The Belly Issue


All my life I have wanted a flat tummy. I see girls with flat tummies and I envy them. Mine is a curvy tummy, always has been, and I have come to accept the fact that it always will be. I remember my mother once saying to me “Shannon, you will never have a flat tummy, yours will always have a curve. It is just the way your body is made”. It hurt me, but it made me realise that it was true. I feel as though I have spent my entire life holding my tummy in. All day spent breathing in trying to keep my tummy as skinny as possible and I think my muscles just naturally hang out, no matter how many sit ups I do! I used to think that when I left my tummy to just hang out, I looked pregnant and I though “what if I don’t notice that much difference when I am actually pregnant?” (Little did I know how big my tummy was to get!). after xavi and I were together for a while and I knew that he was the person I wanted to be with for always I eventually sat him down one evening (yes, after a wine or two) and said to him “Look, I love you and you love me. I cannot do this for the rest of our life. My tummy is not this size, it is actually this size” and I breathed out letting everything hang out! He laughed, hugged me, called me an idiot, told me he already knew and told me to stop being silly.


Image taken from www.fitnessthroughfasting.com

When I did finally fall pregnant I still spent the first 3 or 4 months trying to
 hold my tummy in because if I let it all hang out I was convinced people would go “2 months? You look about 5 months with that tummy”. Eventually around 4 months I let it all hang out. Oh my god, what an amazing feeling of relief, I could just let my tummy hang out in all its glory! When I was sitting at a dinner table half bent over, I didn’t have to worry about the tell tale rolls that show you breathing in is just a lie. It was wonderful and I loved every moment of my giant (no really, giant!) belly. in total, I gained around 18kgs. Some months I gained that slowly and some months, especially the last month, I gained so quickly that the doctors were quite worried that I have pre eclampsia. I didn't, I just had a case of Swollen-titus coupled with an all consuming need to eat chocolate, cakes and cream!
Then I gave birth.....

I was left with a hanging, sagging, floppy, cellulite filled kangaroo pouch, only without the baby roo. And now it wasn’t just the bottom half of my belly that was all curvy and sticky out, it was the top as well. Crap, what do I do about that?

This page is about my weight gain and the battle to lose the 18kilos (and the chocolate addiction) that I gained during the pregnancy

                                                                                                              



image taken from www.modes4u.com
28 January: I don't think that biscuits at 3am should count! Some nights I wake up so often with Emmeline that I get hungry! now tell me, what else am I going to grab that is quick and tasty at 3am? I am not really going to go for an apple now am I? Therefore as of now, 3am biscuit breaks are free!

26 January: So we went to the park today. I decided that as I have not gone to the gym at all this week I would walk to and from the park pushing Emmeline in her pram. The walk there is downhill, therefore the walk back is UPHILL and HARD! But as i could feel the strain in my butt and legs, it was worth it!

25 January: OK, I am doing quite well this week! I am on day 2 of the week and I am sticking to this thing properly! It is true that I am currently quite hungry and I have already eaten my dinner, but I still have enough points left for a chocolate milk and an almost fat free chocolate yoghurt! No, I have not been to do the gym this week, but it is actually quite difficult! Why? because although Xavi comes home in the afternoons, by the time he gets home, I have time to grab a quick bite to eat and then go and have my afternoon sleep with Emmeline which is as much for me as it is for her. I had planned on going to the gym when I wake up around 17:00, but I normally need at least 30 minutes to wake up. My problem is that I don't have anyone I can leave Emmeline with during the day! So tomorrow we will walk to the park to get some excercise!


21 - 23 January: Doughnuts, pastry and pizza have all been consumed.
My double chin is getting quite irritating.
My belly is too much to hold in.
My cellulite is taking over my entire body.
My arse stretches out over both sides of the bathroom mirror.
My tights are getting a holes in them from rubbing together on the thighs.
I have not felt sexy in 18 months.
I dislike my body.
It is time to cut the crap and do this thing properly for shit's sake!
Aaargh, where is my will power?!

20 January: Seriously, if I havent counted points all week, what the HELL is the point of starting on a Thursday? Also have not been to the gym all week! Emmeline is sick and I have used the excuse that I ned to be at home with her so that I dont have to go to the gym! Lame, I know!

19 January: A friend of ours came round this evening and bought 3 takeaway plates full of sushi. I dont even know how many points are in sushi, so wouldn't even know how to begin counting the points in that. Better forget points today!

18 January: So I didn't count points today as we still had left over chinese take away and left over cake. No point in setting myself up for that failure huh!

17 January: Today is Xavi's birthday. I have decided that there is no point in counting points as I have bought him a chocolate cake and I will be eating some. But ONLY today! And we ordered chinese takeawy for dinner, so there is really no point in counting!

15 January: The things we will do for food. Slugged in out for half an hour at the gym today simply to eat a chocolate doughnut that I bought from the supermarket today!

14 January: With all the excercising and points saving I have done this week, I have treated myself to steak, chips and wine tonight! yummy!

13 January: How much do I rock? Gym again!

12 January: I am doing fantastic on the points front! When I woke up I had no sore muscles at all and thought "Yaay me!". Then suddenly it hit me like a steam trainin the early evening and I could barely walk! There are muscles that I didn't even know I had in a lot of pain right now! OUCH!

11 January: Can you believe that I actually lost weight last week even with the cake pig out? How much could I have lost if I didn't have the cake pig out I wonder? I got my mom to come to the flat to look after Emmeline today and I went to the gym AT LAST! It elt good to finally be back, but I tried to not do too much as I would still like to be able to walk tomorrow!!

10 January:
Start weight: 72.9kgs
Current Weight: 71.3kgs

08 - 09 January: There was still cake left over, so we spent the weekend finishing off the cake. How could I possibly count points? That would just be setting myself up for failure!  

07 January: Happy Birthday to me! I saved up a lot of points during the week to use for today, clever huh? Not so actually as I didn't count on the cake that xavi bought for me. Mmmmm, lots of yummy goodness and therefore FULL of points. I have therefore decided to not count points today!

06 January: I think I understate the amount of points used every time I eat potatoes, which is like every day! I put down 4 most of the times, but really I think it is closer to 6 if I am totally honest.

04 January: Right, back on the horse we go, I really must make an effort to do better this week because I knwo that Friday is my birthday and counting points will go straight out the window! However my day started badly - I had already had my cereal, but when Xavi came home and offered to make me a sandwich I said YES! Too many points . . .

24 December: Weight Watchers officially on hold until after the festive season. And yes, I already know that I may just go crazy and enjoy all temptations with total abandon. Points counting will resume with venom in the New Year

22 December: Ok, so it seems like I am slowly but surely getting the hang of this! I have changed over to skimmed milk so that I can still drink my milk and salad is becoming a good friend of mine! I am also doing the whole thing of simply not buying the biscuits and things that I love so that there is no temptation!

20 December: Week three
Start weight: 72.9kgs
Current Weight: 71kgs

18 December: Points totally down the tube today as we had a burger king. We hardly ever have them, but today we decided to go for it, and then felt sick for the rest of the afternoon! Guilt got the better of me and I had salad for dinner!

 16 December: I have realised that there have been several days where I have eaten a chocolate biscuit and I have not counted it or written down it's point. I have treated it like a free snack when really it is not. I really must try to be better at this!

13 December:
Start weight: 72.9kgs
Current Weight: 71.8kgs

 12 December: Week one done at -7 points. oops.

 07 December: I must STOP eating chinese takeaway, it has like a million gazillion points. Oh, but duck pancakes are so yummy!

06 December: Today I officially start Weight Watchers!
Start Weight: 72.9kgs
Pre pregnancy Weight: 64 kgs
Ideal Weight: 61 - 62kgs

04 December: Milk has a lot of points. I drink a lot of milk. Potatoes have a fair few points. I eat a lot of potatoes. Nesquick has too many points. I drink all my milk with nesquick. Chocolate biscuits have a lot of points. I really do like chocolate biscuits. Rice and pasta have normal points if you eat the portion size of a small child. I eat triple the 'medium portion' size recomended in the book.
I AM SO SCREWED!

02 December: Oh My God! I eat too much! I am in my practise week of weight watcher and it is scary! So I am allowed 35 points, thankfully I get given an extra 12 points as i am breastfeeding, phew! Now guess how many points I ate today? 57. This is going to be harder than I thought.

29 November: So looks like I finally won something on E-Bay! The entire folder for the new Weight Watchers Pro Points system - everything I need to start from home. Unfortunately this does men that I will have to make a real effort to stop eating so many biscuits, little cakes and generally anything with chocolate, boo hoo! On the upside, this means that hopefully my arse will start to drastically reduce in size, yaay!

20 November: I have actually joined the gym you know! Granted I have only been 3 times, but at least I made the first step! It has just been hard to go. Why? 1) I was really tired due to many sleepless nights with Emmeline, 2) I was sick, 3) Emmeline was sick, 4) Xavi had to work more so I had no-one to leave Emmeline with as my parents were working out of Barcelona

19 September: We went out for pizza's today with friends. I ate my whole pizza, garlic bread and chocolate cake. I felt quite guilty about it, but I have now told myself that I am allowed to take it easy for the first 3 months after giving birth!

25 August: It is almost the end of my 6 week rest period for the birth and the caesarean. I guess that i am going to have to start to think about starting up some excercise programme
04 August: Got on the scale this morning and I am down to 71 kg's! This is fantastic as I am not even doing anything to lose weight!

27 July: Wow, best diet ever! I gave birth and I have lost about 5 kg's already!











24 January:
Start weight: 72.9kgs
Current Weight: 71kgs