However, I was unsure that I'd ever be able to get back into it. I had an embarrassing vision of having to post up the same weight (or more) on the scales every week. During the first week of the diet, I almost quit, and was thinking of giving you the spurious line "my doctor says I shouldn't be on a diet" as a get-out.
I'm glad I didn't though, as this is what I looked like at 34 weeks pregnant, weighing over 12 stone, in a photoshoot in March for Pregnancy & Birth magazine:
It's ironic that I'm (coincidentally) holding a cupcake, as this photo is evidence of what too much cake will do to you. (I had massive cravings for chocolate, and was eating virtually a whole cake a day!). I don't even recognise myself here. People kept saying I looked like Ugly Betty.
This is what I looked like in May, soon after giving birth, weighing over 11 stone:
It's fair to say that I was a big girl.
Now, this isn't going to be a very good retrospective, as I spent most of the year studiously avoiding cameras, so you can't really see the transition from plump to unplump (sorry). But by the start of August, I'd lost a stone and a half just by cutting out chocolate and eating sensibly.
I needed an incentive to lose another two stone though - hence the blog. So I created the diet outlined in my last post. It wasn't easy or fun, and it took nearly four months, but to my relief I'm now 8 stone and a size 8 again (US size 4), and here I am (yesterday) back in the same dress:
Since April 24th, I've lost a third of my body weight, and feel much more confident, healthy and happy having done so. I don't know if I'll ever have another baby - if I do, it won't be until Lily's much older - but if I get pregnant again, I'll be very careful with my eating, so I don't have to go through this process again.
This will be my last blog post for a while. Thanks for all your support and encouragement over the last four months - it meant a lot. I genuinely couldn't have done it without you.
13 comments:
Congratulations again. I'll miss your ever decreasing scales readouts, though I suppose they couldn't keep getting smaller or you would have eventually disappeared. But then, you are apparently disappearing from Blogger... hopefully you'll reconsider that.
Oooh, I don't like goodbyes. Your blog is, and always has been, my favourite. But I'm so happy for you. This week has been tough for me, as I made the mistake of trying to squeeze into my old clothes prematurely. I was ready to just accept being 15 pounds overweight and buying a whole new wardrobe. But this post has given me a very necessary push to persevere.
You look fabulous in all of the photos; when you're a very beautiful woman, a bit of weight won't change that. But you do look truly exceptional now, especially because you have a glow of success.
Good luck to you. I hope you find something else to blog about in the future.
@Graham: Thanks. (And to my relief I never had to ask you to Photoshop a single one!) But yes - my goal has never been to be tiny, only to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I won't be posting on here until I have something to say, but I still look forward to commenting on your blog.
@Alessa: That's so kind of you - glad you enjoyed the blog. Don't buy the wardrobe - all your new clothes will be way too loose sooner than you know it, and then you'll have spent all that money for nothing! Good luck with your diet - I'll still be reading your blog and commenting, and I'm certain that very soon you'll reach your goal.
Congratulations! In those photos have you noticed that your smile gets broader as you get thinner???
Well done you. It's not easy, being lean. I'm struggling, but I'll get there.
I am rubbish as calculating weight in stones, in fact I got NO idea on how much weight one has in stone, how thin or how fat, but I don't think you look big on any of those pictures. I mean, yes, on some you do look like you gained some weight, but a big girl? In the UK? You? Have you ever been to Liverpool?
I hope you do blog again soon, whatever the topic that may suit your fancy.
Well done, Ariane. I've never had to lose any significant amount of weight but I have had to recover my fitness after a big operation so I know how easy it can seem to give up and just feel like you've changed for good, so very well done indeed.
You should have put metric translations in all of these blog posts, though - your daughter will never have any idea of what you went through.
All the best,
Matt
Congratulations! The description of your diet tells me how you suffered the last months. And guess what: just by reading your blog regularly I lost 2 kilos. If I only have had a chance to read your blog long enough, I would have lost 2 stones as well ;-)
But that´s not the only reason why I will miss your blog. I love your kind of humour and style - hope you can finish and publish your other projects soon.
I don´t know any other person being so famous and renown who could finish a project and then step back from the big stage to do something completely different without being forced to. I admire you for that and I´m looking forward to the changes yet to come.
It's very good there's now half as much of you in the world.
@irondanimal: Thanks! I hadn't noticed that till you mentioned it, but it's probably a sign of my lack of confidence when I was bigger.
@Margaret: Very best of luck with your weight loss initiative. It won't be easy but it'll definitely be worth it. My top tip is: eat little and often.
@Guillaume: I went from nearly 80kg to 51kg! Really glad you liked the blog.
@Matt: Well done on regaining your fitness. You're absolutely right about just putting up with the status quo - at one stage I thought 'well, I'll always be ten stone now, so I'd better get used to it'. (I bought bigger clothes and everything!)
@Peter: Congratulations on your 2kg weight loss! Keep at it and you'll soon be the weight you want to be. Really glad you enjoyed the blog. I'm genuinely not remotely famous, but I do like trying new things, and I'll definitely blog again if I have a new project. (I think that's unlikely for the meantime though.)
@Anonymous: Er... thanks! (I think?)
oh how adorable (all three of you). :)
I like the 1st webcam pic where the little babo is looking straight at us. Beautiful.
Last Friday, after school, as we were walking back from the play park, I said to my little princess, "Days are so short now, it's like night time."
"No! No! Every day is 24 hours!"
Ugly Betty? No, you are a very pretty lady and you look stunning. Thanks for sharing a bit about yourself, your family looks very lovely. I understand what you mean about weight. I am a csi-guy so I will never be pregnant but I recently lost some excess weight and it really takes away so much back pain, energy drain and fatigue. Best wishes to you and your family :)
I happen to think you look beautiful in ALL the above pictures and if I were your husband, I would never demand you lose weight to be thin. Hey, you gave me a baby, what greater blessing could there be? Be happy with yourself and your weight won't matter so much.
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