Like I said, I have lots of stuff I want to write about, but if I wait for the posts about the past to be written before I starting writing about now…well, this blog might go extinct! So I am jumping in with some thoughts about health stuff now.
The first few weeks after I had Alana, I lost weight extremely rapidly. And it’s a good thing, too – I gained more while pregnant than I planned! The reasons for the rapid weight loss were, I think, a combination of the increased calorie burn from breastfeeding and the fact that I had a hard time making time to eat. I know, that probably sounds crazy. But when you have a newborn who wants to eat every two hours (timed from the start of each feeding, not including actual feeding time…i.e., feeding at 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, etc.) and who wants to be held all. the. time. … well, it doesn’t leave much time for anything. Much less something that requires two hands.
At about 6 weeks, though, Alana started becoming a bit easier to handle. She ate less often – every 2-3 hours during the day, but up to 6 hours at night. And yes, she did the coveted “sleeping through the night” thing at 6 weeks, sleeping 6 hours or more almost every night since then. (We’re up to 8 hours most nights now.) We were able to start putting her down for short periods of time (thank God for the swing!). So my ability to eat regularly returned, and with it my appetite. All of a sudden I went from not really *feeling* the appetite many say comes along with the breastfeeding calorie burn, to being ravenous almost constantly.
Since then I’ve struggled (and mostly failed) to eat healthily and in normal portions. And today I realized that I am tired of the negative. You know – instead of wanting to eat something healthy, feeling like I have to “cut out” something unhealthy. And I realized that it works better for me mentally to be proactive – to add things in – to pursue the positives that I want in my life, rather than avoiding the negatives. So here’s what I’m going to do: start setting “positive” goals. New goals each month or so based on what I need to work on. Right now, that means adding things in to my diet that I am lacking, such as lots o’ veggies!
Here are my current goals, which are subject to change without notice blah blah blah:
- Try to eat at least 5 servings of veggies every day.
- Eat breakfast within 2 hours of waking up every day.
- Drink 10+ glasses of milk every day.
- Walk or work out 5 days/week.
I am hoping that adding in the healthy stuff will naturally start to “crowd out” the less healthy stuff.
What do you think?
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Man, I’m SOOOO with you! I just had my little guy 4.5 months ago and I’m still struggling – all the baby weight fell off but now I’m ‘stuck’ and I know it’s because of my eating habits. I’ve fallen right back where I started in terms of my habits (and not having ANY time to exercise – literally, not as an excuse – makes it that much harder!).
congrats on your baby – We’re on very similar paths!
LauraLynne recently posted..Full Term – and back to 240
FINALLY responding to comments – thank you for the congrats! And congratulations to YOU on your new little guy! Can’t wait to get back into the groove of working out, but for now it’s feeling like a MAJOR victory that I am 3 days sugar and grain free. Here’s to baby steps!
I really need to set some goals! I’d just gotten on track again and then Thanksgiving hit…all bets are off now!
I don’t like that many kinds of veggies….but you go, girl!
Thanks Lynn! I am not getting too fancy with my veggies – just the tried and true ones I love, for the most part. But since baby is getting tastes of everything I eat, I want to give her lots of variety to help her avoid becoming too picky once we start her on solid foods!
Perfect realistic and SMART goals.
now
lean on us and let us help you get there
Carla
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THANK YOU! Both for the comments/support AND the reminder to keep my goals SMART!