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Losing Weight

I'm going public with my baby-based weight fluctuation.  Here's my story:

While I was pregnant with Levi, I gained 45 pounds.

When I got pregnant with Owen, Levi was seven months old, and I'd lost 35 pounds.

While I was pregnant with Owen, I gained 35 pounds.

When I got pregnant with Silas, Owen was ten months old, and I'd lost 42 pounds, putting me just three pounds shy of my pre-baby weight.

While I was pregnant with Silas, I gained 65 pounds. SIXTY-FIVE. It's a little mortifying to admit. He's four months old now, and I've lost 35 pounds, but that still leaves a pesky thirty pounds hanging around. I hit up Goodwill several times for enough to get by, but I miss my non-fat clothes. Even my shoes don't fit, and I don't own a single coat I can button.

A friend on Facebook has been posting about her own weight loss [notice I'm not going that public!], using a free food- and exercise-tracker called My Fitness Pal. When she announced she'd lost 8 pounds, I decided then and there that it was time for me to join the club. (Please know that I am being sensitive to the fact that I am breastfeeding, and if at any point this seems to be affecting my milk supply or fat content, I will happily up my calorie intake.)

The first three days, I went over my allotted calorie allowance every day.

The fourth day, my husband asked what I was up to, and spontaneously decided to sign up as well. It was eye-opening for both of us, to realize just how many calories were contained within our regular snack foods.

The fifth day was the first day I really tried hard to stay within my allowances. After dinner, I had just shy of 200 calories left, but I knew that there was a dessert in the fridge I craved that would cost me 250. Enter: Wii bowling as exercise. 30 minutes burns 111 calories (at my weight)! As soon as the boys were in bed, Isaac and I fired up the Wii.  I re-discovered my sweet spot for strikes, we had a short, fun, spontaneous, active date, and I burned enough calories to have dessert.

Speaking of dessert, I've always been skeptical of people who say that desserts taste better when you have less of them, but it might actually be true.  Knowing that I'd worked for that little treat, and that I was consuming it without the abandon with which I usually approach sugar, made it all that more delicious. Who knew?

So, we'll see how this goes. I certainly won't suffer from a little more self-control in my eating habits. It's a whole lot easier to attack this with Isaac along for the ride -- and funny, too, as we both run off to a computer (the laptop or the tablet) to log our food intake any time we eat.  It's not fun to be hungry, but it is good to have perspective on food.  I'm just glad we're done with church potlucks for the season!

Comments

  1. I don't know what it is about the third baby, but I'm having a really hard time losing my baby weight this time too. You are taking a lot more initiative with it than I have.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've heard that from so many people, that it's harder the third time around. I'm not having much success yet, but I feel like just gaining an awareness of what and how much I'm eating has to have an effect eventually. I hope. :)

    ReplyDelete

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