What makes me more than 'Just a Mum'?

When I talk about being more than just a Mum, I don't mean doing anything spectacular or outrageous.  I simply meaning having an interest or doing things outside the realms of the usual Mum stuff, that makes you feel good about yourself.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being a mother to my three year old, but I also feel the need to have other interests in my life.  I know there are some ladies out there who's sole focus is on being a mother and that's fine.  Everyone is different. 

I think my desire to be more than just a mum stems from having post natal depression after my daughter was born.  (I will share my PND story another time).  After my daughter was born, I really felt like I had lost who I was.  All of a sudden, I was Sienna's Mum, not Belinda.  I longed to have the old Belinda and my old life back.  Part of my recovery from PND was to rediscover who I was and through this I realised I don't have to be just a mum. I can still be me and be a mum at the same time.

As I mentioned before, being more than just a Mum doesn't mean having to do anything spectatular.  For me it was going to back to University and finishing my degree.  When my daughter was about 6 months old, I decided to re-enrol in uni and I'm so glad I did.  I was finally doing something that made me feel good about myself.  When my daughter was 14 months old, i decided to go back to work part-time.  Again, a brilliant decision for me.  Here I was studing and working just like before I had my daughter, but I was also being a great Mum at the same time.  I was starting to find my identity again.  I graduated from uni this year so I have now taken up sewing in place of the time I was spending on study.

I personally, think it's important for Mum's to have a focus outside of our children.  For me now, it's working part-time, sewing, and fitness.  For me, all of this is a good balance between being my own person and being a good mum to my daughter.

Clean Eating

My weight is something I have always struggled with.  Since having my daughter three years ago, I have really struggled to get my weight down.  I have tried many diets over the years....weight watchers, calorie counting, shake diets.  The thing I found about those diets is that I was always hungry.  Recently, I came across something called 'clean eating'.  The basic philosophy of clean eating is minimise/eliminate the amount of processed foods, preservatives, additives, artificial colours and flavours and sugar consumed in your diet.  Instead focusing on unprocessed, whole foods that are rich in nutritional value and will keep you fuller for longer.

Since starting clean eating 5 weeks ago, not only have I lost 5kgs, I am also feeling a lot healthier and have more energy.  (I have also increased the amount of exercise I have been doing but I will cover this in another post). The best thing about this clean eating diet is that I never feel hungry. 

My typical day consists of:

Upon waking:

• glass of water with a squeeze of lemon juice (this is great for kickstarting your metabolism)
• 45 minute walk - I get up at 5am to get this done before my daughter wakes up and before my husband leaves for work so that he is here to tend to her if she does wake early.  If not, I am fortunate enough to have a treadmill so I can do it at home, however I do like to get out in the fresh air if I can.

Breakfast
Protein Shake - this keeps me full until lunchtime although I do have a small snack at morning tea to help keep my metabolism going

• 50g of oats blitzed to a fine powder (I use my Thermomix)
• 2 scoups of protein powder (I use BNRG Pepti-1 Ultra Burn)
• 1 cup of water
• 0.5 - 1 cup of frozen mixed berries
• 2 tbs natural greek yoghurt
• handful of ice
• Blitz in Thermomix or food processor for 1 min....Delish!

Morning Tea

• small amont of almonds or brail nuts (no more than will fit on three fingers)

Lunch

• Clean sausage rolls with salad (recipe to follow in future post) or meat and salad

Afternoon Tea

• 150 - 200g Natural Greek Yoghurt

Dinner
100-150g meat with veges - usually a stirfy however sometimes I try and get creative and turn regular meals (eg spaghetti) into clean versions (I will also blog about this at a future date).

If I have time I might try and squeeze in a short (20min) afternoon workout while my daughter is playing in the yard.

For more information on clean eating, I recommend checking out the Ashy Bines Clean Eating Plan.

To blog or not to blog

I have toyed with the idea of starting a blog for a long time now.  I feel like I have so much to share but I also feel like no one will be interested in reading what I have to say.  So even if no one follows my blog, at the very least I will be documenting my thoughts for my own future reference.


Not just a mum......
So many times I have heard the phrase "just a mum".  After my first child was born, I suffered Post Natal Depression and that's how I felt.  I felt like I had lost my identity and that I had become "just a mum".  Through my battle with PND, I came to realise, that I am so much more than "just a mum".

Through this blog, I am going to share my life and the things that interest me because I now know that I am more than "just a mum".