Inspiration for Mothers

It wasn't until I started doing yoga exercises sitting with my legs apart on the floor of my living room and felt the bottom part of my belly actually touching the floor as I bent forwards that I realised that something needed to be done!

I needed a plan.

And so do you if you want to make the life-style change that is needed in any serious weight-loss attempt (which is what the 'normal' 99% of us mums need after giving birth - not the 1% that 'ping' back (whatever that is - I personally have never 'pung')).

If you have no plan then any food is fair game at any time of the day.

So here's it is.

1/ First you need to choose when you're going to eat.

It has to fit in with your daily routine - best earlier in the day rather than later. In fact when I lost my post-pregnancy fat I had a cut-off time of about 5pm which worked great. After that I would drink water and wait for breakfast the next day!

2/ Next think of all the healthy foods that you just love to eat.

It has to be stuff that you're going to look forward to eating. The emphasis here is health and feeling good. That's the only way you'll lose it. Don't even think of the D word!

I cannot emphasis this enough so I'll say it again.

Your mindset has to be that of health and feeling good.

Put up pictures of people looking healthy, doing healthy things, pictures of your favourite healthy foods. When I first did this I cut pictures out of magazines and stuck them in a scrap book. I had pictures of women running in the sunshine, stretching and doing yoga by a lake, beautiful plates full of delicious exotic fruits, steaming mugs of herbal tea...

I even had a food reference book and I would look up and see what nutrients and benefits I was getting by eating certain foods. No counting calories or grams of fat!

3/ Work out which foods you'll eat when.

I would have toast for breakfast with a healthy spread and then stay off the bread for the rest of the day. I would have either a scrummy salad or delicious soup for lunch (which I ate when I was hungry after breakfast - sometimes even 11am), and then when I was hungry again I had my tea which was usually corn flakes (love them!). Then in the evening, as I said, just water.

At each meal I would eat as much as I wanted because the aim was to fill me up until the next meal. Also I tried to stick to just one food type for each meal and not take in too many different tastes or foods in one sitting.

At the beginning I would also chew gum between meals to stop me 'picking' at the kids food or leftovers!

So there you go! The easy and healthy way to regaining control of your wonderous female body.

Good luck! Let me know how you get on.

About the author: Becca Glouzstein is a stay-at-home mother of 3 fantastic children. Recently graduated after a 10 year course from the At-Home School of Mothering specialising in raising small children. Presently completing a Post-Graduate course in 'Teaching What I have Learned' using a variety of media, including a website and children's books.

She is the founder of Inspiration for Mothers, the cyber-home of spiritual and personal development for mothers. She is also a writer and illustrator of inspirational children's books (as yet unpublished).

INTENTIONS: To inspire mums to feel uplifted in their daily round. To remind children about the Truth of who they really are. To grow wiser as I grow older.

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