For those of you who have been following my pregnancy and postpartum posts, you might know that I have breastfeed for 9 years and nursed while pregnant with 4 of my six children. It has been amazing to learn new things about pregnancy nutrition and workout programs, but now I have a new focus for the first time in 10 years! Yes, you did read that right. I guess I would think that 9 years of breastfeeding was a large number, but compared to my midwife, who breastfed for 21 years, it seems small.
The longest I ever breastfed a child was just over two years. Most of my babies weaned themselves without my help. I was usually pregnant with the next child, so maybe my milk tasted bad. I have often read that. The shortest I have ever breastfed a baby was eight months. I am still frustrated I gave up nursing instead of trying to figure out how to eat properly for feeding and growing a baby at the same time. You have to eat a lot, and usually every two hours you are starving! You have to eat tons of protein. Give up on the crackers and eat nuts. Have lots of yogurt! Enjoy food, but don't go heavy on sugar and treats. Ice cream has some protein, but it's a not a meal.
My early workouts were very gentle. I mostly went on walks with my hubby and they were brisk, but I never knew much about other activities. I knew very little about being pregnant in general. Then I found an Erin O'Brien's pregnancy video at the library with baby number 3. I was depressed I could not enjoy running because it made my pelvis hurt, so I tried the video. It got me hooked and I did this routine 3 times a week. I used this video, combined with a pregnancy yoga routine for baby 4 and then I found Lindsey Brin (momsintofitness.com) after baby 5, when I was starting to really gain some weight.
The Lindsey Brin routines have been my favorite. She has a calender with all her programs and lots of calorie based information. I never really knew what was happening to my body when my belly was growing and I was losing weight the first trimester. Now I know that one burns about 300 calories just being pregnant. This does not mean eat everything in sight, but it also means a dinner salad is not enough.
Some of this is repeat information. Why am I still talking about it? Now I am in the phase that I know very little about. I have never had two full years between any of my babies and I don't know what it is like to not just burn calories from sitting around growing a baby, or feeding one. I stopped nursing and gained weight. I know that is not that much, but I had been creeping toward my 'normal' weight, and now this has held me back a lot! Around six pounds is probably going to take me six weeks to lose.
I know that I have little to complain about since I have never gained tons of weight, but I still feel the need to make some changes and I don't see who I once was in the mirror. It has been a long time. The reasons I struggle with losing weight are my love for cooking and being in the kitchen, feeling lonely, and being a foot smaller than my husband, but consuming close to the same amount of food as him.
Changes happen slowly and I plan to be healthy about how I lose this weight. I refuse trendy diets because I don't like them. I remember I never needed them in the past. That being said, I am eating one salad a day (and I hate salad...it is boring to me, but after some time and the right greens it is much better). Sweets are reserved in small amounts. I love chocolate, so 1tsbp in chocolate chips can be a treat from time to time or if I'm out with the kids, 1/4 of a treat I would have had the whole thing of in the past. Protein is still very important, so it will be a part of every meal. I will be using calorie count to figure out normal portion sizes of things and log for at least of week, but probably a month. I used it in the past and seeing values of foods listed out really helped me emotionally. I eat when I am sad, so this helped me figure out if I was hungry and tell myself I had plenty to eat.
Adding a friend to your goals really helps. I have a running buddy and we talk about how we are doing with food. After last week I decided to track my food again and send her my calorie count when I did. It might seem silly, but knowing another person can see my food lists helps me say no to things I might have eaten. Also, my actual weight is out there. I went from 114 at my lowest, to 118 as my constant, and now I see 125 on bad days, but usually 123. I don't want to get caught up with this though because my clothing fits fine, and I workout six days a week.
Workouts are usually 15-40 minutes depending on the day. I have one day a week of mostly stretching and one day when I let myself sleep just a bit longer. If I don't workout at 5:30 AM, I don't have time. I have to have a structured plan or I do workouts, but not very well. I noticed youtube has a lot of great stuff for free and so does fitness blender. Right now I am working on http://www.jessicasmithtv.com/ 's 21 day challenge. I had know idea how it would be, but I love the workouts. She has a lot of different kinds of workouts and some ballet barre based stuff that I really love because I miss ballet classes.
If you are a mom and you want to start working out, find a time you can workout everyday. If it changes, put it on your calender. I treat this as a part of my to do list and feel like I missed something when I skip out on the time. My baby is playing next to me while I workout, but it has been like this since he was born and he knows to leave me alone. It works well for us.
Maybe this information is not new, or maybe it is. I wish more moms of many wrote about how they felt about their bodies after many babies because I still have so many questions. I know that things like working out and eating can be very personal for everyone. I don't want to sound vain, but honest because I know most women struggle with extreme body changes. I plan to write in a month and update you on any progress. :) I hope I will have good things to report.
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