7 day food diary

I have had a couple of requests for me to write out a diary of all the food I've eaten throughout a typical week so people can see how I'm going about losing my baby weight. As I've mentioned before, my diet is more of a healthy eating plan with treats allowed at the weekend. I also now do a class- work it baby in Bournemouth once a week which is a mixture of weights, aerobics and cheer leading moves.

Monday:
Breakfast- Special K high fibre cereal bar
Glass of water
Lunch- jacket potato with small tin of Heinz beans and a thumbnail of cheese, handful of cherry tomatoes, glass of water
Snack- chopped apple, carrot, grapes, tomato and cheese, glass of water
Dinner- chicken pasta with onion and green pepper, glass of water

Tuesday:
Breakfast- High fibre cereal bar, two slices of wholemeal toast with small amount of margarine, glass of water
Lunch- jacket potato with tuna, handful of cherry tomatoes, glass of water
Snack- small probiotic yoghurt
Dinner- herb chicken with new potatoes and vegetables, glass of water, raspberry sorbet for dessert

Wednesday:
Breakfast- cereal bar, glass of water
Lunch- jacket potato with tinned spaghetti, handful of cherry tomatoes, glass of water
Snack- cereal bar
Dinner- chilli con carne, whole grain rice and probiotic yoghurt and tangerine for dessert, glass of water

Thursday:
Breakfast- cereal bar, two slices brown toast, glass of water
Lunch- wholemeal wrap with small amount of cheese, turkey pieces and tomato slices, glass of water
Snack- nothing
Dinner- pasta bolognese, 2 malteaster bunnies (Naughty!), two glasses of water

Friday:
Breakfast- cereal bar, glass of water
Lunch- 2 wholemeal wraps with small amount of cheese and tomato slices, an apple and a glass of water
Snack- cereal bar
Dinner- fish pie, raspberry sorbet for dessert, water

Saturday:
Breakfast- two slices wholemeal toast
Lunch- chicken pieces, apple, water
Dinner- whole takeaway style pizza, half a bag of sharing bits of wispa chocolate, water

Sunday:
Breakfast- cereal bar, water
Lunch- nothing
Dinner- Sunday roast with cheesecake for dessert, water, small 1/2 glass of rose wine
Snack- chopped fruit and cheese, water, couple of penny sweets

That's my diet throughout one week. I attend my class on a Monday and I try and walk with pushchair throughout week when I can (though haven't been due I snow). I lose around 2 pounds a week.

Welcome to 2013!

So, another new year is upon us and I know people get fed up of seeing or hearing about resolutions, feeling that they are a waste of time and people never stick to them, but I disagree. I think that even if people don't stick at a resolution for the whole year, they are at least finding something that requires change in their life. Fair enough if you don't have anything you want or need to change in your life, but for a lot of people the end of a year and beginning of a new one is the perfect time to reassess and realise what they can improve. 2013 is set to be a good year for me with Tim moving in next week and preparing for our wedding next February. I have a list of things I want to achieve this year:

1. Lose 1 stone by April

This one is simple. I have a further 1 stone to lose before I am back to (just below) my pre pregnancy weight. I have a huge motivation to lose the weight this time round as I am not allowing myself to go Wedding dress shopping until I have lost it..... torture! I also set the deadline for April as we are having Carly's Christening the end of April and my birthday is the beginning of May, so it will mean I can be a yummy mummy again in time for those events, perfect! I plan to lose the weight with healthy eating, smaller portions and allowing myself treat days at the weekends.

2. Tone up my 'Mum Tum'

Linked to the first, this one is also to help with fitting into a wedding dress and also to help boost my self confidence. Although I am only 23, with two young children, I find it hard to see myself in any way other than mummy at the moment and I want this to change! I am so excited to be starting my old exercise class back up this month, as well as doing plenty of walking with my mum (who is also trying to lose weight and tone up) and getting the good old wii back out of storage for a bit of Zumba.

3. Only drink on special occassions

To be fair, this will be pretty easy as the only real reason I have been drinking more than I would usually lately is because of Christmas and New Year, which are special occassions anyway... It is so much hassle to drink whilst breastfeeding anyway (for those who don't know, it involves using a breast pump to express before and after drinking as well as sterilising bottles you wouldn't usually need to sterilise). For the sake of having a couple of glasses of wine, it just isn't really worth the effort. I also know that by not having the odd glass of wine I will also find it easier to lose the weight so all in all a win win situation.

4. Pay off our wedding

This one will take a little time, but rather than leave all the balances that need to be paid until just before the wedding and being left with a massive bill, we have decided it would be better to spread the cost out over the year and pay off something every couple of months. First on our list is the photography!

5. Take lots of Photos

I love taking photos and having something tangible to look back on in the future. I got a new camera at Christmas from my nan so I plan to take a lot more photos, especially of the kids as they grow throughout the year.

6. Start my business

This has been on the agenda for some time now. Due to having the kids, my career never really set off after graduation, but hopefully this is the year that will change. As soon as Carly is a couple of months older, I plan to start up my own business, and hopefully by the time I am able to have her in nursery for a little while, I will be able to start making it a proper success. I can't wait to be able to work again. Although I love being a mum, sometimes it's nice to use your brain a bit more.

7. Visit people more

This is very dependent on how much money we have as we are going to be on a very tight budget with the wedding. I really miss friends and family who live in other parts of the country and aim to visit as much as I can this year.

8. Get another tattoo

I have had my next tattoo planned for a few months now and can't wait until I can have it done for my birthday. I have a tattoo of a feather with the word believe which is for my grandad who passed away when I was 12 on my left wrist and I want to have a rose on my right wrist with the word love for my nan.

9. Make new friends

To be honest, I am fed up with the way I have been treated in the past by so called 'friends'. 2013 is definitely about getting rid of the people who haven't been there for me in the past, and finding people who actually give a damn.

10. Demand a Smear Test

I know this isn't the done thing, but I actually really want a smear test done. Apparently the risk of cervical cancer increases when you have children, and having now had two and with my mum having had an abnormal result in the past I am really reluctant to wait it out until I am 25 (another year and a half!). I'm not sure whether they will allow me to have one or not, but I am definitely going to try my hardest! I don't understand the women who are allowed to have them and don't go because they are 'scared it might hurt'. I would take a bit of discomfort over a risk of leaving my children alone any day...

Back to Blogging...

Hi everyone, did you miss me?

With the new baby things have been extremely hectic around here, as you can imagine. Carly has settled in really well but as she is still so little I am getting many a sleepless night. I nearly cried with happiness when she managed 6 hours straight last night! Fingers crossed for more of the same. Cameron has understandably been a bit jealous but he adores his baby sister and gives her lots of hugs and kisses. Carly is now 5 weeks old and she is already growing up too fast! I weighed her yesterday and she is now 10 pounds, so has gained two pounds in just over a month, not too bad!

Meanwhile, I have managed to lost two and a half stone of my pregnancy weight through healthy(ish) eating and breastfeeding alone which is great, although I am well aware I may put a bit back on over Christmas! I plan to take it easy over the next couple of weeks (I mean, seriously, who diets over Christmas?!) and then come back in the new year and get my pre baby body back!

I will be doing the healthy eating/treat exercise plan I did when I had Cameron as it worked really well. I want to ideally get down to 9 stone, which means probably around a stone to lose once I have gained 'holiday weight' next week. I am also starting back at my old exercise class which I am actually totally looking forward to as I missed the class over the last 10 months (expect to see lots of posts on my new year goals and weight loss journey in the new year).

Talking of wedding dresses, the wedding planning is coming on leaps and bounds. Having already secured our venue for the ceremony and the evening reception, as well as our photographer, we are now moving onto the more creative side of things and have been buying supplies to make our own save the date and wedding invitations in the New Year. I am also making our wedding favours and have already bought the material and ribbon for the bags. I will be putting up some posts in the next month on our DIY wedding including a step by step guide on how to make Save the Dates, Wedding Invites and Favour Bags.

Once I have toned up and lost that pesky last stone I am looking forward to going wedding dress shopping with my mum who has very kindly offered to buy me my dress! I keep seeing beautiful dresses in shop windows and having to restrain myself from going in! Once I allow myself to start looking, expect to see my dream dresses on the blog (must remember to make sure Tim doesn't look on here!).

Also coming up on the blog expect to see the return of regular posts such as 'Plans for the Month', 'Cuddles with Cameron' (now of course joined by Cuddles with Carly!) and 'What I did this Week'. I will also be hopefully doing some product reviews in the New Year of all things mum, toddler and baby. The blog will be taking on a couple of different angles as I want to write both about being a mummy and all that entails as well as wedding planning, which is very relevant for me at the moment and also links in with my degree of Events Management. I hope my readers enjoy the changes coming to the blog! Please feel free to send in any suggestions you may have for blog posts.

Hope you have an amazing Christmas and a very happy new year 2013 lots of love (Not so) Yummy Mummy (I'm working on it!)

Back on the Health Kick

If you have been reading my blog since the beginning, you may remember that my first posts followed my healthy eating plan which saw me lose my baby weight and more in time for Cameron's Christening in April 2011. Since then I lost a further half a stone and toned up through regular exercise. However, since moving house last month, I have been under quite a bit of stress and my weight has creeped back up.

I am by no means overweight, but neither do I want to be. So as of tomorrow, I will be going back on the healthy eating wagon. My treat day really helped me last time, so I will be using this again. Basically, I will eat very healthily throughout the week, also decreasing portion size for the evening meal, and then on either a Friday or a Saturday I can eat anything bad I have been craving that week whether it is a takeaway curry, a big bag of doritoes or a bar of chocolate (or all three, it has been known to happen).

Wish me luck!