Studies have shown losing weight and getting healthy can improve your fertility. Here at 12WBT HQ we have heard lots of stories from 12WBT Members who suspect the improved health gained through our program has played a part in helping them fall pregnant.
Then we got a message on Twitter from insisting that 12WBT was the special ingredient that helped her fall pregnant with her long waited for second baby. Here’s her story.
After five years of trying for a second baby, all Sophie wanted was to put the past behind her. She signed up to 12WBT to focus on her health, but nature decided that wasn’t all the program was going to give her.
“I had made peace with not having another child and thought, “I may as well get healthier,” she remembers. Sophie signed up for 12WBT, ready to begin a new chapter of her life.
It wasn’t the first time the 35 year old insurance professional had tried to overhaul her fitness. “Growing up in a Greek family meant you had to eat everything on your plate!” she laughs. “So I was always on the chubbier side. Although I’d lost some weight and become more active in my adult life, I wasn’t as active as I would’ve liked to be.”
And since she’d had part of her thyroid removed when four months pregnant with her daughter, Sophie would merely “smell food and put on weight!” She says “I put on 30 kilos. After having my daughter I lost some of the weight, but I found it difficult to make the rest budge.”
Tough Times
Sophie admits after he daughter was born, emotional eating had become a habit for her — whether she was celebrating or commiserating . A series of sad events in 2010 and 2011 made it even harder for her to break her bad habits. “My husband was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and then my dad passed away,” she remembers. “It was a very difficult time.”
Sophie and her husband wanted another child. “I became quite upset when I would get my period every month,” she says. “Everyone around me was falling pregnant and having their second and third babies… We couldn’t understand why it was so difficult for us.”
When at last Sophie fell pregnant in 2011 the couple were overjoyed. But once again tragedy struck. “I miscarried at 9 weeks which meant more grief and sadness” Sophie remembers. While they looked into trying IVF, Sophie’s husband’s upcoming surgery — and her own hesitation about the process — made it too hard to try at the time.
Taking Control
Sophie went back to work and started refocusing on new goals. “I had read about other people’s success with 12WBT — I saw a lot of posts on Facebook and people’s before and after pictures really inspired me. My aim was to get healthier,” she says. So the New South Wales mum threw herself into the program, relishing the opportunity to create a positive change in her life. “I was very pumped and did not want to fail. I loved the food and the Mindset tasks! Something that clicked with me was ‘no more excuses’. That was when my mindset changed.”
And while she admits that her 5.45am starts were “a little difficult” to get used to at first, Sophie says “after a while I would jump out of bed and get going! I grew to love the workouts, and while the running was tough at first I didn’t want to give up.”
During those first few weeks, even though she felt great, Sophie was disappointed to see she wasn’t losing as much weight as some of her team mates on the Forums.
“I found that difficult, but I tried to focus on following the program to the letter and making it about getting healthier… Not about the weight,” she says. “By the four week mark when I took my measurements and did my fitness test, I was happily surprised by the results!”
Results that Sophie says she couldn’t have achieved without her husband and daughter’s support. “Every time I sat down to eat something my daughter would ask me ‘Mum, did Mish say you could have that?’ I had her keeping me in line,” Sophie laughs.
“She would do push ups next to me when I trained and cheer me on: ‘You can do it, Mummy!’ And my husband helped me by throwing out his secret stash of ice cream — plus he’d push me out of bed on the days when I didn’t feel like training or felt tired. He kept telling me how great I was doing, and he ended up losing 17 kilos himself!”
A Dream Comes True
By the end of the Round, Sophie had decided to go straight on to the next one. “I’d lost about 10kgs since Pre-Season and I felt so alive — I went from making excuses for why I shouldn’t work out to making reasons why I should, from not running at all to running 30 minutes non stop, and loving the sprints and stair climbing,” she says.
But something very small got in her way. “Two days after my husband had brain surgery and was at home making a full recovery, I went for my usual run and stopped by the chemist to buy a pregnancy test. I thought I was ‘late’ due to the stress of my hubby being in hospital,” she recalls. “When the test was positive, I thought my eyes were playing up!”
Had the family’s luck finally changed? “We were so happy, but we were also quite scared as I had a miscarriage previously” Sophie says. “I went straight to my GP, who told me to stop the running as a precaution and not to lift any heavy weights. I was terrified to breathe in case something went wrong! But I kept walking and trying to make good food choices — very different habits from my first pregnancy,” she smiles.
With her much hoped-for baby due in July – just weeks away – Sophie says she’d love to do another 12WBT after the little one arrives. “I can’t wait to get back to those burpees!”
Sophie’s 12WBT Tips
- “I would say to anyone who is thinking of doing the program – don’t think about it, just do it! I started the program to get fit and healthy and it totally changed our lives.”
- “Do the Pre-Season Tasks, specifically the task about ‘no more excuses’. Until you break it down, you don’t realise that we use excuses in our daily life for everything! Persistence pays off when you stop making excuses.”
- Sophie had her difficult days on the program, but she did well, with a little help from her family cheer squad, as well as her team mates. “The 12WBT Forums were awesome, and if I ever had any questions or felt de-motivated, reading others stories and experiences online was a great help,” she says.
12WBT can help you lose weight and get healthy. We even have a pregnancy program so you can stay healthy while bub is on the way or while you are breastfeeding. Register your interest for 12WBT today!
