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Almost to my first milestone goal! As I get closer to my overall goal I plan to make the milestones closer since the difficulty is likely to increase and the difference perhaps may be more noticeable. In the meantime I'm excited to see that this whole journey is a process of much smaller [concrete and reasonably doable]choices.
I have the added help of breast feeding boosting my metabolism, and a good chunk of weight practically melted off after giving birth because besides the baby, a lot of pregnancy weight gain was related physical changes to support my baby in utero (i.e., increased blood volume, water weight, enlarged uterus, placenta and amniotic fluid, etc.).
The only change I have made is to focus on my appetite. I try to stop eating when I don't feel hungry instead of when I feel full. THIS has been what's helped me. I've noticed that in general it is easier to do this now because I have been practicing more. Do I fail? Absolutely. And often. However, now if I overdo it instead of being in pain and feeling like I'm going to explode or my clothes are too tight I just tend to feel full. When that happens I remind myself, "just try to do better next time." Likewise I try to notice what tripped me up. Maybe nine times out of ten it was eating my feelings/ eating for comfort. Having this awareness reminds me to deal with those issues separately before they start inciting impulsivity. Therefore, I find myself able to exercise greater self control because I am giving myself a "history" of doing so. The pattern is changing from, "What's the use? I fail all the time..." to "I've done this before, this isn't new to me and I can do it again!" Woohoo!
I do try to make my diet balanced so I sometimes have to "force" myself to eat more vegetables, or feed myself in similar fashion to how I feed my 5 year old to encourage better dietary habits (vegetables first, than protein, with simple[r] carbs/ bread, pasta, rice, etc. an dairy last since she and I will readily eat those without coaxing or coercion). This is half for my sake and half for my family. It benefits me because it gives me more nutrients, but it also benefits my family through my leadership/ modeling in this arena. I have firmer ground to stand on when I challenge my daughter's eating habits because she can't accuse me of hypocrisy. Considering she is at the questioning authority stage, I need every advantage to command her respect. (While it would be nice if she automatically deferred to me because I'm her mom and it's my job to take care of her, I know that's not going to happen.) So I strive to find the right balance of showing her I'm the leader, not her (for now at least, she'll have her chance when she's grown up), holding her accountable for not submitting to my authority whether she likes it and wants to or not, and explaining why I make the choices I make to show her I am working at earning her trust also.
In terms of my WOE, I find moments sometimes that make me laugh and/ or feel accomplished. One of those happened to me the other day. I belong to an organization called MOPS International. (MOPS is the acronym for Mothers of PreSchoolers.) If you don't know about MOPS, you should know that it's awesome, fun, encouraging, wonderful, etc. Not only do I have wonderful friends because of this group, but they also help me to be a better mom (and wife) by offering support during this season of life.
Anyhow, my local MOPS group meets twice a month on Tuesday mornings. We always have a potluck brunch at the meetings. It used to be more just pastries or very carb-y breakfast casseroles, tea and coffee, but now more moms are bringing things like salad, fresh fruit, even veggie platters and quiches/ egg and other protein based dishes. I still get some of the carb-y stuff every time, but I try to balance it out. This past Tuesday someone made a rally yummy salad with sliced apples, whole cashews and poppy seed dressing! It was SSSSsssooooo good! I wanted to get seconds, but I realized I wasn't really hungry. Usually I find myself having seconds of some of the brunch goodies (in addition to having breakfast at home ~2 hours earlier), but that morning I didn't. When I realized that what was stopping me from going up again was more that I didn't want to stop socializing with my friends at my table I had to laugh inwardly at myself. My laziness was defeating my gluttony! :P (There are assigned tables based on the centerpieces. Every meeting they are rotated a little bit and this meeting my table happened to be on the end of the room farthest from the brunch table.) To me that's a little silly, but sometimes that's just what is needed. Don't be afraid of silly things that may help you make better choices! Your health is worth a little potential embarrassment. :)
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146.0 lb
Lost so far: 26.0 lb.
Still to go: 16.0 lb.
Diet followed reasonably well.
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losing 2.3 lb a week
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