Weight struggles and a new plan

I’ve been struggling for several months to make a dent in losing the “baby weight” from my last pregnancy.

 

This struggle has been such a contrast to my first pregnancy and subsequent weight loss. I gained over 50 pounds during first pregnancy and all of the weight melted off within a matter of weeks. Right after Gabriella was born, we made the switch to eating real food and my weight loss continued.

By her first birthday, I had lost a total of about 85 pounds without dieting or exercising even one time. I was at the weight I know is perfect for my body. It’s not hard to maintain, and I feel fantastic.

My current weight struggles really began well before my last pregnancy. I got pregnant at the end of 2012 and gained about 10 pounds before I said goodbye to our angel baby at 17 weeks and then gained another 15 pounds from the stress of the situation.

So I started my last pregnancy overweight, gained about 50 pounds and then had serious complications after my delivery that kept me from exercising or even taking walks for months. I gave myself time and tried not to be hard on myself. It took years to put on this weight, and I don’t expect it to come off overnight.

But, it’s been almost 10 months now and I’ve had enough. The thought of my baby’s fast-approaching birthday and summertime are motivating me to make some big changes. I decided to start running again and I’m working through Food Babe’s 21-day plan outlined in her new book The Food Babe Way.

The first part of the book outlines Vani Hari’s own transformation to living a toxin-free lifestyle and becoming a spokesperson for the real food revolution. While I don’t agree with some of her scare tactics or pseudoscience, what she has accomplished in terms of getting major companies like Chik-fil-A, Subway and Kraft to change their ingredients is pretty incredible.

The latter part of the book includes a 21-day plan to a cleaner lifestyle, fewer toxins and weight loss without counting calories. Some of the ideas in the book seem on the extreme end of the “green” spectrum for where I am today, but I decided to jump in and go for it. I can commit to anything for 21 days.

The book has renewed my commitment to eating whole, unprocessed, organic foods. Cooking from scratch to feed my family is a labor of love, but it is exhausting sometimes.

Every once in a while some processed, convenience foods start to creep back in to my house and eating out becomes an easy option for me to get out of the kitchen and relax. We usually have to watch a few food documentaries or read a book to remind ourselves why conventional processed foods are so detrimental to the life we want to live.

After reading the book last weekend, I was ready to get back to eating at home and enjoying a real food diet. It’s been one week since I started the plan, and I feel great. I have more energy, my body feels good and I’ve lost 4 pounds.

I’ve used the Food Babe’s plan, some of my own rules and started working out again and come up with a healthy lifestyle plan that works for me. Here’s some of the big changes I made this week:

• I’m starting each day with a cup of warm lemon water with cayenne pepper. I actually love this drink and don’t think I’ll ever give this habit up now!
• I stopped drinking water with meals. I drink a big glass of water about 20 minutes before eating and then wait about 30 minutes after eating to drink another big glass.
• I’m limiting dairy. I did try out some delicious local ice cream at Lick this week, but I’m aiming to cut way back on my intake.
• I’m giving up alcohol. I’m not a big drinker anyway, but I have been enjoying wine on a regular basis and besides not being organic, it’s just not going to work in my plan to lose weight so I’m happy to refrain for a while.
• We ate at home more than we have in a long time and limited our dining out to places that served quality food free from antibiotics, hormones and artificial ingredients. We ate dinner one night at Chipoltle and had a date night at Whiskey Cake.
• I started a 5k training program and did 30 minutes of walking/running intervals along with an upper body workout and two yoga classes.

I’m looking forward to this next week and making some more big changes!

What’s your #1 lifestyle tip to achieve a healthy weight? I’d love to hear from you on our Facebook page!