Watchword.
I am sitting here typing items into the WeightWatchers point calculator and emitting the occasional squeak or howl of indignation. To our neighbors I would imagine it sounds as though I have tossed a couple of vocal pygmy marmosets into a blender for an evening snack. Which I would never do, of course—not merely out of compassion, but also because DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY POINTS ARE IN A PYGMY MARMOSET?
Yes. I am back on WeightWatchers, and the first few days are just as brutal as I remembered, even with the extra points they give me for breastfeeding. And that reminds me—what do you do if you are only breastfeeding five times a day? They gave me 10 extra points, which is a full half of my pre-nursing points allowance. Not that I am complaining, mind you (I still have trouble fitting in the necessities, like wine), but there is no point in being a little miserable and not losing weight when I could either become thinner by being a bit more forlorn or, alternatively, stay fat and happy.
Which isn’t entirely accurate, because if I were happy at this weight I wouldn’t have had a godforsaken salad as part of my dinner this evening. I don’t like being embarrassed when I catch a glimpse of myself in a store mirror, or cringing at pictures of me holding my daughter. And of course it is about more than weight—I felt much healthier the last time I tried this whole exercise and sensible eating gig, and I think if I am going to be nursing and wrangling an infant on little sleep, I ought to take better care of my body. However dispiriting the first few days of Weight Watchers have been, they have effectively increased my consumption of fruits and vegetables 100% 500% from “the occasional garnish” to “five servings a day.”
It is hard, though, especially when you are watching a certain baby—I won’t name names—loll on your lap in a satisfied stupor, milk dripping into the folds of her neck. Breastmilk has 20 calories per ounce, so according to my calculations, this baby (female, 7 pounds, under 5’1”, mostly sedentary) must be exceeding her daily target. Of course concentric rolls of thigh look better on her than they would on me.
Rolls. Now I am thinking about rolls. Dinner rolls shining with butter.
It may be time for bed.
45 Comments
If you have a sweet tooth, the Fibre 1 Oat & Chocolate bars will be your new best friend - only two points! (If you haven’t already discovered them that is…)
You will be thrilled to find just how many calories breastfeeding continues to burn when you keep up with it. It makes those pygmy marmosets look reasonable again.
Blimey. Great minds are obviously thinking alike this week. Have just finished post calling myself to action in losing the flab. And forgive me for saying that my problem is weigh greater than yours! The corners of you that have edged into photos look just fab. But it’s nice to look nice. Sigh
How funny - I started WW a few days ago too. It does seem to be working - I reckon I’ve lost a pound already. I’m not counting my breastfeeding points though - I’m only pumping now, twice a day.
I’m finding the cheese the hardest.
Oh, and I am finding this website is satisfying the OCD in me and keeping me focussed.
http://www.weighttracker.info
I hate WeightWatchers. When I did calorie counting I used Weight Loss Resources and they allow you an amount that doesn’t leave you starving, don’t patronise you, and count all your exercise (and if you cycle 27 hilly miles a week, you need to count all that or your metabolism will shut down).
Good for you for coming back! I have been on Weight Watchers for a month now (this is my second time around) and I am loving every second of it. I found a great meeting where I fit in, I am exercising more than ever and actually liking it, and I am losing weight and/or inches every week! It’s definitely not easy, especially in the beginning, but you’ve got tons of support!!! For me, it’s the only thing that works. Anything else leaves too much room for mistakes.
Good Luck and best wishes
1 word, Smart Ones Mint Chocolate Chip sundaes. Okay, that was 6 words, but who cares? Three points! Get thee to the market now! (With Simone in sling of course!)
Only 10 points for BFing! My baby weight came off with BFing alone. I say indulge now and start WW again in a couple of months. :)
Hmmm. WW tips, I know I have them in the dusty part of my brain. Oooh! I know! EGG WHITES. Egg whites are delicious. As are South Beach Peanut Butter bars (3 points!).
Good luck, you sexy thang.
You reminded me I meant to do that. Over a year of bf and while baby weight is gone theres still all that other stuff to deal with. Just signed up, good luck to you as well.
this sounds like too much calculating whilst you’re trying to care for the baby. start later. jeez!
Oh yeah, the last few times I’ve tried WW I’ve failed within the first 5 days. They’re a killer. Good luck and I am sure you will do better than I did.
My sister and I both started WW about a month ago (she just had a baby, I just had too much weight on my thighs to fit in cute pants). It’s tough (wine and cheese are how many points?!) but worth it in the end. Good luck!
WW is going to be the death of me. Like if you never hear from me again now you know why.
Oh and for the wine here’s my solution; I put in the amount I will drink that evening at the beginning of the day. That’s how important my ‘jigger’ of jack daniel’s is to me.
I am now home from the NICU with my 6.5 wk old baby, and I too started on WW. I lost 12 lbs on it before getting pregnant and liked it a lot. I had twins before this, and BF helped a lot with the weight back then, but they were twins (2x the bf) and so used more calories. As soon as I started breastfeeding them less, the weight returned much to my dismay. Ugh. This time no fooling around. I don’t feel like being 5 different sizes in 1 year this time around!
I had a Spinach, Artichoke, and Chicken Lean Pocket for lunch today. Delish! I was pleasantly surprised to find it was only 5 points, too. Good for you for eating your fruits and veggies. I laugh every day when I have eaten all of my points without checking off a single glass of milk, glass of water, or vegetable. No multivitamin either. I wish they had a category for artificial colors and flavoring. I would ace that one!
For me, I could eat the full 10 points until LG was nursing just twice per day. Then I went down to 8. When he was down to once per day I had 5 extra points, and still lost weight. Now that he is done, WW is brutal. I feel hungry all the time and the scale won’t budge more than .4 at a time.
Good luck!
Hey, I think your calculations are right, with 20 cals per ounce of breastmilk, and figuring about 5 oz. per nursing, then you can say you burn 100 cals each time you nurse. So that’s 500 cals/day…better than 30 minutes on the treadmill!
I think that’s about 10 WW points, but I don’t remember exactly. Good luck with it all…I think the first 3 weeks of any better diet/exercise plan is the suckiest.
If you’ll forgive me, I’ll just tuttut at you starting WW so soon! Do you absolutely have to?
Do you enjoy torturing yourself?
If you insist you must, let me wish you lots of succes!
Hummmmmm…. stop, please. You’re making yourself and me crazy. Take a deep breath and give yourself a MONTH OR TWO at least before you start hating your weight. You are feeding another person right now FROM YOUR BODY, eat like that is what you are doing. Now, that means not so much on the junk food and better on the healther stuff.
I just want to plant the seed that after three children (one single and one twin pregnancy is my point) my body wouldn’t let me lose any weight until after I’d stopped breastfeeding. One year post singleton and two years post twin pregnancy/breastfeeding. I really watched what I was doing, tried to get some exercise in and nothing and then (at those times) all of the sudden it just dropped off. It was like I was in some kind of biological survival mode because it (my body) knew I was doing this other thing. So, don’t make yourself crazy over this.
Also…how are you sleeping? Oh, you mean you still aren’t getting the 8 hours a night BECAUSE YOU HAVE A TINY INFANT and ARE BREASTFEEDING HER???? Well, when you don’t sleep, your body doesn’t produce enough of the brain chemicals to keep you awake or enough to make you feel good and so you will crave foods that are bad for you (sweets and high fat content stuff). Know that this is happening and why. You can’t get enough sleep right now (hello Momhood) and won’t for a while. Don’t make yourself crazy (have I said that already).
Climbing off soap box. But how lovely that this is your angst now… what a journey you’ve had.
Kel
I think rolls look so good on little baby thighs! But I am sure you look great too! But way to go on the weight watchers have fun!
I agree with Debbie, don’t worry about it now! You’ve hardly had your baby home. Believe me, it will come off. When your baby is 1 year and you haven’t lost the weight then try WW. Have faith. Eat what your body craves. She’ll run you ragged and you’ll be thin again. You don’t want to compromise your milk supply!
Hon I think their are 2 breastfeeding groups, the ones who lose weight while they breastfeed (I hate them) and those who struggle to lose weight while still feeding. I am a fully paid up member of the latter group.
Now I have finished feeding I joined WW and the weight is coming off steadily.
Be kind to yourself Alexa, you have had a hell of a ride the last few months.
Lots of love and kisses to you and the ADORABLE Simone xxx
The best of luck to you! I plan on going back to WW sometime later this year or early next. The first week realllllyyy is the hardest. You can do it!!!
I agree that this is not the time to start torturing yourself over your weight or apearance. But I also agree that aside from the whole I-don’t-want-to-LOOK-like-all-I-do-is-kids thing, moms need to be strong and fit to keep up with the demands of their job. A fit mom is a happier mom.
You look just fine to me. That IS you with that sling thingy on, right??? I mean, I would kill to be able to wear a halter top. And my youngest is 4. Enjoy yourself, the weight will come off when it is ready. And all of us, your friends on the puter, love you just the way you are. And by love, I don’t mean that in a stalker type way, you know.
I’ll just shut up now.
I lost 100lbs on Weight Watchers. :0) Don’t ask how much I have to lose again ;) Once the baby is born (in Nov) I’ll be pointing my way back to goal.
Good luck with it!
My assvice is to leave WW the hell alone and feed yourself what you need to nurture yourself and your daughter. Seriously.
I’ve got to say Alexa- have you lost your mind? Really I am so surprised. Is this what clever funny warm educated women do in America? Simone needs you to be eating LOTS OF great healthy food with lots of protein and calcium and fat. You look beautiful in the photos you have posted. Don’t punish yourself for having a baby with a silly diet. The weight will go but is that the most important thing right now? Anyway- sorry this is so over the top opinionated.
interesting how polarised the comments are so far
take care,
Louise
I have been reading your blog for a while and as someone said, how wonderful that you are at a point now where your weight can be an issue. As others have said, don’t be too hard on yourself just yet. It has been a long journey.
But on the other hand, the one thing that definitely helps the mood and the figure is exercise. Even if you don’t stress too much about your eating, just increase your daily exercise and you will feel much better. Easier said than done I know. I wrote up a post on my “weightloss” blog(www.growby40.blogspot.com) a while ago on exercises that you can do at home without equipment. It is quite amazing how much one can actually do. Very difficult to motivate yourself when you are alone at home though.
Good luck!
Keep in mind the glycemic index of everything you eat. There are lots of GI charts on the ‘net to which you can refer for meal planning. The lower GI the better. Protein and low GI foods is your best bet. Starchy hi-carb foods aren’t good for your body or your mind. Be strong!
Man, I am really assvicey today. That’s my disclaimer. Just wanted to tell you that I’ve read several places that if you lose more than two pounds a week (I think?) while breastfeeding your body starts to release harmful toxins into your bloodstream, and thus your breastmilk, as it digs into your reserves. So take those full 10 points and eat them! Or listen to all these nice people and give yourself a break for a while. Of course, I’m 15 months out and still have the chub, so there’s a happy medium there somewhere.
Allow me to evangelize just for a second here.
Switch to Core. Seriously. You don’t hardly have to do math, but you do have to cook more because you have to count points for anything not on the list (which includes all “convenience foods”, unfortunately).
Good luck with it! I’ve managed to continue to excersize as many times a week as my brood will allow, but struggle with my food. Big time. I love food. And you can tell that by the size of my ass.
I don’t know anything about babies, but this one I can contribute to. Protein. There was a study recently that concluded that when we eat a lot of protein (not enough to trash our kidneys, just 3 ounces with every meal plus a glass of milk), our stomaches produce some weird hormone that makes us not hungry. I tried it - it works. After a couple of days of eating protein shakes, chicken breast, pork tenderloin, or scrambled egg beaters, I stop craving food and have a much easier time staying on point. It takes a bit of time, but it is worth trying. Low carb diets use this principle - but it’s not the “low carb” part that kicks it in - it’s the “high protein” that does it, and you can have your carbs (within your point allowance) and enjoy them this way. Who wants to live without bread and mashed potatoes anyway?
Well I’m not nursing a baby now, but due to a bowel disorder, my doctor put me on 6 feedings a day instead of the usual 3. I have maintained my weight all these years eating in this manner. I am 5′8″ tall, 57 years old and weigh 137 pounds and have for many years. I eat once every 2 hours, except when I am sleeping. The only exercise I really get is chasing after 4 grandchildren, 3 of them boys, ages 10, 8 and 6 and a 3 year old girl.
At any rate, from the pictures, Simone is lovely, and I hope you have very good luck with your WW. :)
Mmmm… rolls. And butter. I love butter.
But I do think you may be being a wee bit hard on yourself - to my eyes you look thin & healthy in your blog pix, and I suspect breastfeeding and not sleeping to care for Miss Simone may be all the weight loss regimen you need… but having said that, I also agree that you need to do what you need to do to make yourself happy. Just hope you aren’t being too hard on yourself! But I am one of those people who firmly believes that the body craves food that gives it the nutrients it needs… even if that craving is for a massive thing of Del Taco fries… or rolls absolutely slathered in butter. Real butter, not the ‘I Can Totally *$!%ing Believe It’s Not Butter’ crap. Anyway. My two cents’ worth of assvice. :)
Another great post - Simone is looking and as for your weight - SHUT. UP. You look fabulous.
x
PS - linked you to my blog.
Well I suppose I’m not the traditional infertile woman that you probably get notes from The fact is that neither my partner nor I am infertile. He has a wonderful three year old son from a previous relationship and I, though untested, have no reason to believe that I can’t get pregnant. Well, except for the fact that I have been told that I must not become pregnant.
In 2001, at 17, I was diagnosed with systemic lupus and two years later had blood clots in my lungs forcing me to go on blood thinners. Any one with lupus, pregnancy is considered high risk and for moms on anticoagulants, careful monitoring and c-section are necessary. I had always wanted to be a mom though, so I just held out that I would do whatever I needed to do when the time came.
So now I’m 24, in love, settled down, getting ready to start a career and a family when I’ve suddenly gotten dramatically sicker. I was diagnosed about two weeks ago with pulmonary hypertension secondary to mixed connective tissue disorder. As soon as I heard hypertension my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. I knew about the risks that women with heart problems put themselves and their babies under during pregnancy and how doctors generally advise against the whole undergoing. After learning that the new medication that I will be spending the rest of my life on is totally contraindicated for pregnant women I felt as if I’d lost a part of myself.
I still count myself lucky to have a little ray of sunshine that will someday be my step-son, who loves me and bathes me with kisses and affection, but that doesn’t ease my desire to have a child of my own. Someone to whom only I will be mom.
I don’t even know how to move on from this point. There are no methods to try, no IUI, no IVF, no vitamins, workouts, herbs, or magic potions. There is nothing I can do and I feel completely lost and helpless.
I’m hoping to perhaps connect with other women in similar situations and try to figure out how to pass these feelings of loss and grief and to move on with my life. So I thought it might make sense to getting touch with you and that perhaps you’d know of some people I could talk to or some advice that would help me from this dark place.
WW is very good for you to get back on track - but geez! Five servings of fruit a day??
Seriously, I think you get funnier and funnier every day. Also, you are hysterical in a Twit. I like I might love you. Not that theres anything wrong with that. :)
Also, I saw this post on Looky Daddy. I think you would be a shoe-in for the prize.
http://www.lookydaddy.com/weblog/2008/06/the-second-annu.html
I can’t write a poem, limerick or otherwise, but I have absolute faith that yours would be hysterical.
Laughed hysterically about the immunizations. Oh, so true.
Hi; I’ve been a lurker for a while (imagine me hanging around on the street outside your apartment trying to look inconspicuous, only in a nice way). First I want to say how much I enjoy your blog and how delighted I am that Simone is home and doing so well.
You should probably ignore total strangers who look you up on the internet and give you unasked advice. But I’m with the person who said you should go easy on yourself. Personally I’m now eight pounds lighter than before I got pregnant just from breastfeeding. I haven’t been watching my diet at all, apart from a general attempt to be healthy, and my exercise has mostly been pushing my hefty son (now seven months) around in his buggy. Also, even if you aren’t breastfeeding exclusively at the moment you could probably build up to it later if you want to and if it’s appropriate for Simone.
Anyway, good luck with the weight loss whether or not you choose to hurry it along.
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