Oh Eight Oh Nine

Hey everyone!

Sorry I have been quiet lately! I’m still here and should probably take the time to write a few new posts. One topic that a lot of people wanted me to write about is how I shed 10kg in a fairly short amount of time. This will probably cross over onto another post but I thought it may be nice to have a starting point. Firstly, I want to make it very clear that in no way whatsoever am I qualified in health, nutrition or fitness haha. I’m actually very much the opposite. I know very little about health but I didn’t need someone to tell me the lifestyle I was living a few months ago wasn’t the best for my body, my happiness or my self esteem. So this post is going to be quite raw and honest- me opening up about the lows and highs of the past few months and how the change has made me a much happier person.

Pre baby I had a slim build and sat around the 63-65kilo mark. I’m 176cm tall so that evens out kinda well, I think? Meh, I don’t know but I was never unhappy with the way I looked. I put on over 20kg when I was pregnant with Chet in 2014. I carried and birthed a beautiful 9lb8 baby boy which I’m beyond proud of. The weight did drop off quite a bit when I was breast feeding but as soon as Chet stopped breast feeding, the weight literally started piling back on. I probably wasn’t eating as healthy as I should have been either, because I struggled finding motivation to cook healthy meals for myself, when Shaun worked fifo (fly in fly out.)

Fast forward to the beginning of 2017 and I really wasn’t feeling good about myself. I hadn’t worn swimwear in 2 years, I couldn’t fit into any of my clothes, I dreaded getting undressed and having to look in the mirror before stepping in the shower and I wore jeans through the entire summer season in Perth. Holy hell, it was hot. I was around 73kilos then…

In April, my world was turned upside down when my husband and I separated. It was and still is, a very emotional time for me. I’m not going to go into detail about the split because he deserves his own privacy, but what I will share are my feelings. I felt so low, I didn’t want to leave the house because I felt even worse about my appearance. The only time I really ever left home, is to take Chet to the playground or to catch up with my closest friends and their children… people who would never judge me. I continued for another 2 and a half months of shitty eating and more weight gain before I forced myself to take a picture of the truth. A picture that depicted how truly unhappy I was. It actually makes me emotional remembering those awful feelings… but anyway, that’s exactly why I needed to kick my butt into gear and I’m so thankful I did before it got worse.

In the first image above (in July) I weighed about 75ish kilos and now just over 13 weeks later I’m 11kilos lighter. I’m feeling sooo, SO happy with my progress and I’m also super proud that I actually STUCK with the small, healthier changes I put in place. I know I was never super overweight and I am a huge believer of worshiping all body types, large or small. As long as you’re happy and love the skin you’re in, then it really doesn’t matter how toned or squishy you are. For me it’s not even the digits lost, it’s the complete 360 in mentality that has made me feel at peace again! I’ll share what I did below but as I mentioned above, I am not an expert (in any way, shape or form) when it comes to health and fitness.

I started food shopping online for Chet and I. I found this great because I wasn’t tempted by the chocolate sales. The only treat I now buy are small Kinder bars and the rest of my shop is mainly packed full of fruit, veges, rice, lean meat and nuts etc…. I swapped my usual peanut butter toast for a smoothie in the morning and I also give Chet some with his breakfast. The smoothies consist of:

• 1 banana
• 1 apple
• 1/2 pear
• 3 strawberries
• blueberries
• a handful of kale or baby spinach
• half an avocado
• passionfruit pulp
• 100grams of yoghurt
• and black chia seeds.

I carry a small container of trail mix in my car so if I get hungry in between jobs I’m not tempted to get something naughty. If I have more than one coffee a day, only one can have sugar in it (lol) and I usually ask for a skinny latte now. Other than that, I just cut down my portion sizes because I’d often just eat whatever was on my plate even if I was full.

I started doing 30mins of exercise a day. I haven’t re-joined a gym but I’ve been doing some light workouts at home and running laps across the road at the park. I will start muscle building soon, however, to date I have only been following a ‘no equipment workout video.’ I found a free one on YouTube that just worked for me. As a beginner I didn’t want one that was too intense but now that I’m familiar with the below sessions, I swap the workouts around and focus on the areas I want to tone more. After I finish the 20min workout, I run 20 laps of 100meters back and forth, then do another round of crunches. My belly button will never be super toned because my scar tissue (of having a piercing) stretched so much when I was pregnant… I actually remember my mum warning me of that when I was 13 and thinking she was a liar haha!!!

I actually asked Insta for recommendations on their fave workouts and the majority said either Shaun T25, Kayla Itsines or Sam Wood. So if the above videos don’t suit you, maybe give those a go too 🙂

Besides committing to a healthier lifestyle there’s obviously a factor of stress involved too- I’d be naive to think otherwise. The separation and pressures of adjusting to my new ‘single mum title’ has been tough but in saying that, I’m definitely taking care of myself now, more than ever. With Chet by my side and an amazing network of friends and family, I can accomplish anything.

If you’ve been wanting to make a healthier change in your life, I urge you to do it. It helped my mentality and confidence ten fold! The future seems brighter and I feel refreshed and ready to take on life’s challenges. My intention for this post is not to gain praise, compliments or sympathy, it’s purely to acknowledge my own efforts and hopefully get someone else feeling positive about their body image.

If I haven’t covered something properly, if you have any questions OR if you have any suggestions on things I could improve on please feel free to leave a comment below.

Much love,

T x