Mums share how to start when you have literally no idea what to do
Knowing that you want to make a change can be extremely overwhelming. Don’t despair.
The Healthy Mummy is here to help you. It may seem daunting signing up to the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge and getting used to your new lifestyle changes.
Our amazing Challenge member mums shares their tips and tricks for getting started, making the most out of the The Healthy Mummy app and obtaining the weight loss results you have always dreamt of.
Brooke Baker has lost 36kg in 12 months
In just 12 months, Brooke has gone from 106kg-70kg, losing a total of 36 kilos.
“When I first started my Healthy Mummy journey, I had spent a lot of time on the sidelines of the support groups, watching the success stories, seeing the recipes,” she admits.
“I had a idea of how the program worked. I went in with the approach- slow and steady. With two young children and working from home, time has always been something I don’t have a whole lot of but I was determined to stop making excuses.”
To begin, Brooke simplified things as much as she could by creating her own meal plans within The Healthy Mummy app. She also had two Healthy Mummy smoothies in replace of meals.
“As for my snacks I kept them very simple things that didn’t need a whole lot of and would repeat them through the week,” she says.
“This helped me get a feel for the app, to figure out how I wanted this program to work for myself and my family also. I loved that I could take the time and tailor everything to suit me!”
Brooke’s top tips on how to start successfully:
- Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to change absolutely everything overnight. Change simple things each day such as
- Increase your water intake
- Move your body more than normal
- Create meal plans that incorporate the Smoothies, they are super convenient and you don’t have to think ‘is this what I should be eating does it suit my plan’ because it definitely will
- Repeat meals and snacks, this helps not feeling like you have lots of bits and pieces to cook and prep
“The Healthy Mummy Community has been a massive part of my Journey. If you ever have a question there is always someone there to answer it. No question is silly. An amazing group of uplifting and supportive women,” adds Brooke.
“When I started my Journey I had absolutely no self confidence and self love and I truly believe with the continuous support and encouragement from the support groups they have been a huge part in me finding self love and self confidence within myself.”
Laura Kukulovski has lost 31kg
Laura has lost a total of 31 kgs in a year. In fact, she lost the weight in six months and maintained it for almost six months.
“I was a little bit I overwhelmed with everything not sure that I could do it, but after a couple of weeks I started getting the hang of things and it became so much easier to begin my journey,” she says.
“Take your time a life time of bad habits won’t change overnight it take time and consistency. My first steps to starting out was to replace things in my pantry I got rid of all white flour , sugars ect and stocked up on Healthy Mummy staples.
“That way, I knew while adjusting to the lifestyle changes even if I was cooking a meal that wasn’t from the app I was still using ingredients that were a lot healthier and better for not only myself but my family too.”
What’s more, Laura says The Healthy Mummy community has helped her so much.
“It’s the inspiring women who post everyday their achievements and their struggles knowing that we are all on the same journey in our own unique ways is all the motivation I need to get going for the day,” she says.
“It’s what made me join the healthy mummy to begin with seeing real results from living a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.”
Jessica Lewis has lost 23.7kg
Jessica started her first Challenge on June 28 2021 and she has lost 23.7kgs so far, and last count was 129cm gone.
“Every time I write those numbers I am blown away. I didn’t join expecting this outcome, when I joined I was so scared but knowing I needed to do something to find myself and my spark again,” she says.
“My mental health wasn’t good at all and so I was feeling so selfish for doing this. I also remember that I joined and then took the next week to research everything I needed to know to feel prepared and also organised my pantry during that time.
“I just felt it was needed for me to give this a good crack. During that week I decided my first full focus was going to be on what I was eating (hence sorting the pantry). That is my first big tip to getting started!”
Amazingly, Jessica focused on what she ate.
“I started with food because I remembered once learning it was about 80/20 – 80% what you put in your mouth and 20% what you do, so I started with food but I also wasn’t eating so wasn’t getting nutrients and I am breastfeeding so knew this had to change,” she says.
“I did my meal plan and I followed it, which I’ve now done every week since. I also slowly increased my water but my focus was to nail my food.
“I wasn’t eating much back then (other than chocolate and dinner) so I knew this would be hard. After 2 months I then started to walk to move my body and then after 4 months I started to do Challenge app workouts – over that time I continued to slowly increase my water which I now have three litres every day.
“I truly believe you need to create habits to make this a sustainable lifestyle change. If I tried to do it all at once, I guarantee I would have felt way too overwhelmed especially with how my mindset was at the time and I wouldn’t have achieved what I have so far.
“Take baby steps because it’s all a positive change, so embed a change, make it a habit and then look at what’s next. It also feels good to achieve the goals along the way!”
Jessica’s top tips for starting
- Find ways to help to stick to the plan. For example, I found setting alarms to remind me to eat, because I had no appetite back then, really helped me get into a rhythm. I eventually set alarms as reminders to eat & drink and move and then eventually turned them off as they became the norm.
- Make sure you eat your calories. I still have days I forget or am busy though but mostly I do a check on my calories at lunch time and I know if I’m behind I’ll add extras into my smoothie if needed.
- Find a friend. Having an accountability buddy makes the world of difference! I have my mum. We started together, made individual goals but also then a combined stretch goal to keep us working together. We talk to each other when we eat off our plan and at the start we always bounced off each other as we were learning.
- Reach out to the community. I’ve also found a group of healthy mummy’s where we ask each other questions and give support, that’s really been an awesome extra layer of support as I don’t think you can ever have too much support, especially when starting out. Brings me to the healthy mummy community, support is their middle name!
Shantelle Brumfield has lost 30kg in 9 months
Shantelle says she has turned around her mindset.
“I have so much confidence now in myself and my abilities. I look in the mirror and love what I am seeing before I would cringe at the thought of a mirror,” she says.
“I have gone from a size 20/ 22 to a 12/14. When I signed up to The Healthy Mummy I had no idea what to do or what to expect.
“But, I spent time reading posts and asking questions in the Facebook community pages. The ladies are so helpful, thoughtful, kind and so AMAZING and absolutely INSPIRING.
“I had always thought that I needed to eat least amount possible to lose weight but then would gain weight so fast. The app said to eat 1850 calories I thought this just couldn’t be right and was terrified of gaining more weight.
“But, I trusted the process and trusted in what the ladies were saying in the Facebook groups. Sure enough 3 weeks in I started losing big numbers.”
Shantelle’s tips for success:
- Firstly, why are you doing it? Find your reason because for me I had to be doing it for me in order to have success.
- Secondly, start small. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Make small changes as small consistent changes over time will lead to success.
- Third, pick just a few recipes a week to start with or pick recipes that are simple and have a lot of pantry staples in them. (Don’t get scared off by the first shopping bill it will actually start saving you money if you hang in there).
- Fourth, celebrate the daily wins! No matter how big or how small celebrate that you are closer to the fitter happier healthier you.
- Lastly, trust the process. Stay off the scales and go with pictures and how your clothes feel and spend time each day reading posts on the Facebook groups in truely is inspiring and motivating.
Tamara Hagger has lost 13.1kg and over 60cm
Tamara says starting small is definitely the key. Picking something attainable – it could be as small as changing one snack a day or adding an extra glass of water.
“Once you see results from the small changes they will become lifestyle and you can then make some more changes,” she says.
“The other key thing is finding someone to help keep you motivated and accountable. Whether that be within The Healthy Mummy community or family/friends. Having someone to talk to helps keep you on track.
“In six months I have now lost 13.1kg and over 60cm. All from staring with those small changes.”
Belinda Tonkin has lost 42kg
Belinda signed up to The Healthy Mummy in 2021.
“I weighed 168.3 kilos and was a size 26/28. I struggled with simple daily tasks. I had feet and back problems. I had high blood pressure and I was addicted to soft drink,” she says.
“Over the years, I tried so many times to loose weight and every time I failed I would feel only worse about myself and then I would gain more weight. It was a self-sabotage cycle.
“I knew my physical and mental health were suffering, I had my daughter who needed her mummy. Yet for some reason I couldn’t start. I felt so overweight and so big it almost felt impossible. It was very daunting.
“Then one day I just thought if I can’t do this for myself then I will do this for my daughter. So I found my WHY.”
Belinda’s top tips on how to start:
- Find your why. This will be your secret weapon. On the hard days when you feel like giving up you can come back to your why.
- Start small and set realistic goals for yourself. You might want to just drink more water or aim to go for a walk around the block 3 times a week. Once your achieving these goals then you can set bigger ones. It’s just about starting and getting the wheels in motion.
- Self-love /self-care! If you can take one tip it would be to know your worthy of self-love and care. We give so much of ourselves to our families and children that sometimes we have nothing left to give ourselves. So we start to take short cuts when it comes to our own needs.
- Making your needs a priority is imperative. So enjoy the journey of health and putting your needs first too. Remember children don’t need perfect mothers but they will reap benefits of happy and healthy mothers.
- Go into this knowing it’s not a diet, It’s a lifestyle change. It’s the long game and it’s not a race.
“Taking that first step can often be the hardest. Just take a deep breath , focus and tell yourself you can and will do this,” adds Belinda.
“The Healthy Mummy Community has helped me so much. It’s been a strong foundation to build my own journey on.”
Ashana Spinelli has lost 23kg
Ashana says when she first started her weight loss journey she felt a bit overwhelmed.
“There was so much on offer so I decided to take it slow and get to know the app at every opportunity,” she says.
“I immersed myself in the Healthy Mummy community. I joined all the groups, read posts and blogs for tips and I quickly realised I wasn’t doing this alone.
“We may be at different stages of our journey although we all strive for the same thing. To be our healthiest selves.”
In fact, Ashana says she approached it like getting a new phone.At start you find it a bit tricky to figure out but the more you play around with it the easier it becomes to navigate and before you know it, you whizzing through it like a pro.
“I decided to keep it simple and repetitive for my first few weeks. I swapped all my meals for simple stir fry but changed the protein each night. I had the same smoothie for breakfast and same snacks and lunch each day,” she says.
“This way I didn’t really have to put too much thought into it and it made meal prep easy. When I felt a bit more confident I started to explore new recipes and workouts from the app.
“If I were to start over i would take more before pictures and even some pics with goal outfits. There’s nothing more amazing then clothes comparisons. They tell you so much more then the scales.
“My best tip to have a successful start is to set small achievable goals. Don’t focus on losing x amount of kilos, instead focus on losing one kilo. Enjoy the journey, relax a little and trust the process.”
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