I am a 34 year old happily married mother of two - Bella is 4.5 years old and Lachy turns 2 on Christmas Day.  I am a stay at home mum and currently studying again to be a lecturer of Child Care studies. Previous to having children, I was a Child Care professional and was very active in my spare time. 

When I fell pregnant with Bella, I was 63kg, a healthy weight for my height of 165 cm. During my pregnancy I gained weight and after she was born, I stayed overweight at 75 kg.  I maintained this weight for two and a half years, despite believing I was adequately exercising and eating quite well.  Then I fell pregnant with Lachy. At full term, I topped the scales at 92kg.  I had gained even more weight, even though my doctor had put me on a strict diet earlier on in the pregnancy, as Lachy was showing signs of rapid growth and weight gain in utero. I never developed gestational diabetes, but he was born at a whopping 10.5 pounds!

After he was born, I maintained 80kg for almost a year and a half. My rational brain kept telling myself it was baby weight and my body was meant to gain as much as I did to support my beautiful healthy babies, but my emotional brain kept telling me I was disgusting and I should be ashamed of myself. This mindset was a battle I waged against myself for the best part of 5 years.  Along with carrying excess weight, I was also carrying a large load of denial. 

As I reflect on this time, I realise that food and drink choices that I believed were healthy at the time, came with a lot of unnecessary calories.  I thought a few glasses of 100% juice each day was a healthy beverage, and homemade creamy pastas and large baked dinners with all the trimmings were healthy because they were 'homemade' and I also felt the satisfaction of being the good wife/mum for putting in all of the effort.

At the end of 2009, I was diagnoised with painful Gall Stones. If I ate anything fatty, I would have an episode that would last for about 7 hours.  I can liken the pain to that of early labour pain, but a higher up in my stomach area. 

One evening late in April 2010, after having deep fried samosas for dinner, I was awoken by excrusiatingly sharp pain in my abdomin, which actually threw me on the floor into the fetal position. I went straight to hospital, with the belief that I was passing a Gall Stone (which I wasn't), only to find out that my Gall Badder was inflamed and I also had an enlarged spleen.  I was booked in for a laprascopic cholecystectomy surgery four days later to have my whole Gall Bladder removed.

After my surgery, with a reasonably quick recovery, I knew I had to make some serious changes. I had lost some weight over the previous few months but it didn't show up on the scales, only in my clothes. I got disheartened as I was desperate to get down to 75 kg. My partner Dan hid the scales up high, to the back of the cupboard. He said they were useless cheap ones that didn't work and that I was obviously getting thinner. We set a wedding date for late June at the registry office which gave me 2 months to exercise madly and focus diligently on nutrition. BMFC was really helpful for information and motivation. My routine included 1/2 hour pilates in morning, consistent menu, 1/2 hour swim at 7pm every evening alternating with a run, then 1/2 hour pilates warm down, and bike ride with Dan and kids every Sat morning. It didn't matter the weather or how exhausted I felt, I made sure nothing got in the way of my exercise, a habit I plan to continue.  I love this time.  It is my time away from being a mum, where I can hear my own thoughts and re-energise. 

I also added lots more housework (cleaning the windows and mirrors regularly was a great workout! And vacuuming the rug down on my hands and knees with the nozzle every morning also worked up a good sweat) I weighed myself in the chemist a few days before my marriage ceremony in late June and I was down to 72 kg.  I am now 65 kilos on my 'useless' scales!

We now grow our own veges and eat organic meat, as we treasure our bodies and health... they are our temples and I do feel proud that I am teaching my daughter this. I guess that is why I get so down on myself sometimes about the extra weight that I am carrying. But I see the results slowly and feel my clothes getting looser every couple of months, so I keep it up. Fine tuning involved serving smaller portions (my husband has also lost 14 kilo's) adding more wholegrain and fibre rich foods which curbed my hunger and creating solutions to my kids sleep problems which were leaving me sleep deprived. I noticed that when I regularly got at least 7 hours of sleep my general health and mood improved and I began to see better weight loss results.

I kept my Christmas dress visible in my cupboard as motivation over the 12 months.  I am proud to say that I have to take it in around the top, as I got smaller than I anticipated.