into a delicious, healthy meal.
I have post it notes scattered all through cook books on recipes we either love or want to try so come Friday, the night before grocery shopping day, I can easily scan through these books (my favourites at the moment are the Lose Baby Weight 28 Day Diet and Exercise Plan, The Healthy Mummy Spring & Summer Cookbook and I also print out challenge meals and have them stored in plastic sleeves inside a lever arch folder) and plan out snacks and meals for the week.
kateb
 
On the outside of the fridge I have a “Freezer Inventory” which is used to keep track of what meat, veggies and fruits are stored in there, this prevents me from over buying meat and helps me use what is in there without it being forgotten in the bottom.
kateb1
I am also really enjoying trying new Healthy Mummy Smoothie combinations. I have written out basic ingredients lists to stick on the side of the fridge next to my “smoothie station” so that I can really quickly see what I need without having to flick through recipe books. I was previously having the same smoothies every day (Radical Raspberry) and while that one was yum, now that I have branched out and tried new ones (currently loving Banana Latte, Banana Oat Buster and the Chocolate Donut) I am finding a renewed love for The Healthy Mummy Smoothie (I didn’t think I could love them any more).
I find that come lunchtime I am too busy feeding the kids to make myself anything so I make a double smoothie in the morning and pop ½ in a smoothie bottle and in the fridge so when lunchtime comes around I can just grab it out the fridge, shake and drink away whilst feeding miss 8 months. I highly recommend getting out of your comfort zone and trying some new ingredients, next on my list is to give the strawberry Healthy Mummy Smoothie powder a try. I’m thinking it would go really nicely with some frozen mango!
We have had massive thunderstorms here the past week so my evening walk with the puppy has been cancelled most days (walking outside in the lightening and hail doesn’t appeal to me at all) so to reach my 10,000 step daily goal I have been marching on the spot most evenings instead of just lounging around with hubby. I love how this goal (I’m up to a month of 10,000 steps every day) has kept me moving, on days when I work I struggle to get my steps in and previously I would have come home and just sat in front of the TV after putting the kids to bed, now I stand up marching whilst watching the tv, and I feel so much better for it.
The scales haven’t been amazingly kind to me but I am starting to feel my weightloss in other ways. Clothes that were once to tight or suddenly slipping off me, my engagement ring keeps slipping around (I got my wedding ring a smaller size so thankfully it is holding the engagement ring on my finger), and weirdly enough kneeling on the ground to play with my kids is easier (hello smaller legs!).
I treated myself this week and tried out the Coffee Body Scrub and OMG anyone who hasn’t tried it really should, it was just what I needed to regroup and relax and I felt so amazing afterwards. This is definitely something I will be doing more often. Us mums deserve to feel special occasionally.
Kate O’Brien
Need to stock up on Healthy Mummy Smoothies? Then see our shop here
And join our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges here