Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Introducing Christa

Meet Christa, our second Body Beyond Baby mum who has embarked upon our Find Your Summer Body - 8 Week Challenge.  Christa will also be sharing her journey with you over the next 8 weeks.  The first contact I had with Christa was a couple of days before the challenge was about to start, she sent me an SMS and called and left a message to check if there was still space and saying that she had thought she could lose her baby weight herself, it was harder than she had thought and she really wanted to join our challenge.  I love those phone calls where I can hear the persons enthusiasm and determination before I have even met them.  I am definitely looking forward to watching Christa work hard and achieve her goals over the next 8 weeks.  Here she is:

"I am just over it! Six months after the birth of my son Alex I am still 10kg heavier than I was, my thighs look like they have been damaged in a hail storm, my upper body would squash somebody if I accidentally fell on them (as I wouldn't be able to get up in time due to my enlarged backside) and I am still living in my pregnancy jeans.

When I fell pregnant with Alex I was 33, incredibly active, fit and felt on top of the world. Sounds self confident? I was.  I played tennis four times a week plus competitions on the weekends as well as other regular activities from rock climbing to kite surfing.

Karl and I were over the moon about having a baby and I had a great pregnancy.  I even played tennis until I was 6 months pregnant until my bump slowed me down and I didn't feel comfortable playing anymore.  From that day on I felt like I was putting on weight just by looking at food. At the time I told myself that it didn't matter as I was pregnant and supposed to be getting bigger.  In hindsight and to be completely truthful I enjoyed being lazy, my portions got bigger and bigger and if Karl didn't finish his dinner I finished that as well. A bag of salt and vinegar crisps accompanied by a whole bar of marzipan chocolate became my regular desert - I was getting big anyway so I could indulge right?   

By the end of my pregnancy I had put on around 20 kg.  I told myself Alex must be a heavy baby; he turned out to be 2.9kg (not heavy at all!)  I left the hospital very proud and happy but looking pretty much the same as I checked in!  Everybody told me; "don’t worry the weight will just drop of when you are breastfeeding" or "It takes 9 months to put it on, it will take the same  time to get rid of it" Hmmm.....

When Alex was 7 weeks old we moved from the UK to Australia, this was exciting but also stressful, once more I had an excuse to eat, eat, eat!  When I look back now, I can’t believe that I actually thought I'd lose weight whilst filling myself up with sugar and carbs.  I kept moaning about my body, especially after arriving in Sydney and seeing all these good looking people who exercised and were obviously very healthy (I found this to be very different in the UK) However I still ate a whole chocolate bar and told myself that I’d start trying to lose the weight tomorrow…. I walked everywhere but my meals were HUGE..... nothing really happened.

Knowing I had to change something I went with a friend to a personal trainer twice,  it felt really good to be moving but with Alex in the pram close by I couldn’t completely tune into the session, he got bored quite quickly and I knew it wasn't going to work for me in the long term.

In late August I flew to Austria to be a bridesmaid at my best friends wedding. We wore all the same dress which didn't  flatter my body shape at all.  Austrians tend to be very direct and my dad along with a handful other people told me that it’s probably time to start exercising again! The final straw was seeing pictures of me in that dress, I burst into tears, I looked hideous and swore as soon as I was back in Australia I would start to do something.

I came across Body Beyond Baby on Ella’s list I thought, "This is it". Karl, (the sole breadwinner at the moment) was happy to spend the money as he was long over me whinging but not doing anything.

The 8 week challenge has now started and I couldn't wait to get going. My goals are set and if you want to know if I am able to fight my weaker self and give it all, watch this space. I will try and do a weekly diary on my ups and downs…

Goals in a glimpse:
-    Loose 10kg
-    Loose the flabby and huge midriff
-    Get toned again
-    Feel confident and good about myself again
-    Feel comfortable again wearing a bikini
-    Coming close to 100% attendance"

Stay tuned for more on Christa's journey to Find her Summer Body!

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