Getting Into Shape... Hopefully

My healthy, delicious, "diet" friendly breakfast this morning.

My baby is 6.5 weeks old, and I decided I want to start getting into shape.
Yes, I know round is a shape. :-D
But I weigh more than I'd like to. A lot more than I'd like to. No, I won't share the exact number...
And yes, I know that I need to take care of myself nutritionally, and that I shouldn't detox or do any drastic dietary changes while nursing, especially not while nursing 2 kids.
But at the same time, I don't want to be gaining weight like I have been since I gave birth, and ideally would like to shed those pounds, and if possible the weight I gained during pregnancy...

Now why am I posting it here?

Because I am doing it in a hopefully frugal way. And because I know that when I post my goals somewhere publicly, it encourages me to stick to it and not slack off after a day or two.

So, here's my plan. It's intended to not deprive myself nutritionally one bit, to not leave me hungry, but still to hopefully lose weight and get into shape.


First off, I am trying to drink more. I know I do not drink enough, especially now that it's hotter out, especially because I'm nursing not just one, but two kids. And often people misinterpret thirst and hunger. So hopefully by just upping my fluid intake, I won't constantly be looking for food...

Secondly, I am going to be plating all my food. I know this sounds stupid, but you really eat with your eyes as much as you eat with your stomach. And since I know from experience that when you eat a full plate of food you feel more full than if you ate "half a container" of the same food, I won't take short cuts and eat out of containers like I sometimes do, but I will put it nicely on a plate and eat it from there, so my mind will be as sated as my stomach.

Thirdly, I am trying to be more mindful of my eating. Sitting down to eat at a table, concentrating on what I am eating (or as much as I can while I have kids around), enjoying every morsel of it, and not do anything else while eating, like watching a movie, sitting at the computer, or reading a book. Just chewing slowly, paying attention to when I am full, and stopping there.

Fourth, I am keeping track of what I am eating throughout the day, and adding it into a tracker at MyFitnessPal. I am not 100% I am going to follow what it says there, because it doesn't take into account tandem nursing, and whether your body is absorbing foods differently because of being low carb and higher protein/fat, etc... I don't know if I will be eating as many carbs as it says to, or as few fats as it says to, but I do want to have a general idea of how many carbs, fats, and calories I am eating in a day. I am also tracking, when I am eating, the reason that I am eating. Am I eating because I am hungry? Bored? Craving something? In a bad mood? Because of social reasons? Because I don't want to waste? Etc... Hopefully, if I can see what is causing me to eat at different times of the day, I can work to address those times when I am eating and am not actually hungry...

Fifth, I am going to try to eat more healthily, not going for junk quite so much. I have been eating junk a lot since I gave birth, because I felt so deprived of so many things when pregnant because even slight "cheating" made me feel nauseous, so now that I can eat many things I couldn't before, I sometimes pig out even though I shouldn't.
I am trying to find ways to eat the types of things that appeal to me (right now, generally sweet and/or salty) without being unhealthy about it. Like a certain carrot recipe (which I'll share tomorrow) I have been making often and it fills my craving for sweet, without being devoid of nutrition. And veggies with salt also are filling that desire for salty.
And as for meals- I am going to try to eat more veggies and fewer grains and carbs. Definitely not cutting them out entirely or going Paleo or GAPS, but I will try to eat more produce and proteins and fill up a little less on grains.
To keep this cheaper, I have started to go to the farmer's market where I pick up produce from the "reduced rack stand" for a fraction of the cost of the regular produce sold locally, and cheaper than most produce on sale.
I'll be posting pics of my meals on my Facebook page...
I am not promising to cut out all unhealthy foods. No. But I do want to start eating less of them. Cutting them out entirely makes me feel deprived and it backfires. But eating less, and savoring what I do eat- like sucking on a square or two of chocolate instead of devouring a whole bar in one go is definitely doable.

Sixth, I am going to try to time my eating better. I want to start off the day with a big, healthy, nutritious breakfast, then eat a few smaller meals throughout the day, instead of giant lunches and suppers and snacks... And I also want to try to stop eating by 9 pm. Don't know if that'll work, but it's a goal.

Seventh, I am going to try to get more sleep. Not sleeping enough affects your metabolism, which in turn, causes you to either not lose weight, or gain weight. This will be hard because I do like staying up late, but it's something I will try to do anyhow.

Eighth, I will be starting to power walk. I found two local friends that want to power walk with me. So my goal, to start with, is to power walk 30 minutes, 3-4 times a week. And then maybe increase the frequency, or add a workout at home. But that's where I want to start. Exercise not only burns calories, it also increases your metabolism so you burn more calories even when not exercising.

So... Those are my goals.

I may post updates periodically about it. I may not. But I needed to share.

I think what I'm doing is sound from a nutritional perspective, won't cost too much money, is still taking care of my body and won't hurt my milk supply, but is still doable.

P.S. You may notice that I am not going on a diet. I don't believe in diets. I think they aren't sustainable. What I am doing is trying to make lifestyle changes. That is more sustainable than diets.

I don't have a scale, so I won't be doing weekly weigh ins or anything. This is just about feeling good and looking good, and staying healthy. Not about what the numbers on a scale say.

Are you currently trying to lose weight? What are you doing to try to lose weight? Are you doing anything on my list? Which things? Do you have any suggestions to add to my list?