Reality star Josie Gibson has revealed how she dropped three dress sizes in just 12 weeks following the birth of her baby boy Reggie-James.
The Big Brother winner has lost two stone and gone from a size 18-20 to a size 12 using musclefood.com’s ‘Do the Unthinkable’ diet and exercise programme.
The new mum gained four and a half stone during her pregnancy, tipping the scales at 16 stone.
But after starting to suffer from achy joints and sore knees, Josie decided to get back into shape and is now a much trimmer 14 stone.
Big portions of hearty meals like pie and mash caused her to balloon to a size 18-20 whilst pregnant, but the Bristolian has struggled with her weight most of her life.
She had to regularly visit the school nurse as a child because of her size, and was around 18 stone when she was 18.
Having tried a number of diet plans throughout her life, Josie turned to ‘Do the Unthinkable; due to the ease and convenience of the programme – particularly with having a young baby.
The plan allows you to order all the meals and snacks you need each week, and they’re delivered fresh to your door.
It also comes with a complete exercise and workout programme, as well as access to an exclusive online community and round-the-clock help and advice from a team of qualified personal trainers.
Josie, who is a qualified personal trainer, once weighed just 9 and a half stone and was a size 8 after her dramatic weight loss in 2013, but admits she feels just as good at a comfortable size 12.
Commenting on her weight loss, Josie said: “I constantly have to watch what I eat – I just have one of those bodies. If I’m eating the wrong things, then I just balloon.
“Bread is really not my friend and so what did I crave while pregnant? Marmite and cheese sandwiches!
“I’d eat quite a bit of bread and then cook big, hearty meals in the evening and my portion control really wasn’t great, but because I was pregnant, I kept kidding myself that it was ok because I was growing another human.
“I then just lost control which is why I needed my meals delivered and no naughties in the house to get me back on track. The thought of getting any bigger was so scary.
“Most of my weight goes to my bottom half, so I was finding that I was getting aches and pains in my joints especially my knees and legs which made moving about day to day – particularly with a young baby – quite hard.
“I was also in the danger of slipping back into type 2 diabetic territory which can be quite common in pregnancy, but I really didn’t want to go there again.”
Talking about her weight history, she said: “Over the years, I’ve tried pretty much every diet on the planet. Whilst the majority work to a degree, they’re not maintainable and some are actually quite unhealthy.
“I felt great when I was a size 8, but it to was so hard to maintain. Since becoming a mum my priorities have changed so rather than wanting to be really slim, I just want to feel healthy, so I’ll be able to keep up with my little boy as he gets older.
“The thing that attracted me to musclefood’s Do the Unthinkable plan the most was the ease of it. All of your food – breakfast, lunch, dinner plus three snacks each day – is pre-portioned and delivered to you at the start of the week, and all you have to do is cook the meals in a microwave, oven or on the hob.
“There are over 60 different meal choices, so you can have a completely different menu every week which makes it really easy to stick to in the long term.
“You can choose to do the plan for 5, 6, or 7 days too, so if you like having your weekends free or need a bit more flexibility, it’s perfect. There’s also guidance on what to do on your days off as well.”
Speaking about being a first-time mum, she said: “I was under the impression that I was going to be one of those coffee mums that just look like they’ve got everything together and sit in coffee shops with the pram sipping vanilla lattes and feeling great – I’ve had a sharp shock to say the least!
“Reggie-James only sleeps for a couple of hours at a time so being able to chuck all your ingredients into one pan and cook them in ten or fifteen minutes has been a God send, especially when I’m running on just a few hours’ sleep.
“The meals are all made with proper food and are super balanced and healthy, so you don’t have to worry about whether you’re getting all your vitamins and nutrients each day – but you can still enjoy favourites like pizza and curry. Again, this is really helpful as a new mum.
“You get three meals and three snacks per day, but as time went on, I actually felt like I didn’t need the snacks as I was so full up from breakfast, lunch and dinner!
“The exercises are all really effective and easy to follow too. I’ll admit I didn’t do them perhaps as much as I should, but I’ve still achieved cracking results.”
