Twelve weeks ago I was introduced to MuTu System and Thinking Slimmer. I had heard bits and bobs about both on twitter and was curious to find out more about these new and purportedly fantastic weight loss systems. MuTu requires some effort on the part of the person following it, but promises a flatter tummy, repair of any damage done by carrying a baby and giving birth, and a body that matches your pre pregnancy state. All this can be achieved in about fifteen minutes a day, four times a week, with no need for you to even leave the house. No treks to the gym, no childcare dilemmas, no undressing in shared changing rooms, no wobbling your jiggly bits in public. Every week you receive an email with a link to a video that tells you a little bit more about the things that you can do to help your body become strong again. It’s not just all about getting sweaty either, because it incorporates elements of yoga and general lifestyle advice, put to you in an understanding and completely non-patronising manner.

When you are out of shape, any exercise can seem very daunting and as an expert in the bodies of mothers Wendy knows this, and the exercises start really easily and you can build up the intensity when you feel strong enough and are ready. I was lucky enough to be reasonably fit to begin with, being a regular dog walker and baby (well, toddler, now) wearer, so I could progress to the higher intensity exercises within the twelve week period. But you don’t have to, because the end of the twelve weeks is not the end of MuTu, it is merely the end of the introduction to a change of lifestyle. The MuTu website is regularly updated and Wendy writes a blog that you can subscribe to by email. As well as this, she is on twitter @MuTuSystem and facebook and encourages a community of Mums to help and support each other, as well as also being there for professional advice herself.

Thinking Slimmer, on the other hand, requires absolutely no effort whatsoever. If you want to lose weight by the easiest possible method ever invented by anyone, Thinking Slimmer is for you. All you have to do is to listen to a ten minute mp3 for 21-42 nights consecutively after setting yourself some goals. For the first 21 days you will receive motivational emails, and after the 42 days you can ‘top up’ by listening once or twice a week, so that the magic continues. And it really does feel like magic – it sets off something in your subconscious that makes you eat less and more healthily. It really is as simple as that. Extra pods can make you exercise more, be calm, sort your chocolate addiction out..have a look at the website because there are tailored packages for a wide range of needs.

After you have carried a child (or two, or three, or more) most people find they need to lose some weight. Thinking Slimmer will do that for you on its own but it doesn’t help repair the damage that has been done to your tummy muscles and pelvic floor. MuTu can be done alone, but Thinking Slimmer makes the food bit of losing weight, effortless. I have done both and I really am overjoyed at the results I have had. I gave up smoking four years ago and went from a size 12 to a size 14. I was quite happy as a size 14 and after having my son would have been happy to return to that size. I cannot believe that MuTu and Thinking Slimmer have taken me back into a size 12 – a feat which I honestly thought would be impossible after giving birth – I thought carrying a child stretched your hips for good. Not only that but my size 12′s are starting to get loose and I am now wondering if I can reach a size 10! It’s been a VERY long time since I’ve been that size. I look in the mirror and I really like my silhouette now and my body feels strong. I can sneeze without having to worry about leakage and a pain that I’ve had in my knee since pregnancy has vanished. It’s amazing – I no longer have to hobble round after my son but I can run and jump and play with him without feeling like an old lady (hmm, now I just need to get more sleep!).

When I have told people about these wonderful systems, they often ask about the price.  I tell them that if you had to pay a voluntary amount at the end of losing the weight you’d pay three times the amount.  If you were to have a personal trainer it would cost you anywhere in the region of £25-60 per session. You’d have to book a session and stick to that time.  Wendy offers you similar support but is available out of hours for any questions you might have.  My local council gym is £30 per month, and I’ve mentioned the time cost of going to a gym in a previous post.  The two main slimming clubs cost £5-6 per session plus joining fees and you have the additional embarassment of weekly weigh-ins, and certainly no real support outside of that weekly meeting.  Compared to this, MuTu works out at just over £15 per month, though you do pay upfront.  Thinking Slimmer offer single pods and packages that beat any gym membership fees.

Since I have been an adult I have had to watch my weight and believe me I have tried all the diets out there, including crash dieting.  Doing Thinking Slimmer and MuTu has been the easiest way I have ever found to get fit and lose weight and it is done in your won time, at your own pace and in the healthiest way possible.  I have enjoyed myself and I havent been the best student in the world and there have been weeks when I’ve hardly done anything what with exhaustion and illness and I’ve still lost weight.  I could sing their praises all day long.  Really, they are worth every last penny – for the weight loss and especially for putting my child-torn body back together again, in a better shape than it was when I began!

Here are some scary/motivational before and after shots:

Previous weeks – the Thinking Slimmer and MuTu story:

Diet 2011 – the story so far

MuTu and Thinking Slimmer – What’s that?

Entering Week 2 with Thinking Slimmer and MuTu

Week 3 – @ThinkingSlimmer and @MuTuSystem

Week 4 – a new workout

Week 5 – in the wars

Week 6 – and breathe ……

Week 7 – The food bit

Week 8 – a look at my goals

Week 9 – A little lie down

Week 10 – rocking some firey core exercises

Week 11 – what to with your exercise equipment

I liked the title of this weeks workout – I am not the kind of person who will say no to horizontally positioned activities (put that dirty mind away, I was thinking sleeping, reading or watching the telly).  I do find a good yoga breath very cleansing and uplifting but it is another one of those things that I forget to do, as life rushes by in it’s usual whirlwind fashion.

This week Wendy taught me a yoga breath to perform a few times a week that sot only makes you feel as though your body is full of fresh mountain air, but also has the added benefit of toning the pelvic floor area.It really is a lovely thing to do.

I’ve been a reasonably bad girl this week with exercise and food so it comes as no surprise that I’ve not lost any weight but I am still very happy to have a whole load of old jeans that ft me – I’ve still no worn every pair yet. Heaven!  I’ve also discovered that dancing to The Swinging Blue Jeans live in Switzerland album is a cracking alternative to skipping and jogging on the spot and can actually be better, because I lose track of time and go over the one/two minutes that I am supposed to be sweating it for.  Lovely.  Cub is not at all embarassed to have an un-coordinated Mummy lurching all over the living room to a swinging sixties vibe – he looks on with and expression of mild bemusement and wiggles his nappy-clad bum in support.

Previous weeks – the Thinking Slimmer and MuTu story:

Diet 2011 – the story so far

MuTu and Thinking Slimmer – What’s that?

Entering Week 2 with Thinking Slimmer and MuTu

Week 3 – @ThinkingSlimmer and @MuTuSystem

Week 4 – a new workout

Week 5 – in the wars

Week 6 – and breathe ……

Week 7 – The food bit

Week 8 – a look at my goals

At the beginning of this exercise and diet programme, Thinking Slimmer asked me to define my goals.  I said:

1. To do the MuTu exercises daily
2. To lose half a stone and fit into all my size 12 jeans comfortably.
3. To be a nice calm relaxed person

And this was to be done by the end of August.

Coming into week eight, I am finding myself trying to overcome a little bit of an enthusiasm dip.  As it is also the end of August, I have looked at my goals again and was a little disappointed that I had only managed 50% of my goals, but encouraged also by the way that I am feeling in myself, the way that my body is looking, and in fact the massive progress I have made this year full stop.

I have not managed to do the exercises daily, in fact there have been weeks when I have only fitted in two or three. This week I have decided to change the time of day that I exercise.  Previously I’d been doing them in while the dinner cooked but often I was feeling a little tired, or my blood sugars were low, or my son was tired or hungry and wanting attention and the exercises got interrupted or bypassed completely.  The past few days I’ve been exercising after breakfast and it’s been quite a nice feeling to get them out of the way earlier on in the day.

I was 11 stone 1 and I am now 10 stone 11 (I gained 1lb in the last week), so I have not lost half a stone BUT i do fit into my size 12′s, in fact I have put all my too big jeans away and brought out over ten pairs of jeans that I have not worn for many many years, so I am ecstatic about that.  In terms of measurements, on the 6th July i was:
bmi: 25.5 and is now 25.13
chest: 38″ and has stayed the same
waist: 31″ and is now 30″
hips: 37.5″ and are now 36″

I call that an achievement!  One more lb off my weight and my BMI will finally be in the healthy range again.

The massive thing for me is that before I got pregnant I was a size 14, and now I am a size 12.

As for being more relaxed, I can definitely say that Thinking Slimmer has helped me to achieve this.  I have had more energy in the daytime because less energy has been wasted being anxious.  It’s incredible how Thinking Slimmer works – in fact I have been discussing it on twitter today.  You can even eat ‘bad’ foods, because you know you will stop when you’ve had enough, so you never overeat.  It’s like magic, it really is.

So, onto week eight of the MuTu programme, which brings with it some new and rather viscious exercises and I’ve promised Wendy I will attempt her 50 burpee challenge..watch this space for much hilarity as i attempt this – did I mention, on video!!

But if you want a laugh in the meantime (this is one of the photos that made me realise diet had to be done!!)….here’s a before and after shot:

Previous weeks – the Thinking Slimmer and MuTu story:

Diet 2011 – the story so far

MuTu and Thinking Slimmer – What’s that?

Entering Week 2 with Thinking Slimmer and MuTu

Week 3 – @ThinkingSlimmer and @MuTuSystem

Week 4 – a new workout

Week 5 – in the wars

Week 6 – and breathe ……

Week 7 – The food bit

We all know, more or less, the kinds of food we should be eating and the kinds that we shouldn’t. In this weeks video, Wendy surprised me by telling me that brown bread, rather than wholemeal or wholegrain, is actually white bread dyed brown. And that too many soya products can be bad. Not that I actually eat very much of either and I have to admit, the bread we eat is white, but only because my Mum kindly bakes for us nearly every Sunday.

I think, on the whole, we eat very well in this household. Since weaning, I have made an effort to cook meals from fresh ingredients and we are pescatarian (veggie with fish), I have been growing veg in the garden and my son adores fruit and has recently learnt to ask for it. I do like a bit of butter, and some crisps and chocolate but I do consider myself fairly ingredient aware and prefer good home-cooked food anyway (says she that just had fish fingers and oven chips for tea – I know -I was being lazy).  And I do like my shreddies or oatibix for breakfast – I must remember to check the ingredients.

So the MuTu ‘eating clean’ (food quite close to its natural source) is something I kind of do most days anyway, and I don’t think Wendy would have too many problems with the contents of my cupboards. I know that if i eat cake and crisps I gain weight, and this week I have avoided ‘treat food’ and as a reward my waistline is a whole two pounds lighter.

As MuTu says “Every time you indulge in those foods you KNOW you shouldn’t (if you want a flat tummy that is) then you’re covering up your lovely toned muscles with another layer of fat.”

I am now 10 stone 10 and I have not been this light since about 2008. This pleases me greatly. My body still looks quite jiggly, but I have been a big fat slacker this week with my exercises so I only have myself to blame.

So…yay! Must exercise harder and keep off the crisps – only 3lbs to my target weight!!

 
Previous weeks – the Thinking Slimmer and MuTu story:

Diet 2011 – the story so far

MuTu and Thinking Slimmer – What’s that?

Entering Week 2 with Thinking Slimmer and MuTu

Week 3 – @ThinkingSlimmer and @MuTuSystem

Week 4 – a new workout

Week 5 – in the wars

Week 6 – and breathe ……

Amazingly – as the last week as been full of drowsiness and pain and distinctly lacking any cardiovascular exercise -I have lost another lb, bringing me down to ten stone and twelve. With my head injury and associated swelling I have not been feeling like jumping up and down and the shock left me rather lethargic.

I’ve got no excuse for not re-starting the MuTu exercises today but the day has passed rather too rapidly and I’ve missed them again. Tomorrow is a self-promise – after all, I am seeing definite results in the strengthening of my tummy and I don’t want to lose it again already.

Thankfully though, in this weeks’ video, Wendy told me how to breathe. Along with last weeks stretches, I like that MuTu includes elements of Yoga in the system. I’m a long term though infrequent practicer of Yoga and I love a good stretch and a full belly-breath. MuTu includes pelvic floor exercises in the breath which got me pulling some funny strained faces, so I think I need to practice a bit.

I have missed a few Thinking Slimmer nights due to sheer exhaustion last week but I can still see the effects of both slim and chillpod.  My meal sizes seem to have inexplicably shrunk and my cupboards seem to have populated themselves with stuff like beans and brown pasta.  If I do eat snacks in the day, I have noticed myself eating a lot less at my main meal, whereas before i would still have had the full portion.  I have kept leftovers, instead of finishing off everything when i cook too much (which i often do).

My ‘natural’ anxiety seems to have dispersed too, I can feel myself becoming a calmer person and this can only be a good thing.  I do not like being anxious and it is not good for the health.  I think i’ve got a week left to compete the 42 days advised by Thinking Slimmer but I plan to continue listening to Trevor before I sleep, and he helps me drop off to sleep lately too!

So my plan for this week is to take some good Yoga breaths, ramp up the Wendy-cise to make up for all that I’ve missed, and try and get a few early nights.  Early night police, anyone?

NOTE:  Somebody asked me if the MuTu Core exercises are to be continued throughout.  I was confused about this myself until I asked and the answer is yes, MuTu Core is done alongside the interval training.  I am also assuming (Wendy?) that the Breathe and Stretch are practiced in addition to the sweaty bits.

 
 
Previous weeks – the Thinking Slimmer and MuTu story:

Diet 2011 – the story so far

MuTu and Thinking Slimmer – What’s that?

Entering Week 2 with Thinking Slimmer and MuTu

Week 3 – @ThinkingSlimmer and @MuTuSystem

Week 4 – a new workout

Week 5 – in the wars
 

Amazingly – because last week I did have some less-than-healthy snacks AND only did two full and two interrupted workouts (one interrupted very early on) – I have lost another pound, bringing me to 10 stone 13.  I haven’t read as much more of the MuTu handbook as I wanted to and Trev has skipped a few nights too.  But the weight is going down and not up so that can only be a good thing.

This week Wendy’s video told me all about my posture and showed me some nice-looking stretches to do.  As I had a rather painful dog-trip-head-road incident on Monday I’ll be having to give anything too strenuous a miss this week until I am properly healed but there is nothing stopping me doing a few stretches, in fact they will be good for me becasue my muscles are incredibly tight today.

Posture is important, and I definitely find it difficult to walk upright when I’m carrying Cub on my back/pushing a buggy/holding his hand when we are walking.  Hopefully these exercises will make good posture a more natural state for me to be in.

 
Previous weeks – the Thinking Slimmer and MuTu story:

Diet 2011 – the story so far

MuTu and Thinking Slimmer – What’s that?

Entering Week 2 with Thinking Slimmer and MuTu

Week 3 – @ThinkingSlimmer and @MuTuSystem

Week 4 – a new workout

I am very pleased to say that I have lost a further 1lb this week. The first 21 days of Thinking Slimmer have come to a close, and haven’t they flown by quickly? My eating has noticeably changed. I am stopping eating when full, allowing myself to donate the extra to the dog and not feeling guilty about leaving food . I find myself subconsciously making healthier food choices and products such as cream, which I love, are starting to feel less delicious to me. I even thought about buying a Chinese takeaway but when I thought about it, home cooked food seemed less greasy and infinitely preferable. I have still been craving crisps, they are my one weakness, but I get these cravings in the evening and I don’t have them in my cupboards because of my healthier shopping choices, so I just get a little sad, maybe a bit wingey, and go to bed instead.

This week brought with it a new MuTu workout, which as usual looked easy enough but oh! Looks can be very deceptive. Thirty seconds of squat jacks may not seem much, but doing them is a completely different ball game. But I’m enjoying the exercise more, even if I have maybe not done them as much as I should have done this week. MuTu comes with a printable manual and I had only previously skimmed this, so at the weekend I started to read it in more detail. There is a lot more to MuTu than exercise alone and I have been reading the MuTu breathe section with interest, practising finding my pelvic floor correctly and engaging my TVA whenever I remember to. I definitely could do with some postural improvements as well, I’m a terrible sloucher and it’s even worse now I’m mummying.

I panicked a bit because I have maybe not been doing as much exercise as Wendy recommends. I was in the middle of a lengthy dog walk though, when I had the revelatory thought that I was probably doing plenty. I may not be running, but I take the dog out for 15-20 minutes in the morning and a minimum of 20 in the evening and that is on a lazy day – I aim for 45 minutes to an hour most evenings, and I carry my almost two stone son on my back too.

So this week I will again try harder to do more Wendy-cise and to practice the breathing exercises too – I do suffer from anxiety and this can only help. I will finish reading the manual properly this time and re-read the sections I have read over the weekend to help them stick in my overtired jelly-brain.

Watch out Lara Croft, you’ve got competition!

 
Previous weeks – the Thinking Slimmer and MuTu story:

Diet 2011 – the story so far

MuTu and Thinking Slimmer – What’s that?

Entering Week 2 with Thinking Slimmer and MuTu

Week 3 – @ThinkingSlimmer and @MuTuSystem

Firstly, I would like to say that the great thing about these plans is that they do not berate you for minor hiccups in your weight loss journey. MuTu and ThinkingSlimmer both recognise that we are all human, and there are days when we will just need to eat cake, or some crisps, other non-diet food. There are times when we are not feeling too great, or are tired with a teething baby or have had some personal trauma that makes us feel disinclined to be follow a diet or do any exercise. And that is fine. You can take a MuTu breathe day, and if you are so tired you fall asleep without listening to your pod one night (as I did) , it’s not the end of the world.

So at this point, while we are feeling all forgiving and relaxed, maybe I shall confess to eating an inordinate amount of cake last week and regaining 2lbs. I typed that really quickly – did you notice? – in the hope that you will read it really really quickly too and, errr..overlook that little oopsie.

Moving onwards….Thinking Slimmer have continued with their motivational daily emails and apart from my blip, I am still noticing that I am eating less and stopping when full. The MuTu workout for this week is the same as last week, and I am pleased to say that I can hold a plank for a whole minute now. I can feel my stomach muscles becoming more rigid, even if they are still covered in a bit of squidgey fat. I have also found out that I have a 3 finger wide diastis recti (gap in outer tummy muscle, a common occurrence in pregnancy). This makes me feel a little ‘ew’ and explains why the sit ups and crunches I was doing previously were not having any effect on my muffin top.

So onwards and upwards, and I will try to do a two minute plank tomorrow and step up the duration of my exercises too, to make up for the weaknesses of last week. In my favour though, and despite the 2lbs gained, I have lost half an inch off my hips and another half off my waist, so I am still feeling happy that I’m heading in the right direction.

 
Previous weeks – the Thinking Slimmer and MuTu story:

Diet 2011 – the story so far

MuTu and Thinking Slimmer – What’s that?

Entering Week 2 with Thinking Slimmer and MuTu

Hooray! Well the good news is that I am a whole three pounds lighter! Not bad for the first week and only four more to my target. What’s more, my BMI is finally in the healthy range at last, at 25!  I am very happy with this.

I have definitely noticed changes in my eating habits. I am realising when I feel full, and am not polishing off my sons leftovers as well as my own (well, not every meal). When you are helping another person to eat, it is easy to forget about enjoying your own meal, and the tendency is to just shovel it down so that you can pay attention to your child.

I have listened to the drop a dress size slimpod and the chillpod every night, but I have not listened to the making exercise easy pod because I don’t regularly have a definite nap time at midday every day, so from last night I have added that to my pre-sleep playlist. I think I am also a little bit more chilled out too, which is definitely a good thing. And I think I’m falling a little bit in love with the man with the soothing voice, even if he does send me off to sleep sometimes. Although it seems the easiest thing in the world just to listen to something before you go to sleep, in reality there are nights when I have had to force myself, because it has gotten late and I really just want to go straight to sleep. I am going to have to be stricter with myself about internet-off and pods-on time.

I have done my MuTu exercises daily, well, almost-daily because I think I may have missed Saturday in a haze of over-tiredness. Week two of the programme introduces some interval training to get my heart rate up and to start to make me strong. I did definitely perspire! Some of the exercises involve skipping, so I have modified these to suit myself because I have a clicky knee that hurts if I jump on it, and also my ceilings are low and its been rainy and also..oh yeah..i’m a pretty rubbish skipper and keep tripping over the skipping rope. When the weather is nicer I may attempt to skip but for now my skipping is replaced by jogging round the living room and hallway, an activity which my son and dog seem to find entertaining also; picture me, followed by dog and small boy. It is a pain having to run upstairs and change into your sports bra too, if you find a window of opportunity for exercise, and I can jog clutching my chest to keep it still a lot easier than skip.

It’s amazing how long a minute feels when one is in the plank position, but I have a strange liking for an exercise called the gecko. The video demonstrations are very clear and easy to understand and quite relaxing to watch and Wendy makes it all look very easy, with none of the red-faced huffy-puffy-omgisaminuteup-iness that I so glamorously add to the exercises.  With all this physical stuff, let’s see if i can lose another lb this week.  fingers crossed!

 
 
Previous weeks – the Thinking Slimmer and MuTu story:

Diet 2011 – the story so far

MuTu and Thinking Slimmer – What’s that?

I think it is time to make the announcement that I have been waiting to make all week. I am immensely proud, honoured and dead chuffed to have been asked to review the Mutu System and Thinking Slimmer. Previously, these programmes had been operating separately, but a clever someone somewhere decided that it would b a good idea if they were performed alongside each other.

Mutu is an exercise system that is designed for the Mummy Tummy, addressing core strength as well as food . The programme lasts twelve weeks and each week you receive an email directing you to a web page and video explaining and demonstrating what your tasks are for the week. The website is very easy to use and beautifully designed and contains lots of interesting and supporting information. I discovered, after reading the initial manual, that the sit ups and crunches that I had been doing my actually have made the gap in my tummy muscles worse, but MuTu will help my abdomen and pelvic floor become strong once again.

Thinking Slimmer is a weight loss programme that I have heard great things about on twitter, with people losing impressive amounts of weight, so I was very eager to hear more. You listen to a ten minute or so Slim Pod every night, before you go to sleep, for 21 consecutive days, to begin with, a part of a 42 day programme. Which pod you listen to is your choice – there are a good selection to choose from on the website and can be bought individually or in packages. I chose ‘Drop a dress size’, ‘Making fitness fun and easy’, and ‘Chillpod’, because I suffer from anxiety, and I’d really like to be a nice calm ambient kind of person. Every day, an email is received containing useful and motivational information to help you think your way through becoming slimmer.

As well as this, @mutusystem and @thinkingslimmer are on twitter and facebook, so that you can chat to them and others that are following the programme and receive help and support.

I will blog weekly and tweet daily about my journey through these programmes and will start with my initial reactions, on day two of the programmes.

MuTu

I have identified my key muscle areas that I will be strengthening and have discovered that I have a gap in my tummy muscles, caused by pregnancy. The first set of exercises look easy enough, and can be completed in a short space of time. Mummy lying on the floor wiggling her legs about is a great new game for Cub, so he sat on my tummy to provide some resistance for me. Very thoughtful. Despite the exercises feeling easy to do, the next day I could definitely feel a small ache in my waistline, providing me with reassurance that something is working.

Thinking Slimmer

I have decided to listen to Drop a dress size followed be Chillpod every night before bed, and Making fitness fun and easy and Chillpod while Cub sleeps, in the middle of the day (two Chillpods – I know – I have been very tense recently!).

The manual advises to pick three goals and to make them public, to increase my success. So, my three goals are:

1. To do the MuTu exercises daily
2. To lose half a stone and fit into all my size 12 jeans comfortably.
3. To be a nice calm relaxed person

and I will achieve them by the end of the August.

Yikes! It’s out there now, for all to see!

I listened to my first pods on Friday night and I was amazed to say that yesterday, even after a paltry six and a half hours sleep, I was much calmer than usual. If I don’t sleep well I am usually racked with lethargy and a quivering nervous wreck but I felt a little core of calm in my belly. Today the feeling has continued and increased, even though I am again pretty tired. I also had a buzz of energy yesterday, and cleaned the house (even the walls and skirting boards), played with my son and took him and my dog on a very long walk to the playground and back (in my HotPants, which lived up to their name).

I have not noticed a difference in my appetite yet but this may take time, as they say (my words not theirs), that slowly, slowy, catchy monkey.

If you would like to find out more, the web pages are here:

Thinking Slimmer

MuTu
 
Previous weeks – the Thinking Slimmer and MuTu story:

Diet 2011 – the story so far