How to prepare for the 12 Week Challenge
If you’ve just joined the Healthy Mummy and signed up for the 12 Week Challenge starting soon, congratulations! You’ve made the first step in an exciting journey towards weight loss and better health!
If you haven’t, there’s still time! Join the 12 Week Challenge with this offer here!
So what next? It’s easy to feel a little daunted and overwhelmed, especially if you’ve committed to making some serious lifestyle changes.
Be reassured that we’re here to help you through it every step of the way! Below you’ll find a breakdown of the next steps, so you have everything you need to SMASH YOUR GOALS on this 12 week challenge!
What is the 12 Week Challenge all about?
If you are new to the Healthy Mummy, you may be wondering about the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge and what’s that got to do with the 12 Week Challenge.
The 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge has helped hundreds of thousands of mums get on top of their health and weight loss goals.
With access to The Healthy Mummy App, the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge provides customisable meal plans, at-home exercise videos, well-being and mindset videos, along with tools for you to track your progress.
The 12 Week Challenge is basically three consecutive 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges.
With additional support, motivation and accountability benefits, including your 12 Week Challenge Tool Kit, access to a 12 Week Challenge private support group and regular support emails. Plus the chance for two mums to win $500 each!
How do I prepare for the 12 Week Challenge?
Here are some key things to know and to do to prepare for your 12 week journey that will set you up to succeed.
1) Read through your free 12 Week Challenge Tool Kit Ebook.
This will have been sent to you with your order email confirmation. It has EVERYTHING you need to keep you motivated and accountable on your journey.
It has invaluable information that will set you up to succeed with tips, tricks and hacks to help. It takes you through a step-by-step guide on how to approach this challenge, and you can keep referring to it along the way.
You can also find the Tool Kit available for download from the Latest Info page of your account!
2) Measurements and photos
It’s important when you begin that you know your starting weight and have good photographs and measurements so you can accurately measure your progress during the 12 weeks.
Remember that sometimes if you are toning up and gaining lean muscle, the scales might not move, but you are, in fact, losing centimetres!
This is very motivating and an important step in keeping you on track. Remember to log your measurements in the Healthy Mummy App.
Watch Healthy Mummy Lauren talk you through how best to take measurements
While the scales won’t always tell you the whole story, good before and after photo’s often will!
Get these 8 tips to take before and after photos that will showcase your success.
3) Set realistic Goals
Set yourself a couple of realistic goals within the time frame of the 12 week challenge, although you may wish to break it down further to week by week or month by month.
Your goals may centre around ensuring you stick to your healthy eating plan and regular exercise.
Once you’ve worked out your goals, make sure you plan a reward for achieving them and choose little rewards that are going to keep you on track with your healthy lifestyle
4) Make your 12 week Pledge
If you haven’t already done so, you can make your pledge here
Have a real think about what you will commit to during this 12 week time frame, and PLEDGE IT!
It doesn’t have to necessarily be a number on the scales; it could be how you want to feel or how you’re going to achieve your goal. Write it down or take a screenshot so that you can refer to it throughout your journey.
5. Planning and meal prepping
One of the best things about the Healthy Mummy App is that it does all the healthy meal planning for you. Your weekly meal plan for the following week will be in the app every Wednesday.
You can set aside 15 minutes each week to customise the meal plans to suit you, then your shopping lists are prepared, and you’re ready to go!
All the meals in the Healthy Mummy App have been created with busy, time-poor mums in mind. They’re easy to prepare, healthy, and family- and budget-friendly.
Set aside an hour or so at the beginning of the week and then maybe another time slot mid-week to do some meal prep and get you ahead.
If you’ve never meal prepped before, you might feel a little overwhelmed by how it all works, but it really doesn’t need to be complicated.
Meal prepping has helped so many mums get ahead and really does save you time in the long run.
- No more cooking in the kitchen every single day – Cooking in batches means you have meals ready just to grab and reheat
- Money saving – Buying your ingredients in bulk is often much cheaper. Every little bit of money saved is money in your pocket.
- Helps you avoid temptation – Having a collection of pre-prepared healthy meals means when you’re tired and hungry, you’re less likely to grab a quick and often unhealthy option.
See the ultimate meal prep guide for mums who don’t know where to start.
6) Have an exercise plan
If you’re new to exercise or working out, the 12 Week Challenge is the perfect time to start a workout plan to ensure you get to your goals.
Exercise and movement not only help us to burn calories, but it can also trigger weight loss and have so many positive effects too.
The Healthy Mummy App includes more than 600 exercises plus full-length guided video workouts that can be completed at home or on the move, and you can also track all your workouts in the App.
Whether you decide to get up first thing to get your workout done or even when the kids are in bed, make sure you take some time in your day to get active.
7) Get to know your Healthy Mummy App
During the 12 Week Challenge, your Healthy Mummy App will be your best friend. It literally is your meal planner, fitness trainer, motivator, calorie and fitness tracker in one awesome app in the palm of your hand.
Take some time before the challenge to get to know the app features, like how to customise your meal plan and track your progress.
You’ll find some awesome articles to help you here
8) Get support from mums just like you
The 12 Week Challenge has its own Private Support Group where you can talk to other mums on the challenge just like you.
Here you will get guaranteed support and motivation in this group, as well as accountability.
This is a space where you’ll be able to ask questions, get practical advice, and see other mum’s successes and struggles and will be an integral part of your journey. Amazing things happen when women support each other.
To enter, you will need to log your starting weight and measurements on a special page – we will send the details of where to log your details via email and in the private support group, so keep an eye out!
12 Week Challenge FAQs
Q. Do I need to be a Healthy Mummy app member to join?
A. Yes you do – and we have a super special on here.
Q. Do I need to make a pledge?
A. Yes so you can be entered into the competition and so you can be accountable and state your goal. Make your pledge here.
Q. Is there a specific 12 Week Challenge Support Group?
A. Yes and you will be sent the link once you join.
Q. I am a Healthy Mummy app member – how do I take part?
A. Easy! Go to your My account area and under LATEST INFO all information is there – you can also make your pledge here and be sent details via email.
Q. Will there be prize at the end of the 12 weeks?
A. Yes – there is a prize given to a mum at the end of the 12 weeks.
Q. I have joined but can’t find my 12 Week Tool Kit?
A. It is sent on your email order confirmation when you join – plus it is also in your My Account area under LATEST INFO once you become a Healthy Mummy app member.
Q. Can I see results from mums on the last 12 Week Challenge?
A. Yes – see them here
Check out some AWESOME results from mums on our 12 Week Challenge!
1. Cassandra Perrin – lost 30 kilos and 80cm on the 12 Week Challenge
Cassandra is 41 from Bredbo in NSW and is the mum of 6 beautiful children aged 19 to 6 years old. She admits that pouring her heart and soul into her amazing family for the last 22 years meant that she lost herself a bit along the way.
In fact, Cassandra says that following a couple of stressful pregnancies, special needs children and dealing with the challenges of them as teenagers led to her weight gain.
“I got depressed, and it was a vicious cycle. I was stoked when the 12 challenge was announced as this was what I needed,” she says.
“I had 12 weeks of support and accountability with a group of women who were all there doing the same thing. I could do it in the safety of my home and still be connected to a support system of an amazing community and be held accountable each week with my weigh-in, measurements and progress photos.”
“I didn’t have to go to a gym. As a morbidly obese lady with social anxiety and depression, this was amazing. I was excited to be a part of a community and still be hidden.”
2. Kirsty Whitehead – lost 18.5 kilos and 72 cm on the 12 Week Challenge
Kirsty Whitehead has lost a whopping 18.5 kilo and 72cm on the 12 Week Challenge. The 39-year-old SA-based mum has been following the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge since 2015 and has lost 38.9kg in total.
“Just before the 12 Week Challenge was announced, I made a decision to focus on ME and my wants. The timing was perfect, and I wanted to give it my all,” she says.
“My pledge was to be committed to myself. To not give up, to focus on my whole self, my physical, emotionally and also my inner health. To lose 10 kilos.”
3. Christine Hamman – lost 13 kilos on the 12 Week Challenge
Christine Hamann has lost 13kg and 32cm in just 12 weeks on the 12 Week Challenge.
The South Australian-based mum-of-three decided to sign up for the Challenge because she needed to give herself a kick start.
“I had become complacent on my health journey, and the scales were slowly starting to rise again,” she admits.
“My pledge was to lose 5kgs and to stay consistent the whole way through, and I surpassed my pledge and lost 13kg and 32cm.”
4. Cyrstal Joy Maguire – 11.2 Kilos
This Grafton-based mum has lost 11.2kg in JUST 12 weeks on The Healthy Mummy’s 12 Week Challenge.
Crystal has been following the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge since the end of April 2021 but really started it when the 12 Week Challenge started in May 2021.
“I decided to join as I saw a photo of me full length on our holiday in April 2021, and it was so terrible that I said I couldn’t look like this anymore and my son needs a healthy, fit mum to keep up with and not to be an embarrassment to my son,” she says.