Healthy Mummy 12 Week Challenge: Mum transforms her body in EIGHT weeks
A weary mum-of-three has toned up and lost 3.5 kilos in just eight weeks after hitting a frustrating weight loss plateau in January – and she’s saved a fortune on food in the process.
Gemma Corey, from Brisbane, signed up to the Healthy Mummy 12 Week Challenge after losing muscle tone and struggling with bloating due to increased caffeine, chocolate and stress.
The 41-year-old previously lost an incredible 27 kilograms in one year after struggling with her weight for more than a decade.
A weary mum-of-three has toned up and lost 3.5 kilos in just eight weeks after hitting a frustrating weight loss plateau in January – and saved a fortune on food in the process
Gemma Corey, from Brisbane, signed up to the Healthy Mummy 12 Week Challenge after noticing she’d lost muscle tone and was struggling with bloating due to increased caffeine, chocolate and stress
‘My weight loss journey hit a plateau in January 2022. I kept losing and gaining the same 1kg. Then in early April, my family caught covid,’ she said.
‘The impacts to my health were huge. Due to sick kids, I wasn’t sleeping and was having 8-10 coffees per day. At night, I would eat constantly to help me stay awake. It took me three weeks to recover from the cough before I could work out again.’
To bounce back into shape, Gemma pledged to complete four home body weight workouts per week, reduce her coffee intake and stick to her target calories by eating nutritious foods from the online library.
What is Gemma’s typical day on a plate (1,800 – 1,900 calories)?
Breakfast: A Healthy Mummy Smoothie or dairy free scrambled eggs
Lunch: Dinner leftovers or a nutritious smoothie
Dinner: A fresh dinner like bacon and mushroom ravioli, healthy hot dogs, or bacon, cheese and corn loaf
Snacks: Healthy sausage roll
Dessert: Chocolate cheesecake or Caramilk weetbix slice
What workouts does Gemma do?
She started with the postnatal workouts in The Healthy Mummy app. These are a series of short workouts which show plenty of safe options to deal with ab separation and pelvic floor but help to rebuild your fitness and strength.
She then moved into beginner boxing workouts at home and fit in body weight workouts during her baby’s 10-15 minute naps.
The 41-year-old previously lost an incredible 27 kilograms in one year after struggling with her weight for more than a decade
Just eight weeks on and she’s lost a total of 30cm from her body.
‘I am definitely feeling stronger, fitter and much less bloated! After 12 long years of being obese and overweight – I am finally in the healthy range for BMI and my waist measurement is less than 80cm,’ she said.
Gemma, who struggles with PCOS and hypothyroidism, said diet was the key to her success over the past eight weeks, along with 30 minute circuit training, interval training and Pilates sessions from her living room using the app.
Gemma is also a huge advocate of meal prepping and saves a $7,800 a year on bulk preparing all meals and snacks; she often makes as many as 156 serves for less than $100.
Gemma is also a huge advocate of meal prepping and saves a $7,800 a year on bulk preparing all meals and snacks; she often makes as many as 156 serves for less than $100
Gemma, who struggles with PCOS and hypothyroidism, said diet was the key to her success over the past eight weeks, along with 30 minute circuit training, interval training and Pilates sessions from her living room using the app
Her most recent prep session saw her make 156 serves in 4.5 hours while caring for her nine-month-old.
‘I had to carefully plan which meals and snacks I would make. I had to plan which dishes I would cook/bake my meals in (eg slow cooker, stovetop, oven and air fryer),’ she said.
‘This saved me a lot of time because I wasn’t waiting for one dish to finish baking in the oven before my next dish could be prepped.’
She also chose cheaper tinned and frozen vegetables than fresh and made a ‘huge saving’ – it didn’t make a difference to the end result as she freezes her meals when she’s done anyway.
Her most recent prep session saw her make 156 serves in 4.5 hours while caring for her nine-month-old
‘I had to carefully plan which meals and snacks I would make. I had to plan which dishes I would cook/bake my meals in (eg slow cooker, stovetop, oven and air fryer),’ she said
She also chose cheaper tinned and frozen vegetables than fresh and made a ‘huge saving’ – it didn’t make a difference to the end result as she freezes her meals when she’s done anyway
‘Because I was prepping multiple meals and snacks at the same time I created a production line with all of my ingredients for each dish. This kept me focused so I didn’t forget any key ingredients or steps in the recipe method,’ she said.
‘I had a terrible habit of buying way more groceries than we needed. This meant that there was always a lot of waste with fruits and veggies ending up in the bin.
‘Now I carefully plan out our dinners for the week and I purchase only the ingredients that we need and substitute proteins, veggies and fruits across dishes so that there is minimal waste. I rarely throw anything out.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk