I committed the ultimate crime today . . . I exposed my midriff when leaving my elder daughter at pre-school. It wasn't that much but it was enough. And after having three children, my third almost a year ago, my tummy is not as flat as it once was.
I have really started to mourn the loss of my flat stomach and am determined to get it back! My husband thinks I should just accept my 'mummy tummy'. Apparently it's a sign of age ... I'm 36, not 56! And he's not the only one who thinks I can't do it ...
"It's the third one that did it!" is a common complaint amongst my mummy friends in relation to the loss of their toned (or not so toned) stomachs.
"Your skin is more stretchy after three ... It's harder to lose weight when you're older ... Your body fat percentage increases as you get older."
I try not to listen. Although I wished I hadn't piled on the pounds during this pregnancy. Each time I've been pregnant, I've put on approximately 4 stone and gone up about four dress sizes (I'm usually a 8/10). Last time I was back in a skimpy bikini within 7 months, following a few months of strict calorie counting and constant visits to the gym. This time I managed to get back into most of my clothes by the time my beautiful daughter was 9 months. I rekindled my passion for running and cut out juice! There most be a lot of hidden calories in juice because the pounds fell off when I stopped drinking it!
To be honest, unless mistakenly exposed, it's not really that obvious that I have a 'mummy tummy' when I have clothes on. But I know it's there. And more importantly, I have 3 or 4 gorgeous dresses hanging in my wardrobe that either 'grab' me unflatteringly at the stomach or even worse the zip won't go all the way up. Ok, the last one was bought in Topshop and was for a 'Sex in the City' night when I dressed as Carrie. It is incredibly short, in fact I really don't know what possessed me to buy a dress so short. I think it looked good on me at the time! But it looks awful on me now and I really don't want to give it to my much slimmer sister who would look fantastic in it!
So I've got two reasons to lose my 'mummy tummy' - to feel better about myself and to look fabulous in my beautiful dresses. The latter reason is purely self-indulgent and vain, according to my husband.
Since my 6 week check I have been walking and running quite frequently and am training for the Race for Life 10k in July. Recently I joined the gym and love Zumba. I also have started doing weights to tone up and going to Body Pump, which I don't love so much, but think it's making some impact on my muscle tone.
Every so often I cut out chocolate, crisps, bread and eat more fruit and veg. I've started a food diary a few times, which is great but requires time and dedication. But over the last month or so I feel like I've been stuffing myself with food - my biggest vices are crisps (Kettle Chips and Tyrells, in particular); chips at the rugby club (very tasty) and chocolate (I've even eaten baking chocolate!) Oh, and bread, which makes my stomach bloat like an overpumped helium balloon.
So I've decided to make a final bid to regain my fondly missed flat stomach This means no crisps or bread, limited chocolate and chips. Although with the number of birthday parties and rugby matches I have over the next month, I am allowing myself one naughty day a week!
I'm going to review my progress at the end of the month. My beautiful daughter turns 1 at the end of May and I want to look fabulous. I haven't started to contemplate what I'll do if my 'mummy tummy' is still here. Keep going with the 'diet'? Cry? Accept defeat?
In the meantime, I'm going to really try hard to watch what I'm eating and keep up with the exercise. And I won't make the mistake of not looking closely in the mirror before I leave the house again.
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