Pregnancy Stole My Figure

Jane, 28, has two children, aged four and two. Like many mums she found that the weight she gained during pregnancy was hard to lose.

‘During my first pregnancy I really enjoyed eating for two and put on a whopping five stone. It came as quite a shock to find our that after my son was born I still looked pregnant - not just a few weeks later, but months later, people were still asking when the baby was due! Slowly the weight started to go; through I still could not get back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. I had just over another stone to lose when I found I was pregnant again.

I tried hard with my second pregnancy not to over indulge, and I did not have time to sit and gorge on chocolate as I had done first time round, as I had a toddler to chase after. I was still nearly two stone overweight after he was born though.

Breast-feeding helped get rid of some of the weight, leaving me with a stone to lose. So, as soon as I finished breast-feeding I put myself on a diet hailed by a newspaper as having fantastically quick results. The first week was great. I lost 8lbs. By the second week I felt weak, miserable, could only think about food and all the things I was not allowed and my husband begged me to stop. I did, and within weeks I had gained all the weight I had lost, plus a few extra pounds. That was really depressing.

I decided that as I need bags of energy to look after my two boys - who also did not need a mother who snaps at them because she is hungry and short-tempered - I should take a slower, more sensible approach. Someone told me about the success that had with taking a natural herbal supplement - Adios, coupled with a calorie-controlled diet with exercise - so I thought I would give it a go. The first week I lost 6lbs, though I now understand that with any diet the first week can be quite dramatic, and it slows down after that. I settled for the fact that a 2lbs a week weight loss that stayed off would be better than 5lbs a week loss that shot back on the minute you stopped.

I also put myself on an exercise programme - nothing dramatic. Instead of taking my eldest son to nursery in the car we now walk. When we go to the park in the afternoon as the kids play, I jog around the perimeter of the children's playground, and the boys and I also love going swimming. We go with a friend and her children and take it in turns to keep an eye on the kids while the other one goes and does some lengths.

In a month I had lost 10lbs, which was fantastic. In two months I could get back into the jeans I wore before I ever got pregnant. That was a moment of triumph. I am convinced Adios together with a sensible eating plan with exercise helped me, and I feel I have now settled into a lifestyle that suits me, is healthy, and I will never again be tempted to go for a quick fix diet - quite simply, they do not work.'

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