How to lose the mum-tum

‘Go on! Have another chocolate date!’ urges my mother-in-law. ‘You’re too hard on yourself – and remember you can eat as much as you like when you’re breastfeeding.’

I sigh and get up off the couch, knowing I have to leave the room before temptation to indulge consumes me. The fact is that I’m fat – and even though I’m nursing, I’m getting fatter still. Seven weeks ago, I came out of the delivery room precisely nine kilograms lighter than I had been going in. That left me with a reasonable nine more to lose – not so bad and quite do-able?

Unfortunately not. Due to my unrestrained appetite aggravated by tiredness, crazy hormones and an insatiable appetite for Galaxy chocolate, I now have 11kg to shed – not nine… If I’m honest, it was always going to be a challenge. This is my third pregnancy, and it ended in my second c-section. Baby number three, bless her little heart, was also a whopper and the resulting abdominal stretch is impressive, to say the least. I honestly feel as though I’ll never see my waist again.

But that’s not an option. My burgeoning belly needs to be conquered before it’s too late, because in three months’ time, my sister is getting married and I’m the head bridesmaid. She’s already bought me the dress – a size 10, which she blithely describes as ‘an incentive’.

GULP!

So, as a last resort (my willpower is abysmal), I’ve called in the cavalry in the form of Amy from Urban Energy Fitness. A crack-commando when it comes to calorie busting, Amy specializes in pre- and post-natal fitness – AKA, knackered mums who are nursing babies all night, and reaching for the chocolate all day.

Here’s how we got on…

Week one
Weight 77kg
Waist 33.75 inches
Hips 43.5 inches
Thighs 25.75 inches
Arms 12.5 inches
Every long journey starts with a single step. But my particular weight loss adventure begins with me scoffing down six chocolate covered dates half an hour before Amy is due to arrive. I’ve been up all night with the baby, it’s been three months since I had a decent night’s sleep and sugar is the only thing that makes me feel better.

Feeling fat and guilty, I run up to my room and squeeze myself into my gym gear in the hope that the tight lycra leggings will at least pull in my protruding belly. When Amy arrives, the first thing she does is measure my vital statistics, which reveal that I am indeed, not so thin at both ends and very fat in the middle. Next, she examines my abdominal muscles to make sure I’m fit for training.

Apparently, my flabby abs are only 1.5cm apart, which is pretty good for three pregnancies and two c-sections – although she warns me that they will take a while to mend. I start to feel a bit better as she explains she will be training my core muscles to recover, which will regain me my waist and hopefully eliminate my lower back pain. In the interim periods, I must take care of the cardio training myself, and fit in at least two gym sessions a week, which she will devise for me. For the next 45 minutes I do a series of supervised lunges, push-ups, glute exercises and light weights devised to trim up my middle and improve my strength. I decide to ditch the Galaxy and fit in three gym sessions so we get off to a good start. I stick a fat picture of myself onto the fridge for additional incentive…

Week two
Weight: 76.5kg
I’m happy to discover I’ve lost just over 1lb – and an inch on my waist – but know it’s a drop in the ocean considering the extra weight I’m carrying (around 22lbs). While I managed to stick to the training regime last week, and didn’t touch a chunk of chocolate (those low cal hot chocolate drinks really work well), my food diary shows I’m still eating WAY too much. I switch from bread to dark Ryvita (34 cals per slice), cut out the peanut butter, and stick to low fat Philadelphia cheese. I also stock up on Splenda, one of the few permitted sweeteners for breastfeeding mothers because it doesn’t get into your milk supply. This week the exercise goes well. Instead of feeling crashingly tired, it actually gives me more energy. Getting out of the house also forces me to be more organized and I get some healthy ‘me-time’ instead of lounging around at home using ‘feeding on demand’ as an excuse to go on Facebook.

Week three
Weight 74.4kg
The hard work is really paying off. I’ve lost five pounds in two weeks, and although I can’t really see the difference yet, just knowing that the scales are going down is a huge incentive. Not only that but I’m feeling much fitter too. Amy suggests I try a bit of interval training, which means I jog for two minutes on the treadmill and power walk for two minutes, instead doing the same pace for the whole 15 minutes. I double my time on the cross trainer and increase treadmill time too. I certainly feel fit enough for the challenge. But, Amy also warns me that if I let my heart rate go too high while jogging, it might affect my milk supply – so I must be careful and keep an eye on the machine monitor. I get cocky and push myself to the limit – but it all goes pear-shaped. I end up ravenous and scoff down lots of bad food. Even more worrying is the fact that I have to give Isabella formula on Saturday afternoon as my milk supply drops dramatically.

By the next afternoon, all is good again. As per Amy’s advice, I swap rice for quinoa, and stop eating heavy carbs after 6pm.

Week four
Weight 73.9kg
After losing so much weight over the past three weeks, I’m really disappointed to discover I’ve only dropped one pound since last week. Amy reassures me this is normal.

‘In the first two to three weeks, you always see a dramatic loss because there’s a big adjustment in your lifestyle and it jolts your system into action. After that, you start to build muscle and the weight comes down more slowly. This is because muscle weighs twice as much as fat,’ she says. ‘You might not lose anything one week – and could even gain – but if you’re working hard at the exercise and not going crazy with your eating, your inches will still be coming off.’

This week’s session is particularly tortuous as Amy introduces the TRX – a sort of masochistic strap system which makes simple exercises much, much harder. The idea is that you use your body weight much more as the resistance factor, so your muscles are put under greater strain. It hurts – a lot. We also start to work on my abs, with gentle but very specific crunches. ‘I would only recommend women to do these in the presence of their personal trainer,’ she advises. ‘Otherwise it’s very difficult to maintain your concentration – and you really must work the muscles in the correct way. If your stomach starts to pop out with the exercise, you’re doing the crunches incorrectly and could be making your pod worse, not better.’ After that, the torture continues as I’m taught the art of planking – and by heck it’s painful. I manage a very wobbly 20 seconds in my first attempt – and almost feel like throwing up afterwards. This, Amy assures me, will get better.

Finally, she makes me do these things called ‘burpees’ – sort of squat jumps and press-ups combined. Eek – things are getting really hard!

Week five
Weight: 74kg
Much to my dismay, I find I’ve reached a plateau in the weight loss process. It’s frustrating and upsetting, especially as I’m working so hard to shed the inches. It’s time to up my game if I’m ever to reach anything near my initial weight loss target of six kilos in six weeks. If there’s one thing this programme has taught me, it’s that getting back into shape post-baby as fast as the celebs do, is extremely difficult, if not impossible – especially if you are breastfeeding. The trouble is the harder I exercise, the hungrier I get. Isabella is also growing fast and feeding a lot. The result is that I feel ravenous almost all the time.

Amy tells me not to feel bad, and that I’ve made great progress over the past month with my diet and my muscle tone. All the same, I want to give it my best shot. I push myself harder in the gym and start doing cardio sessions on the days when I train with Amy too. It’s hard going, but everything suddenly tightens up. Although my stomach is still definitely a ‘mum-tum’ the abdominal muscles are now less than a centimetre apart and are even rejoining again at the bottom. My cellulite has also improved visibly.

Amy ups the intensity of my programmes on the treadmill (I am running now!) and more sessions on the TRX in the gym. I am finally feeling fit instead of fat..

Week six
Weight 73kg
Waist 32 inches
Hips 42 inches
Thighs 24 inches
Arms 12.inches
Total inch loss 8.5 overall
Hooray! Another kilo down! Amy is delighted, and we work out that I’ve lost a very respectable eight and a half inches from my trouble spots over the past six weeks. Not only that, but when she checks my abs, she tells me they’ve come back together completely – not something that often happens in the first three months post-partum.

It actually takes me looking at my ‘before’ picture to make me realise just how far I’ve come. I’m standing straighter, and taller – my back feels oh so much better. I’ve conquered my chocolate addiction and my cellulite has improved by at least 80 per cent. Not only that, but I have shed the best part of half a stone. This is a major achievement for someone who has never even considered getting fit post-partum until at least eight months after birth. I try on the bridesmaids dress I’ll be wearing to my sister’s wedding in three months time, and almost get the zip done up. This has indeed been a major achievement.

What happens now
I have eight kilos to lose before I’m back to my target weight, but my body is in much better shape, especially my abs. I have heaps more energy too. Amy suggests setting a goal, by perhaps entering a five kilometre charity run in a month’s time. At first I laugh, but suddenly it gets me thinking: it’s not an impossible target. But first things first – there’s that dress to squeeze into by this January…
Urban Energy Fitness runs the Urban Mums programme, which includes personal training and baby-friendly classes. Various locations, www.urbanenergyfitness.com (055 369 5664).