Motivated mom loses 40 kg

An oversized belly is a common bane among many mothers, and Nhung, an office worker in the northern province of Ninh Binh, was no exception. Nhung said her average weight was around 50 kg, but after having her first child, she went up to 87 kg. When she was pregnant for the second time ballooned to 97 kg.

Thuy Nhung after having her second child.

"It’s hard for us to have kids, so for our first child, I had to use a lot of traditional medicine and supplements to do artificial insemination in one year," Nhung said.

"On the day that I gave birth for the first time, I weighed 87 kg, after birth, it came down to 70 kg. I hadn’t had time to do any diets when I was suddenly pregnant with another child eight months later. Up until I gave birth, my weight was 97 kg," she said.

"After having my second child, my weight was always somewhere around 79 - 85 kg. The measurement for my belly was a whopping 124 cm, while my waist was 104 cm."

Nhung felt sluggish and ashamed. She decided to try different diets, yet none seemed to work, making her even heavier than when she started.

Nhung’s nightmare finally changed for the better when she realized that her transformation was needed so she can healthily take care of her two children.

"I wanted a win for myself. I wanted my husband and kids to be proud of me", she said.

When her second child was seven months old and was starting to switch to solid food, Thuy Nhung froze all the remaining breastmilk she had for storage and began her weight loss journey, with her first milestone at 85 kg.

For the first two and a half months, she said that her diet was too extreme. At this point, the mother had removed all carbs, sugar, and fat from her meals.

"My weight dropped quickly, but I felt tired and weak, with few muscles to support my body," she said.

Nhung after her weight loss journey.

After that, Nhung decided to switch to the Eat Clean diet, consuming food in the "rawest" form possible. This diet allows Nhung to consume all kinds of nutrients, but for carbs, she had to prioritize food with complex carbs such as brown rice, oatmeal, and quinoa.

Cooking methods will also prioritize making salads, and steamed and boiled food to reduce fat, salt, and sugar, as well as retain most of the nutrients.

Besides a healthy diet, Nhung also had to go on training at the gym, with each session being 1-2 hours long – including cardio and complex movements, which helped strengthen each muscle group, making her body fitter.

"For a person who was used to taking a few thousand calories each day, to suddenly pushing it down to a few hundred, it was very tiring for me," Nhung said.

"At times, I become so stressed due to hunger and tiredness, especially during moments when my weight just wouldn’t drop. To get through these obstacles, I did a lot of self-motivation, and my husband was always by my side for support."

A successful weight loss program allowed the mother to regain her petite cuteness, with a youthful body.

In just a few months Nhung lost 28 kg, taking her down to 57 kg. She is now setting her goal to stay somewhere around 53 - 55 kg so she would look more balanced with her current height of 1.65 m."

"This success has allowed me to love life again, as well as become more confident," she said.