Most new mothers, after having their babies, long to get back to their pre-baby figures. During my pregnancy, I gained 45 pounds, which is more than the recommended amount and, truthfully, less than I thought I'd gain over those long, eat-everything-in-sight months. When I got home from the hospital I refused to get on the scale. I didn't want confirmation that my 8 pound 5 ounce bundle of joy left a bundle of weight on my body. And as a breastfeeding mom, I wanted to focus on taking care of my little guy, and eating right for him,not worrying about how many calories I was consuming. So I stayed away from the scale.
At my six week check-in with the doctor, I begrudgingly stepped on the scale. And what to my wandering eyes did appear? I had lost 35 pounds! I was amazed. I was shocked. I was so happy I almost fell off the scale!
No longer afraid of what the scale would tell me, I started weighing myself weekly, and, within another month the whole 45 pounds had melted away. I'm going to credit it to the magic of breastfeeding - apparently, every ounce of milk I produce burns 20 calories. And, since Harrison eats like a teenage boy, he is literally eating his momma thin. Yay for breastfeeding!
But alas, the story is not all good. I forgot to mention one small detail - that I was about 40 pounds overweight before I got pregnant, 40 pounds that I gained after I entered into wedded bliss (which is a side effect of marriage that is often not discussed).
When Dan and I were engaged, I lost 50 pounds on Weight Watchers without feeling hungry or deprived. The program helped me learn to balance my caloric checkbook, making sure I wasn't wandering into bounced check territory and teaching me to eat more healthy, well rounded meals. Since I had such success on the program the first time around, by the end of my pregnancy I had committed myself to using Weight Watchers to lose my baby weight. And now, not having any baby weight to lose, I'm using it to help me shed my pre-baby pounds.
I've been attending meetings for a month, with three weigh-ins thus far, and I've already lost 7.4 pounds. Granted, I do get to eat more because I'm breastfeeding, but I'm also hungrier than I've ever been in my life and I need to eat healthy for my kiddo. For those who are interested, no, you don't get up in front of the room and say, "My name is Chelsea and I weigh 190 pounds." The only people who know your weight are you and the receptionist. If you do well and want to share you can and everyone will celebrate with you. Its a great feeling.
So, moving forward with the blog, I'll be putting a lot of waistline-friendly recipes up, and giving you the PointsPlus value so that if you want to join in on the weight-loss success you can. I'd love to hear from you about your own healthy lifestyle journeys and about whether you've tried (and hopefully liked) my recipes.
Until next time,
Love, hugs and lots of good (healthy) food!
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