The Yummy Mummy

When I started my weight loss blog, I met so many wonderful women who stood up to beat the odds and start their weight loss journey. One among such women was Pman16. She approached me in my weight loss thread. I can literally trace her progress in that thread.

She has been extremely loyal towards her weight loss project. Her loyalty and determination was an inspiration to me as well. Below are the few questions that Pma16 had answered.

So for all the mothers out there who think weight loss is not possible with so many things to do, here is Pman16 for you. The mom of two who started and finished her weight loss with amazing results.

An Interview with Pman16

1. What was your start weight and your final weight.

Start weight : 140 lbs

During 2nd pregnancy : 155lbs

Now: 137 lbs.

Though people say I look slim enough now, I trust only the ideal BMI. Hook or crook, I m going to get there in the next 6months.

2. How you got motivated.

Health is my first priority. More than all the benefits of weight loss, health was/is my main concern. I was a skinny person until my 1st delivery hence i knew that if I seriously diet and exercise, I would get results.

3. How your perception to weight loss changed.

Needless to say, my perception to weight loss changed after I read Shiva's blog. She mentioned in her blog many times that weight loss never fails. If she could, then why not me.....was my perception...so I followed her thread closely and applied what suited me to get results.

Many celebrity moms have managed to look slim even after having kids. So this is not humanly impossible. We ourselves tend to eat under the pretext of upbringing. Weight loss for moms might be a slow task because of our hectic schedules. Take your own time. I could have achieved excellent results maybe in less than an year but since I am the sole caretaker of my sweet home, I did at a snail's pace.

4. What you did to achieve the results.

Being a typical south Indian eating rice for lunch and dinner, it was difficult for me to switch from rice to wheat. I made my wheat based dishes very tempting to eat so that I didnt regret eating rice like cracked wheat pulav/biryani, cracked wheat bhath, cracked wheat curd rice etc.

I tried various kinds of mixed veggie parathas to fill up.Being used to eat curd rice at the end of my meal, I made raitas like spinach raita,cucumber raita,lauki raita etc so that I would get the cool feeling at the end.

Basically, I used to make this all-veggies soup. Since I dont find time due to kids to make the soup from the scratch, I used the soup powders available in the store as the base.
Fruits and salads are a vital part of dieting. It not only helps in weight loss but also improves the complexion.

5. Your diet and your exercise schedule.

EXERCISE:

I used to go for aerobics twice a day for about 6 months.Here I realized my body was getting used to a routine type of exercise. I needed more challenging workout so decided to join the gym which offers hourly classes such as body sculpting,cardio,cycling, etc

Earlier I used to get tired walking 30mins on road and think I was doing a great job.

I wanted to target my belly and the side bulges. So I started doing crunches every single day. First I started with 30 then increased to 50 and now I can do 300 crunches in one session easily but in sets.

I used to go to gym every single day during my kids summer vacation and tried different types of exercise. One hour cardio, cycling, dance workouts etc. After a month I planned a routine for myself.

On some days, when kids get cranky I used to skip the gym and play badminton with them. It was a good exercise for me too being with them.

6. How long it took you to loose.

It took one long year for me to come back to my pre-preg weight. As I am a mom of 2 kids, I didn't want to rush and get temporary results and again start from ground zero. I wanted some permanent results so I took baby steps and didnt ever exclude any food habits which I cannot avoid for eg; my chai with milk and sugar.

7. Any other interesting things or facts

For all those moms looking to lose weight:
DONT BE DEPENDENT ON YOUR HUSBAND to help you in your weight loss journey.

If he is helpful to you, then its good. If not, stop cribbing and stop expecting that he would babysit your kid while you workout.

Here, lets not talk about his responsibilities of being an equal responsible parent. Since this article is all about weight loss, lets see the bigger picture. A woman who is confident of herself can be a better wife and a good mom.

Agree or not, overweight tends to creep in your marital life too in some form or the other. While everyone used to get excited about a potluck or weekend gathering, I used to worry about the pictures which would feature my bulges and would start making some excuses of avoiding the gathering. Photos from India where over sized ladies side pose in sarees would scare me and I would imagine that I too was one among them.

I managed to put my toddler in stroller (even if she's sleeping) and go for walking with the best music on. If I skip chanting slokas at home, I have a printout of all of them and I carry it to the gym and chant them while I am on treadmill. I hope even God wouldn't mind if I am not in my best dressed sari and sitting in a corner to chant slokas.

The best time to start weight loss journey for moms is summer vacation. As the days are long and weather is good, we can plan many activities for kids as well as ourselves.

Look for a gym which offers free child watch or nominal babysitting charges.If you cannot afford to go every single day, then plan for atleast 3 days a week. Slowly kids will have their space and we can get back in shape.

There are numerous ways to keep our goal reminders.First and the foremost thing we need is a positive frame of mind. You need the determination of 'why not' then you will get the answer for your 'how'. Weight loss doesn't happen overnight nor there is any magical pill which will shrink your body.

Remember,during pregnancy for 9 long months our tummies had to stretch to accommodate the baby. So give yourself at least the same or more time to get back to pre-pregnancy weight and shape.

8. Compliments You recieve now.

Shiva, now that the summer is approaching, I wore few old tops and got many good compliments from people around. I remembered your word 'yummy mummy' when I got those compliments.

My son is 10yr old now and a friend said, you don't look like a pre-teenager's mom at all,its hard to believe that you are mom of 2 kids etc etc.I feel soooo good now.

I cannot stop looking at myself in the mirror throughout the day. Since my facial fat also has reduced abundantly,I feel so light and (they say) I am looking young now. Thanks to the fruits and soups, my face is glowing so much.

9. Pointer to moms

1. Many ladies think that without car driving they cannot achieve big results. If you think that I had an excellent support system to achieve my success then you are wrong.

I do not have any domestic help, I drive on my own, transport kids to school on my own.

Though my husband is a good supportive person, he cannot be there for me always to babysit the kids. Moreover,always talking about weight loss and related stuff would not interest men. I learnt car driving so that I could be more mobile and explore new world.

2. For moms we need to chalk out our food very carefully while dieting. Shiva has mentioned wonderful tips in her blog about freezing food and making microwave dishes. Check them out. In advanced countries, we have easy access to right kind of foods as well as wrong ones. If you find McDonalds then you can find a Whole foods store too. Now it is up to us to decide which is good for us in the long run.

If you don't get inspired to start a weight loss journey, take a reverse approach. Read articles about overweight and other health risks associated with it. The health problems that stem from being overweight go way beyond the ones we usually hear about, like diabetes and heart disease. Being overweight can also affect a person's joints, breathing, sleep, mood, and energy levels. So being overweight can impact a person's entire quality of life.

This reverse approach helps a lot for us to motivate ourselves. Remember when in 40s and 50s kids will be independent and if you are overweight/obese, it will be difficult to enjoy life with them. Doctor office visits, medicines etc will come in your way of enjoyment in every phase.Look at a bigger picture of health and happiness.

Another approach I followed is the 'before and after approach'. I made an album with my pictures of before marriage/pregnancies in the BEFORE section and my overweight photos in the AFTER section and left blank space in the NOW section. This reminded me about my weight loss journey all the time. I can now add photos in the NOW section happily.

3. Overweight moms also get negative comments when the kid(s) and hubby are slim. Many times I used to get a comment that I am eating the share of their food too.

No doubt I had to work on it. So,if you are one among those moms, better start working on it and turn the tables around. Lets join hands together and get rid of those bulges. They are not our assets but long term liabilities.

4. After weight loss and especially toning up, I feel like a young girl with grown up kids. I love the new ME! Remember this is possible. If I could do it, then you could too.Do the mommies out there not want to hear such good compliments too. Then gear up and get started. Start the journey from plus size to zero size.
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Why was Pman16 able to achieve her weight loss because she decided to stand up.

Remember the choice is always ours, either to sit on the steps of the arena and watch the game play or to come forward in the ground and play the game of our life.

We are what we choose to be, the player or the spectator.

This article is from a forum where I write and Pman16 is one of the members.