Mum diagnosed with coeliac was able to easily adjust and lose 21kg

The defining moment for this Melbourne mum was when she was unable to hold her 3-year-old.

“During the lockdown in 2020, I went to a national park with my kids to explore, and the youngest was tired and couldn’t walk anymore,” Says.

“He needed to be held. And I couldn’t hold him for long, my boyfriend had to handle him to get him into the car. He was always on the higher end of the weight percentage, but as a mom who wasn’t able to fully take care of him, I was very disappointed in myself” .

After Christmas last year, Melanie decided to jump on the bandwagon for healthy weight loss.

“My Fitbit says my resting heart rate has improved. I can now confidently ask a friend to go for a walk knowing I can handle the distance,” Says.

“I have been diagnosed with celiac disease. A healthy pre-mummy. This would have been a huge adjustment in my life. Since my lifestyle is different and I plan meals for the week, I can just adjust my meal plan to select gluten-free options.”

Best of all, Melanie says she’s seeing a huge improvement in her physical and mental health.

“I found shifting my diet requirements surprisingly easy. Mostly because I get into the routine of looking up recipes to put together my meal plan each week,” Says.

I usually change a bit to meet my family’s needs anyway. I clicked gluten-free in the recipe filter and continued with my plan as usual.

“Had this been before the healthy mummy, it would have been very stressful if I didn’t know where to start, because my diet was very heavy and crunchy before changing to hm recipes.

“My transition to gluten-free products was more focused on learning which ingredients contain gluten rather than having to change everything.

“I cook a lot of what I eat from scratch. With no gluten, you need to do that for most meals, so I was already in a routine of cooking 95% of what I eat.”

What an ordinary day on the plate it looks like

breakfast: A healthy mummy smoothie or an omelette.

Snack: At home make hummus and vegetable sticks. I love easy savory brownies or easy rice cake.

lunch: It is usually a healthy mummy lunch or leave it out.

desert: I love the Quick Choc Fudge Brownie, it’s gluten free and low in calories.

Workouts: I mainly started doing belly bombing. Due to lockdown I haven’t used it as much as walking with a friend gives me a bit of social interaction! I often use mediation in order to sleep.

1. Use the app to log your food
2. Tailor your meal plan to the food your family likes to eat.
3. Keep your meal plan simple, repeat snacks etc. so that it is all one go or prep

Advice for others wanting to lose weight

1. Don’t give up. I’ve taken “breaks” where I still use healthy mummy recipes and stay active, but when I follow the meal plan, count and log I always get better results.

2. Try different foods to shake things up. The variety of recipes on the app is amazing. I can usually find recipes to make snacks and meals from my pantry or fridge items that I like. On my work days, I like to make things like Mexican lasagna on the weekend and have it for dinner on workday, so all I have to do is put it in the oven.

Gluten can be found in wheat, barley, rye, oats aka bread, pizza bases, muffins and even things like certain herbs and spices as well as other hidden foods.

People with celiac disease find that the peptides that make up the protein in gluten interact with their immune cells, causing damage to their digestive system. In more severe cases it can damage organs, muscles, bones and even the brain.

There are currently 160,000 Australians living with celiac disease, many of whom adhere to a strict gluten-free diet.