Welcome to my Postpartum Weight Loss Series. Join me as I share my health and wellness journey with you all over the next few weeks. I will be dishing out tips, recipes, tools, and hopefully inspiration on how to develop a positive body image and find alternative ways to achieve maximum overall health.

Prescribed beauty standards for women can feel like a never-ending black hole that can consume our every waking moment. On average, women criticize themselves a staggering eight to thirteen times a day. That’s up to one negative thought for every hour. For some, thoughts such as, “You are fat”, “Your thighs are too big”, “You need to do something about that belly”, are fleeting but for many, this is a constant dialogue that we contend with on a daily basis.

Now add new motherhood to the mix. You’ve just gone through one of the most physically taxing experiences you will ever encounter. For some, the pregnancy journey has resulted in rapid physical changes and although the transformation that a women’s body goes through during pregnancy is directly connected to having the miraculous ability to birth, nurture, and care for our babies, we are often left with a new stream of consciousness that is preoccupied with postpartum weight loss!

I too have fallen into the proverbial trap that is seasonal dieting, fasting, and of course self-loathing. I am one of the 46 percent of British women that have negative thoughts about themselves at least once before 9.30am, but now is as good a time as any to throw a spanner into the perpetual cycle and start cultivating a positive self- image.

Forget about getting “bikini-ready” this summer and embrace the different but beautiful body that gave life to your little one. Instead of focusing on losing body weight, it’s time to shed the one huge weight that is the self-imposed burden of trying to achieve a post-birth celebrityesque six-month slim down.

First, let’s start with using the following five steps to a positive body image.

#1 Appreciate all that your body can do!

Yes! Your body gave life. You are amazing. Every day your body carries you closer to your dreams and endeavors, and is the nurturing lifeline for your child. Celebrate all of the amazing things your body has done and will do. You can run, jump, dance, meditate, laugh with friends, or whatever floats your boat to signify that you appreciate your body.

#2 Keep a top-ten list of things you like about yourself

Write down ten things you like about yourself that are unrelated to how much you weigh or how you look. Purchase or craft a beautiful display card and read your list often. Place the card somewhere visible, for example on the door of your wardrobe, so every time you get dressed in the morning you have a reminder of how awesome you are.

#3 Reflect on “true beauty”

Beauty is a state of mind, not a state of your body. When you start working on renewing your mindset in regard to the way you think about beauty and self, you will start to cultivate a new way of looking and thinking about yourself. When you choose to feel good about yourself, you start to walk with confidence, self-acceptance, and openness that makes you beautiful. It won’t go unnoticed and there is nothing more attractive than a self-assured and confident individual. True beauty is not simply skin-deep.

#4 Look at yourself as a whole person

You are a mother; you may be a wife or sister. You are a friend, a colleague. You have a talent or skill. You are so much more than specific body parts you wish to change. What have you achieved lately? Finished an academic program? Been promoted or trusted with a specific task at work? Supported a spouse or friend? Made someone laugh? Look in the mirror and embrace the whole you. See yourself, as you want others to see you – whole.

#5 Surround yourself with positive people

This is a must. It’s easier to feel good about yourself when you surround yourself with others who are supportive and who recognize the importance of embracing and liking yourself. Be around friends whom you don’t need to don a full face of makeup for, and who will help you tap into loving your naturally beautiful self.

Photos: Pixabay

After last year’s airpocalyptic moments in Beijing and the introduction of the new policy of having smog days that result in school shutting down has promoted one school in Beijing to think about using available online platforms as an method to still continue teaching their students according to a report that appeared in the Shanghaiist.

The Beijing Jingshan School will use online chatting tools like QQ by creating groups for its primary (elementary) to high school students. This is teaching method might be preferred to those students who do not wish to risk the exposure to the high pollution levels. 

Photos courtesy of Shanghaiist.com

• Make a short shopping list and get your children to cross them off as you put them in the trolley.
• Keep the recipe book open so you can look at it together and emphasise how you are following instructions.
• See if you can find words on packets eg sugar, flour eggs."Can you find the same word as this one in the recipe book."
• Ask how many foods can you think of that begin with, for example "s".

• Let children hold a full bag of sugar so they begin to get a concept of 1kg.
• Pick up different packages, "feel" how heavy they are and try ordering them by weight to develop estimation skills.
• Get your children to help with weighing out ingredients.
• When decorating cakes try and put on a specific number of chocolate buttons (or whatever decoration you’re using).
• Use different shaped cutters for biscuits and help them learn 2D shape names… "Let’s make these biscuits into triangles. How many sides will they have and how many corners?"
• Don’t forget to weigh in grams. Schools are completely metric even if some of our old cookbooks still show imperial measures.

• Look on labels to talk about the country of origin.
• Talk about which foods need a hot climate to grow.

• When making biscuits or gingerbread, let the children rub the fat into the flour to develop strength and co-ordination.
• Rolling pastry mixtures into round balls using the palms of hands will develop these skills too.
• Play "guess the smell" when you bring out new ingredients.

• Introduce the idea of melting by asking what happens to chocolate when it gets hot? This introduces the important science concept of change.
• Talk about the ingredients you use and where they grow. Try sorting the ingredients for a fruit salad into 2 groups – eg which ones grow on trees and which ones don’t.
• Make sure your children understand why they need to wash hands before working with food.

• Listen to children’s ideas and let them make suggestions.
• Talk about the different flavours and colours you could use.
• Selecting their own toppings for a pizza and arranging it all themselves.

• Make something for a friend and invite them over for a tea party to eat the goodies.
• Make something with a friend or siblings and take turns and share the jobs.

Photo courtesy of rolling cookies (Flickr)