How I lost weight on a budget, after baby, while working full time.

Welcome to my first post. This blog is the beginning of a journey that I already started back in August 2007 when my daughter was just 6 months.

I found myself heavier than I was during pregnancy. At just over 150 cm tall, I weighed 86.5kg (just under 14 stone). To lose this weight seemed like an unachievable task. When the size 18, 20, 22 and 24 clothing and underclothes were beginning to feel uncomfortably tight, the sweatshirts were riding up, the maternity clothes still fit and I had no energy for my baby and I always seemed to be out of breath, I decided I just had to lose the weight until I got down to my target weight. I just randomly selected somewhere between 52kg-54kg because in the past, this is the weight that allowed me to wear the clothes I wanted and the weight I felt most comfortable at.

I decided (almost half heartedly to be honest) to embark on a journey. A journey that took me about 9 months before I was happy with the eventual weight I ended up at (53kg). Now, almost 1 year later, having kept the weight off, I feel justified in sharing this experience with you. I did not want to go on a fad diet that would help me get weight off for that wedding or party or birthday, only to gain it just a few months later, once the many "festivities" had ended. This diet had to be for life. It had to be real. It had to be cheap. It had to work in with my family. It could not be time consuming. Equally as important was that the diet had to be resilient to any events that could incur overeating habits that I had suffered from in the past (stress, fatigue, boredom, a great love of food, a fondness for a nice wine, a hectic social life, inability to say no (you know, the work Monday morning teas, your Uncle's 50th...). Where do I begin?