Motivating Mum Sam Stevenson Loses 12kgs And Shares How She Manages IBS

Motivating Mum Sam Stevenson has lost an amazing 12kgs with Lose Baby Weight and shares how shes deals with IBS Irritable Bowl Syndrome.

I, like a lot of woman out there go to bed at night wishing I would wake up looking differently to when I went to bed the night before – with a more toned tummy, less jiggle on my legs, no more bat wing arms. Only I actually DO wake up looking different. But that is because I suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). I have recently been diagnosed with IBS and was really annoyed to say the least when I found out.
Don’t get me wrong, I was relieved that it wasn’t something more sinister, but still annoyed because the first thought I had was that I would have to stop my Healthy Mummy smoothies and stop following Lose Baby Weight, which has given me so much success.  It’s a constant mental battle to see my body transform from what it now looks like after an 11kg weight loss, into a bloated, cramping, farting mess!
I wake up each morning looking like what I would class as ‘normal’. Well normal for me. Depending on what I eat will depend on what type of day I have, symptoms wise. A good day is when I have no flare ups of IBS and show no symptoms.
A bad day is when I am sitting on the toilet for what seems like an eternity, and with a stomach that resembles a 7month old pregnant belly and I am also in pain. My symptoms can be quite sever – ranging from a bloated stomach, headaches, stomach cramps, reflux, itching eyes, nausea, flatulence and long and / or frequent trips to the loo. I can have some of all of these symptoms all at the same time.I have been advised I need to follow a full exclusion low FODMAP diet – basically that means they have given me a list of food I can and can’t have. There are some foods that I can have but only in slight moderation.
My utter devastation when I looked at the list of foods that I COULDN’T have, which include (there are LOTS I have left out but this is just a sample of my ‘no’ foods): apples, pears, watermelon, mangoes, stone fruit, avocadoes, snow peas,  peas, sweet potato, over ripe bananas (that you would use in cooking), dates (noooooooooo.
Bliss balls I miss you!!!), dried fruit, asparagus, beetroot, cauliflower, corn, garlic, onion,  spring onions, mushrooms, bread (that contains gluten), oats, almonds, cashews, chickpeas, red kidney beans, ricotta cheese, milk (that is not lactose free), greek yoghurt, balsamic vinegar, honey, coconut water, shredded coconut and flours (plain and self raising) that contain gluten.
So as you can imagine I was a little over whelmed to say the least. But can I tell you something???? It is totally doable. Trial and error and lots of looking up foods is my life at the moment. I still have a Healthy Mummy Smoothie each morning, but I have to tailor what I have in it to suit my dietary requirements. Challenge meals??? Easy peasy. I just customise my meal plan to ensure I chose meals that I can primarily eat and just tailor the ingredients once again. I cook pretty much the same food for my husband and 1 year old son too, as my husband is wanting to support me as he knows how hard it can be some days. It’s the mental battle as I mentioned before that is the hardest.
When I see my bloated tummy there is that little voice inside my head telling me that it has all been in vein, that I really haven’t made any progress and to just give up. What I see in the mirror and what I know about how I look are two different things.
If you can take anything away from this blog it is to remember to trust in what you know not always what you can see – as the mirror, just like the scales can tell porky pies.
The difference in the photos is after an IBS flare up on the left, and my ‘normal’ tummy on the right.
Thanks for reading,
Have a great day mummas,
Sam
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