I Will Be on Sky News Tonight at 5:00pm!

Me with Mostyn Price, the Senior Cameraman for Sky News, West of England Bureau and Isabel Webster, the West of England Correspondent for Sky News

Obesity during pregnancy has been in the news quite a lot lately, especially now that the NHS is trying to take steps to help prevent the complications that obesity in pregnancy can cause, such as large birth weight babies.

Because of the NHS' latest move, giving obese pregnant women diabetes medicine even when they have yet to test positive for gestational diabetes as a way to prevent overly large babies, Sky News decided to do a feature on it, and Slimming World let them know about me, because I lost a lot of my weight while I was pregnant.

I don't know how much of what they filmed will actually be shown, but they interviewed me with some questions. Then they filmed me cutting up fruit for the kids and handing out fruit to the kids. (The kids included some of the neighbors' children as well.) Then they asked us all to play games outside, and the kids chose "Duck, Duck, Goose." If they show it, you will see my 17 and 18 year old daughters as well as me, a 40 year old woman, playing "Duck, Duck, Goose" with a bunch of younger children (mine and the neighbors' kids). I am laughing just thinking about it!

The kids were fascinated with the news van, especially when the film taken was being sent to headquarters so the big satellite dish on the top of the van adjusted to angle skyward.

It is supposed to air during the 5:00pm news and possibly again during the 10:00pm news.

Both Isabel and Mostyn were really nice. I just hope I don't look like an idiot on film!

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Will It Be Another Good Week?

With a new baby, lack of sleep and two of my kids down with chicken pox (again, but that's another story which can be found in my personal blog at http://gigglesandkisses.blogspot.com ), I can feel the stress making me want to munch. The urge to snack, and not just on anything but on high carbohydrate, sugary things is really strong right now. I should technically still have some of the weight left on from pregnancy-related gain still coming off of me right now, but will it be enough if I succumb?

I'll just have to make sure I don't give in to my attack of the munchies so that I won't have to find out.

I'd love to lose another 7 - 10 pounds by New Year's and that doesn't leave me much time!

Tomorrow's Weigh-In & Baby Photos

For those of you interested, I have posted Cameron's birth story and photos and video of him right after birth in my personal blog at http://gigglesandkisses.blogspot.com and my husband has posted his version of the birth story at his blog at http://diaperblues.blogspot.com .

You would think that, having just given birth to a 6 pound baby, I would be confident about losing weight at my weigh-in tomorrow. However, I have used the baby's birth as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted this week, and I have not been eating healthy or low-calorie all week. My back is killing me right now, so I also haven't been exercising. To be honest, I will be surprised if I have lost any weight and I will be lucky if I haven't GAINED any weight!

Still, it's been an enjoyable week, and I am back on track now, so next week I should see a really good loss!

The Baby Has Arrived!!!

I'm home from the hospital now. Cameron was born at 28 past midnight on the 28th (I was induced on the 27th). He weighed 6 pounds 1/2 oz. and was 20 inches long.

Almost Forgot To Mention My Weigh-in!

Oh, and I was UP half a pound this week at Monday's weigh-in despite being really good with my eating and exercise this week. I guess it's all down to the upredictability of being at this stage of the pregnancy. *sigh*

It was still frustrating to see.

But I am still down 46 pounds.

Tomorrow

Well, tomorrow is the day that, if all goes well, I should have this baby induced. I have to admit, I have taken it a bit easy for the past couple of days with my diet and exercise. It's the mini-break from it all that I promised myself ages ago.

I even had a Big Mac from Mcdonald's yesterday. I found that, as much as I enjoyed the taste, it made me feel a bit ill for the rest of the day, so I won't be having one again any time soon. I guess I'm no longer used to having that much fat and salt in my diet.

Tomorrow is also Thanksgiving. We will be going out to dinner for a traditional Thanksgiving meal tonight instead of cooking it. And we are going out tonight because I won't be able to celebrate it tomorrow (other than having one wonderful new little baby to be thankful for by then, hoepfully).

I made a low-fat pumpkin pie, and we will enjoy it when we get home from dinner. They don't "do" pumpkin pie here, but a friend of mine who lives in the US was kind enough to send me the pumpkin mix. My kids will be thrilled to have pumpkin pie again after not having had any in over a year, and I must admit that I love pumpkin pie too! I'm so thankful for having such wonderful friends!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers out there!

Two Days Past Now

I am still pregnant. *sigh*

Today is my day off from exercise anyway, but I kind of feel like I should try and get some exercise in anyway.

I was hoping that being so much more fit this time around my body would do what it's supposed to do when the time came, but it looks like my body is instead doing what it usually does and hanging on to the baby until it's forced to let go.

Oh well. At least I haven't had any problems with my blood pressure this time around. That, at least, I can attribute to my healthier lifestyle and weight loss.

One Day Past My Due Date & Still Exercising

I am officially past my due date now. And I still managed to get on my elliptical machine for 85 minutes (14.8 miles). I actually broke it up into two workouts. One was for 45 minutes and one was for 40 minutes. I broke the workout into two, not because I couldn't do 85 minutes in one go, but because it's just so darn boring to do the full 85 minutes. LOL!

I must admit that I did not workout on the elliptical trainer yesterday. Instead I walked around town with my husband doing some Christmas shopping for about two hours, pushing a double stroller with two toddlers in it for most of that time. My shoulders were hurting by the time I got home. And later I went with my husband to walk the dog for 30 minutes.

Even though I was still getting exercise, it feels like cheating when I haven't worked out on the elliptical crosstrainer.

I'm still hopeful that this baby will arrive this weekend. I know it's not likely though. But I really want to get another "Slimmer of the Week" at my Slimming World meeting, and I have to have a loss or maintain the week beforehand in order to get it (and then I have to lose more than everyone else). I had a loss last week, and despite doing all the right things this week, I am not confident that I will maintain or lose, because my body has been so fickle about it at the end of this pregnancy. And I am scheduled to be induced on Thursday, so if I go in to my meeting on Monday and show a gain, I will lose my chance at Slimmer of the Week the Monday after the baby is born.

I know it's silly, but I still want it. LOL!

No Baby Yet

Yesterday was my due date, but of course, like all my other pregnancies, my baby did not arrive in a timely fashion. I am scheduled to be induced on Thursday, but I've already been told that I will be sent home if there are too many other women already in labor that day.

I just want to hurry up and have this baby! I want to see how much my belly will shrink from the weight I've lost so far. I want to see how much more weight I have lost that isn't showing yet because of the weight of the baby. I want to be able to exercise without severe pain. I don't want to feel this horrible heavy weight in my belly anymore.

Of course, I want to see my baby and make sure he's healthy. But I'm at the point where I am just frustrated that my body never gets this part of pregnancy right and I always have to wait on the whim of the doctor on when to induce me.

I was kind of hoping that by being in better shape this time, my body would be better able to respond to the signals or hormones or whatever it is that is supposed to start my labor, but apparently, my body doesn't produce the right hormones. I'm trying to be positive and convince myself that this time will be different, but after already having six babies that had to be induced, it's kind of difficult to believe that this one will be any different. *sigh*

I LOST!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness! I actually lost 3.5 pounds this week!!!!! YAY!!!!!

At 9 months pregnant, I really did NOT expect a loss, despite all of my hard work, and especially not as much as 3.5 pounds! All of my exercise paid off!

It feels so good!!!!!!!!

Total weight loss while pregnant: 46.5 pounds!

Tonight was another night at the Slimming World meeting to bring samples of "low syn" food. I tweaked a peanut butter cookie recipe and brought cookies. Robert tweaked the recipe for meringues and brought them. Both went over well at the meeting.

I'll share the recipes sometime tomorrow (or later if I am induced tomorrow). (I might have the baby's birth induced tomorrow. He was breech at the last appointment, and if he's still breech, he will be turned and then I will be induced, but he will probably have turned already, so I'll just be sent home to wait some more.)

Gained

Well, the verdict is in and, despite all of my hard work, I am up half a pound this week. Still, I'm 38 weeks and 3 days pregnant, so I am still doing pretty good, and maybe I'll see a loss next week as long as I keep up the hard work.

My Slimming World consultant asked if I'd be okay with being featured in our local paper about my 43 pound weight loss while pregnant. I think it'd be interesting to do, and it might help me keep my motivation too.

YAY!!!!!!!

Despite my negative thinking, I managed to lose weight this week! At Slimming World, I weighed in another 2.5 pounds down!!!! I am so happy! It means I reached my goal for this pregnancy of making it to 3 stone lost (42 pounds) and surpassed it by losing another pound and a half! That's a total loss of 43.5 pounds for me and I am now 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant!

It also means that all the extra effort I put in this week was rewarded!

Woohoo!!!!

Weigh-in Tonight!

Well, I've eaten healthy food this week and watched my overall calories. I worked out on the elliptical trainer 6 days of this week (80 minutes on Tuesday, 80 minutes on Wednesday, 80 minutes on Thursday, 82 minutes on Friday, 66 minutes on Saturday and 65 minutes today). And yet, according to my scale, I not only haven't lost weight, but I might have actually gained again this week. Which of course leaves me with one question: Just how big is this baby going to be?!!

I have 2 weeks and 4 days until my due date. I really don't want to gain back any of the weight I've lost in this short space of time and I am working really hard to make sure it doesn't happen, so gains, even small ones like last week's half pound, are really depressing.

Maybe I'll get a surprise at tonight's weigh-in and my weight will stay the same or I'll actually lose some weight. I can dream.

Wish me luck!

20 Weeks Weight

I keep saying that I am happy to maintain my weight at this point in my pregnancy, but, so far, I still seem to be able to lose! I lost another 1.5 pounds this week for a total weight loss over 20 weeks of 40 pounds! Now of course, 42 pounds, which equals 3 stone in UK measurements, is looking tantalizingly close! I am over 33 weeks pregnant now too.

Loss this week: 1.5 pounds!!!
Total loss over 20 weeks: 40 pounds!!!!!!!

Is My Improved Fitness Showing?

Being pregnant means it is harder for me to notice the weight coming off from me, because my belly is still growing. It is difficult for me to see the results of my weight loss except for in my face for now, at least until the baby arrives.

Today, I was walkign my daughter Gabby to school and pushing the double stroller with my two year old and three year old in it. We wound up behind a mother and toddler and they were walking really slowly. I assumed it was because of the toddler's uncertain steps, but as I came alongside them, I realized that the 20-something mother was very pregnant and the toddler was pulling against her hand trying to speed her up. We started up a conversation, and I found out that she was due just two weeks before me.

Later, after the children were dropped off at school, we ran into one another again, and she stopped to chat with me. (I was at the bus stop waiting for a bus to take my two little ones and I to the hospital for a prenatal appointment.)

First, she was amazed that I was only due two weeks after her and that this was my 7th baby. She said I just seemed too fit and energetic for that!

That comment absolutely made my day! Most days, I hobble with pregnancy-induced pain from my hip, but I am learning to ignore the pain and do my best to walk normally and quickly anyway so as to make my time spent walking shorter. And I have never before been referred to as being "fit" and definitely not "energetic!" Even in my early 20s with my first few pregnancies back in my "thin" days, I always felt tired and sluggish. I would look at other pregnant women and mothers and be jealous of how energetic they seemed!

I have noticed that, where I used to take 45 minutes or longer to walk 2 miles with my husband, I can now do the same walk in usually about 30 minutes. So, maybe even if I can't physically see the results in my body of all of this weight loss right now, at least I am starting to be shown the results that are appearing in other ways.