I haven't written a FATspiration tip in a while, so here goes...
FATspiration Tip #5: Eat every 3 hours and keep a daily food/drink journal.
I've seen this done on all of the FAT shows recently, but when it was recommended by my beautiful, skinny cousin, I knew it had to be true. :-) She's one of those people who makes a fat girl want to spit out the candy she just stuffed in her mouth. This woman has an amazing body, gorgeous hair, and a very pretty face. The worst part? She's so ridiculously nice that you can't hate her. :-) Seriously though, she works really hard to keep her body looking as awesome as it does, AND she's really into the fitness world. She knows her stuff.
According to this wonderful lady, eating every 3 hours keeps your metabolism going. Obviously, sitting on your couch with a box of Twinkies ready to fill your "every 3 hour" requirement is not what we're shooting for. Personally, I like to keep a bag of fresh almonds in my kitchen (no salt or sugar added). If it's been a few hours and I'm not ready for a meal, I just grab a few almonds. If I remember correctly, I can have about 23 for 4 Points. I don't even come close to eating 23, so it is a healthy, filling, super low-Point food.
I can also speak from experience regarding the food journal. Tracking your food is a component of WW, and it has really helped me. Those of us who are addicted to food go through bouts of denial. When I first started keeping a journal, I could not believe how much I had been eating before WW. It was disgusting and kind of scary. Even now, when I don't lose during a week, I know it's because I didn't keep detailed track of my food on a particular day. I think I'll remember it later, but it's really easy to forget.
In addition to keeping a journal, even if you're not doing WW, you should set goals for how many glasses of water you want to drink each day. I love having the little water tracker on my WW tool. During the weeks I lose the most, I meet my daily water goals. Tracking it keeps me aware and motivates me to make sure I'm drinking enough. On Saturday, I looked back through my previous WW weeks. The water is a huge factor.
If you're trying to shed some pounds, add the food journal to your plan and make sure you eat healthy snacks throughout the day. :-) Good luck!
Click here to visit my cousin's new blog! She has a lot of great ideas about saving money. :-)
Showing posts with label losing baby weight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label losing baby weight. Show all posts
Monday, May 2, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
FATspiration Tip #4
Another week is coming to a close for me, and I must face the scale tomorrow morning. This has been a rough week... which brings me to this post.
FATspiration Tip #4: There will be rough patches.
If you've read any of my earlier FAT related posts, you know this is my 3rd week on Weight Watchers. I really do love the program and think it's a great fit for me. If you're not familiar with the program, you have a daily Points allowance based on your height and weight. However, you also have a weekly allowance for days you inevitably splurge. AND... in addition to the weekly Points, you can even swap your activity Points if you still need that extra wiggle room.
Thank God.
For whatever reason, this week got off to a rough start. I have a lot going on right now, and I'm assuming I reverted back to my terrible habit of compulsive overeating. I literally wanted to eat everything in my house. I definitely needed those extra points this week. I didn't totally ruin my diet, but I did use about half of my extra (weekly) Points. The fact that I didn't completely throw the diet out the window because of a few bad days is a big deal for me. In the past, I would have given up. Now, I have to just face the fact that there are going to be days or even weeks when I'm going to struggle. The important thing is to keep pushing myself. In an effort to combat the extra eating this week, I did exercise more. I increased my elliptical workout to twice a day and continued with the vigorous walks when the weather was decent. Hopefully, the exercise has been enough to keep me from gaining any weight back. We'll see tomorrow morning.
Click the links below to read the first FATspiration Tips.
FATspiration Tips 1, 2, & 3
FATspiration Tip #4: There will be rough patches.
If you've read any of my earlier FAT related posts, you know this is my 3rd week on Weight Watchers. I really do love the program and think it's a great fit for me. If you're not familiar with the program, you have a daily Points allowance based on your height and weight. However, you also have a weekly allowance for days you inevitably splurge. AND... in addition to the weekly Points, you can even swap your activity Points if you still need that extra wiggle room.
Thank God.
For whatever reason, this week got off to a rough start. I have a lot going on right now, and I'm assuming I reverted back to my terrible habit of compulsive overeating. I literally wanted to eat everything in my house. I definitely needed those extra points this week. I didn't totally ruin my diet, but I did use about half of my extra (weekly) Points. The fact that I didn't completely throw the diet out the window because of a few bad days is a big deal for me. In the past, I would have given up. Now, I have to just face the fact that there are going to be days or even weeks when I'm going to struggle. The important thing is to keep pushing myself. In an effort to combat the extra eating this week, I did exercise more. I increased my elliptical workout to twice a day and continued with the vigorous walks when the weather was decent. Hopefully, the exercise has been enough to keep me from gaining any weight back. We'll see tomorrow morning.
Click the links below to read the first FATspiration Tips.
FATspiration Tips 1, 2, & 3
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Losing the Baby Weight: Part 1
On October 23, I started the following post:
I was going to wait until I had actually lost some of the baby weight before blogging about it. I wanted to share words of wisdom and the miraculous trick that will work for everyone.... Hahahahahahaha, it's only the first day of my top secret diet plan. I'm writing because I'm craving sweets and absolutely CANNOT cave!
Hopefully, I'll have more posts to come regarding tips for losing weight. For now, we'll just start with analyzing the term "baby weight." Let's get real. The weight isn't because of the baby. It's because we indulge in the delight of unnecessary, editable treats throughout our pregnancies and (if you're anything like me) after the baby is born. Being pregnant is the best excuse in the world to eat as much of whatever you want. :-) I did gain quite a bit of weight in my pregnancy, but thankfully lost about 14lbs in the beginning. It ended up balancing out. Immediately following the birth was the worst part for me.
I had to have an emergency c-section. All of my plans for wearing Spanx everyday and compressing the remnants of my baby belly flew straight out the window. Wearing compression garments after the birth is supposed to help shrink your uterus back to size (or so I've heard). I was also going to walk everyday, right away. Well, you're quite sore after a c-section, especially when you refuse to take your pain pills. Even with the soreness, if you still try to get in some physical activity, like I did, you might overdo it.... like I did. Plus, I had a terrible time breastfeeding, my daughter was starving for days and lost too much weight, I felt inexplicable guilt, blah, blah, blah. Eventually, I conceded. I gave up. I just wanted to spend time with her and stop obsessing with the weight all the time. It had only been a couple weeks. I would get there....
Today, November 6:
While I was writing that first post, my computer freaked out and I thought I had lost everything I had typed. Annoyed, I closed my laptop and started doing something else. Well, I just found the draft and have been thinking about this quite a bit. A friend of mine is trying to shed some pounds and get healthy as well, and I'm realizing so many of us deal with the same issues. I've struggled with my weight since I was a child, but my pregnancy has been the biggest factor in my size to date. I'm the heaviest I've EVER been, and I can't just get rid of it like I used to. For all of my thin, pregnant friends out there, if you've never had weight issues, you're probably not going to balloon up after your pregnancy. Don't worry too much. You'll probably have some evidence of a stretched uterus, but for the most part, your body should go back to normal. Regardless of what some skinny people want to believe, some of this stuff is just genetic and reinforced by the environments in which we are raised.
I'm not making excuses or saying it's the fault of those large, intimidating German and Dutch ancestors of mine that I'm fat. I'm saying genetics play a role, hereditary traits (depression, anxiety), learned eating habits, traumatic situations, all of these things factor into how we take care of our bodies. It's going to be more difficult for me to lose this weight when I'm predisposed to being this way. Soo... my point... if you're freaking out about losing the baby weight or just losing weight in general, you're not alone.
I'm going to try to be honest (inspired by a dear friend) about this struggle and write about it. I definitely did cave on my first attempt at dieting (2 days after the first draft above was written), but I'm starting over. In order to combat my obsession with food, I need to confront it head on and be honest for the first time in my life. Some of my stories will shock my family and friends, but I hope the things I share can help another mom out there who is battling the same demons.
I was going to wait until I had actually lost some of the baby weight before blogging about it. I wanted to share words of wisdom and the miraculous trick that will work for everyone.... Hahahahahahaha, it's only the first day of my top secret diet plan. I'm writing because I'm craving sweets and absolutely CANNOT cave!
Hopefully, I'll have more posts to come regarding tips for losing weight. For now, we'll just start with analyzing the term "baby weight." Let's get real. The weight isn't because of the baby. It's because we indulge in the delight of unnecessary, editable treats throughout our pregnancies and (if you're anything like me) after the baby is born. Being pregnant is the best excuse in the world to eat as much of whatever you want. :-) I did gain quite a bit of weight in my pregnancy, but thankfully lost about 14lbs in the beginning. It ended up balancing out. Immediately following the birth was the worst part for me.
I had to have an emergency c-section. All of my plans for wearing Spanx everyday and compressing the remnants of my baby belly flew straight out the window. Wearing compression garments after the birth is supposed to help shrink your uterus back to size (or so I've heard). I was also going to walk everyday, right away. Well, you're quite sore after a c-section, especially when you refuse to take your pain pills. Even with the soreness, if you still try to get in some physical activity, like I did, you might overdo it.... like I did. Plus, I had a terrible time breastfeeding, my daughter was starving for days and lost too much weight, I felt inexplicable guilt, blah, blah, blah. Eventually, I conceded. I gave up. I just wanted to spend time with her and stop obsessing with the weight all the time. It had only been a couple weeks. I would get there....
Today, November 6:
While I was writing that first post, my computer freaked out and I thought I had lost everything I had typed. Annoyed, I closed my laptop and started doing something else. Well, I just found the draft and have been thinking about this quite a bit. A friend of mine is trying to shed some pounds and get healthy as well, and I'm realizing so many of us deal with the same issues. I've struggled with my weight since I was a child, but my pregnancy has been the biggest factor in my size to date. I'm the heaviest I've EVER been, and I can't just get rid of it like I used to. For all of my thin, pregnant friends out there, if you've never had weight issues, you're probably not going to balloon up after your pregnancy. Don't worry too much. You'll probably have some evidence of a stretched uterus, but for the most part, your body should go back to normal. Regardless of what some skinny people want to believe, some of this stuff is just genetic and reinforced by the environments in which we are raised.
I'm not making excuses or saying it's the fault of those large, intimidating German and Dutch ancestors of mine that I'm fat. I'm saying genetics play a role, hereditary traits (depression, anxiety), learned eating habits, traumatic situations, all of these things factor into how we take care of our bodies. It's going to be more difficult for me to lose this weight when I'm predisposed to being this way. Soo... my point... if you're freaking out about losing the baby weight or just losing weight in general, you're not alone.
I'm going to try to be honest (inspired by a dear friend) about this struggle and write about it. I definitely did cave on my first attempt at dieting (2 days after the first draft above was written), but I'm starting over. In order to combat my obsession with food, I need to confront it head on and be honest for the first time in my life. Some of my stories will shock my family and friends, but I hope the things I share can help another mom out there who is battling the same demons.
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