My strong belief is that you should not try and try to lose your pregnancy weight or go onto a weight loss plan until you are ready to do so. And this means physically ready and emotionally. Pregnancy is an exhausting process in itself on the body and if that isn’t tough enough the first few months of life with your newborn are mentally and physically exhausting with 90% of mums being extremely sleep deprived with a baby who wakes repeatedly during the night.
So if you put the added pressure on yourself too soon to lose the baby weight and lose the stomach fat, you will likely find it difficult to find the motivation to follow your weight loss and healthy eating plan and may hit some stumbling blocks.
I often find that the best weight loss success stories come when a mum has reached her ‘tipping point’, and this is different for each woman. The ‘tipping point’ refers to the point in time when someone has an experience or feeling when they say, “that’s it I am going to lose this weight”. The ‘tipping point’ is an individual, personal and emotional experience and for each mum it is unique and different – as well as can happen at different times – but it will carry you through your weight loss as whenever you feel tempted to overeat you will tap back into that ‘tipping point’ feeling which will continue to spur you on and ensure you eat healthy foods instead.
I had a friend with two children and her ‘tipping point’ came when we went to a Gwen Stefani concert and as I am sure you know Gwen has an amazing body and my friend just couldn’t believe how good she looked after two children when she felt that she did not. That ‘tipping point’ spurred her on to lose 22kg and she would constantly say to everyone and anyone “I am on the Gwen Stefani diet”.
Here are a fewt ‘tipping points’ that I hear from the mums I help to lose weight
- Seeing a video of themselves wearing jeans that were baggy on her but which she couldn’t even do up now anymore
- Seeing a girlfriend out shopping who had had babies at the same time as her but who looked amazing
- Getting out of breath trying to play chase with their kids and they realised that being overweight was going to impact the quality time with her kids and her longevity
- Looking at themselves naked in a mirror
- Trying on an old favourite outfit and having no hope of getting into it
- Having a wedding or event to go to and wanting to look good and lose weight by that time
- Their baby being 12 months old and them still carrying 12kg of baby weight
- Going on holiday and having to get into a bikini/swimsuit
- Wanting to start trying for another baby and needing to lose weight first
- Feeling depressed about the weight and waking up one morning saying “this is it, I am going to do something about it”
There are hundreds of these “tipping points” and you have to come to yours and know yours before starting on your weight loss campaign as this will help you stay motivated and focused when you are losing weight and following your healthy eating plan.
If you need help losing your weight please see our plans which will help you achieve your goals and stay focussed
