Dieters Dream?

With my wedding and CyberMummy just 7 months away, I need to get dieting and exercising like never before!

Having four children in under 6 years has definitely taken it's toll on my body. I used to be a svelte size 6 and theses days you can add a '1' in front of that number. *sobs into pillow*

During the past 7 years (Goodness! Has it really been seven years?!) my diet and body weight have yo-yo'd somewhat.

I'd never had a problem with my weight before I became a mother. However this trait seems to run in my family. Weight has been an issue with all of the female members of the family since they had children. I don't know why this is. A genetic thing? Laziness? Poor portion control? or maybe it's a case of simply making wrong food choices?

I've tried lots of diets over my 'motherhood' years so far and most have worked to a certain extent, however I've had real difficulty maintaining these diets. I know that this is from my own personal lack of commitment and self control.

Bad choices are easier to make. They're simpler. Often quicker and more convenient. Less draining.

The stupid thing is that I know I'm on a never ending circle! I'm tired, constantly, I get grumpy, I often eat when I'm not actually hungry, I don't drink enough and aside from walking and the usual running about with the kids, I don't exercise regularly.

I know that my diet contributes to mostly everything I've mentioned above, yet it takes great willpower to break this cycle and by doing almost exactly the opposite of what I'm doing now will actually make me feel (and look) a hell of a lot better. I am, however, seriously lacking in the willpower department.

Then I saw this. In this article, professor Mark Haub who is a teacher of human nutrition at Kansas State University, lost an incredible 27lbs in just two months eating an unhealthy diet of Chocolate, chips, and cakes!

What an extraordinary discovery! Now I'm obviously not condoning this kind of 'diet' and I'm certainly not intending on trying it myself, but it does go to show that it is all about controlling your intake.


I am starting my wedding/CyberMummy diet on Monday morning.
(Yes I am aware that this is putting things off that little bit longer, but I have a couple of pre-arranged things in the diary already, which really aren't diet friendly!)

I am planning on mostly calorie counting and for the first few weeks I'm going to do this with Dr Haub's discovery in mind. If I fancy some chocolate,or a chip shop dinner, as long as it comes within my daily calorie intake, I'm going to have it. I of course will be eating a mostly healthy diet and I will be upping my exercise too.

If, after a few weeks of this diet, I am still consistently losing weight, I will keep going, if not, I will go back to the whole not eating any kind of unhealthy food stuffs attitude for the remaining months of my new body quest.

I will do a weekly blog post to keep you up to date on my weight loss journey for the biggest weekend of my life!

Wish me luck, I'm going to need it!

Did you see this?!

The lovely Sian of Mummy Tips and CyberMummy wrote this post just for me!

WOW!

As I was reading through the post, dedicated to Drew and I, I couldn't help but shed a few tears.
I was, and still am completely shocked that Sian, an incredibly busy woman and mother would, firstly bother to read my little blog or acknowledge any of my random tweets and secondly, (and most importantly) would take time out of her schedule to write a post about me!

I don't think that I have been made to feel that special or acknowledged in such a way before now.
Sian is somewhat of a 'celebrity' to me, as are many of the people I follow via their Twitter feeds and online blogs. I am always surprised when someone I hold in this regard 'tweets' me back or comments on one of my blog posts.

I was excited beyond belief when the brilliant Josie at Sleep is for the Weak used one of my blog posts as inspiration for one of the prompts in her amazingly successful 'Writing Workshop'. So when I got a tweet from Sian with a link to the aforementioned blog post, I broke down completely!

I can't begin to put into words how this simple acknowledgement has made me feel. This week has been a whirlwind of emotions what with my purchase of my CyberMummy ticket AND the booking of our wedding which have both been spontaneous decisions.

My Bipolar sends me through a roller coaster of feelings from each end of the spectrum. Sian, and CyberMummy, you really have no idea how brilliantly amazing you have made my week.
Thank you! x

A 'Spring' in my step

This weeks gallery post for the gorgeous Tara at Sticky Fingers is all about 'Seasons'.

My favourite season has to be Autumn. I love the colours and the crisp crunchiness of the fallen leaves. The slight chill in the air.

The textures of the world really come to life in Autumn.
Green spiky conker cases competing with the luxurious shiny deep brown and intense smoothness of the conker itself.

What's there not to love about this season? It's beautiful, and awe inspiring.

However, as you can tell from the above photograph, I haven't chosen to represent Autumn. I have instead gone with Spring.

This is one of my all time favourite photos. It features me with my three daughters (back when Che was a mere twinkle in his Daddy's eye)

We are sitting in a field full of daisies. It was beautiful, peaceful and most importantly for me, memorable.

Announcement

Today, Drew and I made an important decision.
Today, Drew and I decided to be spontaneous.
Today, Drew and I booked our Wedding!


After an entire decade together, and creating three beautiful daughters and a rather fetching son, we have come to the conclusion that we should go the whole hog and get hitched too!

What has spurred this second act of spontaneity? (for the first, see here)
Well, as bizarrely as it may seem, it was the booking of my CyberMummy ticket that pushed us to this decision!

The date of our marriage is Friday June 24, 2011.

Now, those in the know will be thinking.. "Why the hell would you want to book your wedding day the day before an 11hour conference in London?"  Right?!

Well, there is method in my madness, I promise!

Due to me being in London all day on Saturday for CyberMummy, I've had to book an over night stay.
Drew and I have never, ever, in the entire 7 years with our 4 kids had more then 3 hours respite from them! Seriously!!

We have wanted, for a couple of years now to visit the Tate and Drew has never been on the London Eye, so we thought maybe this is our first excuse for an overnighter without the kids!
This is an extremely rare opportunity for us and Drew's parents have very kindly agreed to have the 4 kids for that one and only Saturday night!

So we thought.. why not use this as our 'honeymoon'?
An entire night without our children and a bit of sightseeing thrown in to boot! (A-ha I hear you cry, good thinking, yes?!)
We would not have been able to afford a honeymoon anyway so this solitary night is all we're hoping for. We will return to pick up the kids on Sunday evening, in time to do bath and bed and the school run the next day.

So there you have it. That was my big announcement.

I will be sharing my honeymoon with ALL of the CyberMummy attendees. Feel very privileged people!

It's going to be one hell of a weekend, and I truly can't wait!

CyberMummy 2011

Oh. My. Goodness.

I've never been particularly spontaneous, especially since the four kids arrived. I don't do things for myself. I don't spend money on myself. So imagine how guilty I feel at just having purchased a ticket (albeit the at the early bird discounted rate) to next years CyberMummy Conference!

I can't believe that I've done it! I feel a little bit sick, but very excited!

So on June 25th 2011 I shall be heading back to my birthplace, London to meet the many many wonderful mummy(and daddy) bloggers who shall be attending.

This year the event is being held at The Brewery. And I can't wait. Seriously. I'm like a hyperactive child who's been force fed E numbers and let loose in Hamley's.

There are so many people that I want to meet, so @and1moremeans5, @3bedroom, and @cosmicgirlie (to name but a few) I want   No,  I need to meet you guys (And *whispers* Dildo Bob too!)

To help the 'meeting and greeting' element of the day, the lovely Carly at Mummy's Shoes has put a link on her blog for everyone to get to know everyone else that little bit better, so once you have bought your CyberMummy 2011 ticket, write up your bio and link it up through Carly's blog.

So, this is me!

Name: Kerry-Anne Lewis

Blog: Life Through a Sippy Cup
         Falling Starlett


Twitter ID: @KezLewis

Height: 5ft 2

Hair: Shoulder length, Dark Brown (this is subject to change!)

Eyes: Hazel/Green

Likes: Italian food, Music, Vodka, Autumn, Grey's Anatomy, Lie to me, Reading (Mainly Dan Brown, Louise Bagshaw, Autobiographies)

Dislikes:  Reality TV, Bullies, Surprises, Waiting and Spiders