New Year New Body Bebe

Jan 4, 2011 by cafebebemama

It’s a New Year so it well and truly is time for a New Body for Bebe! I’m participating in an online support group with quite a few gorgeous bloggers which was kicked off by the lovely Liz at Living with Kids. It’s called New Year New Body and we’re doing weekly weigh-ins (without the pressure to reveal unhappy numbers) and supporting each other through emails and Twitter. We’re managing our weight through lifestyle modifications (no diets here folks) and increasing the energy output.

The picture above was taken by Little Miss on Sunday 2 January, 2010. I’ve given her my old Nikon CoolPix to take her own pictures and she’s actually taken a few good ones. She managed to capture me when I was getting ready for the day. When I looked at this picture I was a bit shocked. I’ve never seen me with such a ROUND face! I’ve put on weight everywhere and my newly VERY short hair makes my rather round face even more noticeable. This is my BEFORE picture for you. I hope that the image in the future looks dramatically different.

As many of you know, I’ve been recently diagnosed with Coeliac Disease which means, in order for me to feel well and healthy I have to eliminate gluten from my diet. I’ve been quite sad about the prospect of a life without baguettes and pasta carbonara in their traditional forms but I’m starting to come to terms with my new diet. I’m trying to embrace it, learn about it, experiment with it and try not to think of it as deprivation but an opportunity to feel healthy and at some point look better.

I’ve been on a gluten-free diet for 3 weeks now and I think I’m finally starting to kick my wheat addiction and look forward to eating differently. I weighed myself the other day (and on Monday 3 January) and in the last 3 weeks I have managed to lose 3 pounds! Wa-hey! This is the first weight loss for me in a LONG time. In addition to the weight loss I am starting to feel better and understand just what gluten does do to me which is not good. I have a LONG way to go, however. I ultimately want to lose about 30 more pounds which would put me in very good fighting shape.

Through New Year New Body we’ll be setting goals for 6 weeks at a time. Here are my goals for these first six weeks:

• Continue educating myself about gluten-free diet and learn how to make new dishes.
• Eliminate the endless snacking that has become a Stay-at-Home-Mum crutch for me.
• Start exercising- initially, getting out and walking at least 3 days during the week for weeks 2 & 3; 4 days per week for week 4; 5 days per week for week 5 & 6.
• Dust off the Wii Balance board and Personal Trainer programme to start strength training in a motivational way.
• Look into Race For Life dates to set a goal to WALK one of the 10k events near me
• Continue to lose 1-2lbs per week = 10lb weight loss by February 14 weigh-in
• Communicate with and support the other members of New Year New Body

I’ve drawn myself a little thermometer with 1lb increments leading down to 30lbs in total. I’ll colour in the thermometer as I lose! I like visual things. These are my goals and with a little help from my gluten-free diet, a bit more flexibility in my schedule with Little Miss going to nursery 2 mornings a week later in January and a new commitment to being the best me I can be I’m hoping to succeed. I’ll let you know how it’s going along the way! Happy New Year New Body!