The Moment of Truth
January 29, 2006 by kate baggott
Filed under Health
I stepped on the scales this morning.
The answer is that I am 8.5 kg heavier after this pregnancy. That doesn’t sound like much. Until you convert it to 18.72 lbs.
Given that most weight loss schemes are based on poor — if any — theories of nutritional science, that they are rip-offs designed to take your money and your self-esteem, or lead to the kind of gain and loss cycles that ruin metabolisms and shorten lives, I am not going to be following any commercial diets. I’ve watched television shows on American networks where every commercial was for junk food, diet aids or gut-reducing plastic surgery and been so disturbed that I’ve forgotten the content of the program I was watching. I’ve seen too many people ruin their emotional well-being and fall into eating disorders in the quest of thin. I’ve been lured myself on occassion.
I don’t want to be a part of that culture any more.
Especially now that I have two children who need all my energy.
By the way, does bouncing a three year-old on your leg whilst blogging count as exercise?
I am going to take the advice in this article, Healthy Weight Loss for Nursing Mothers, to heart. I am going to get out of the house for two walks a day and try, try, try to make healthy choices most of the time. And, I do believe that what takes nine months to go on, should take 9 months to come off so I will try to be patient rather than punishing.
That sounds like a very healthy approach. It will give the three of you a nice time together to enjoy -and you will get to show off your beautiful children!
Girl, I know what you mean! I was 135 lbs and finally proud of it (I had just dropped 20 lbs) when we were surprised with Kayleigh’s presence. I was 180 lbs when I delivered and dropped to 150 lbs in 3 wks. I was so excited. Well… 10 months later, I still haven’t lost but 5 lbs. At this rate, I will be 5 ft tall and 200 lbs when I deliver my second one. That is if I can get my daughter on solids long enough to worry about a second one. LOL
I try to have a healthy attitude, but I do have weight issues. I once weighed 223 lbs and that was before I even thought about kids! But, through healthy eating and exercise, I lost 45 lbs. That loss, though, took about two years and I kept it off…until my last pregnancy of inactivity and “feeling sorry for myself eating.” Still, I don’t understand how I could have gained so much considering how often I couldn’t eat due to stomach acid and how often I threw up. Life is just not fair.
Still, I hope we can support each other not just to eat properly and exercise, but to stop each other from doing harmful things to our bodies, no matter the lure of the protein diet, the shake, the promise of a quick fix….I hope you’ll keep an eye on me at least
I don’t know about postpartum, but if by protein diet you mean the atkin’s diet, I think that is actually a good thing, and not only because I really love meat and cheese!
I looked at some of the long term results in some of the literature, ie NEJM, comparing atkins to general low fat diets, and they both keep the weight off if you stick to the healthier mode of eating in the long run , well at least 1-2 yrs for that study, but the low carb one works faster in the first 6 months.
I did it once sort of, more for my husband and I together to be more conscious of what we were eating as far as all the extra useless carbs . I thought the process of it taught a pretty healthy way to think about eating. Simple stuff like – no we don’t need to eat that whole basket of bread they give you at the restaurant!
I love meat and cheese too. Every good meal should make people more aware of what and how they eat. I still have a problem, though, when I think of a diet that requires 4000 calories a day instead of the usual 2000 when so many children in the world go to bed hungry at night. I feel a theory coming on.
You are definitely right about the protein load and watching your kidneys with the Atkin’s diet. I don’t think that is a good idea post partum!
However , I am a not sure which diet requires 40000 calories per day? Or is that something to do with breast feeding?