Losing the Baby Weight

I reached my pre-pregnancy weight last week! It took me a little over a month longer than it did with Ava, but I gained about 10lbs more with Claire (gained 32lbs), my pre-pregnancy weight this time was about 7-8lbs less than with Ava, I’m older, and its baby #2

My biggest go-to source was www.lindsaybrin.com (sorry – it wont link!). Lindsay Brin is awesome. I think she is right on. The biggest motivator for me to get the weight off quickly was learning your body is in fat burning mode right after a baby, so you might as well take advantage! The other thing I learned this time (something I have learned so many times but seem to forget), low carb, no carb, no sugar, no this or that diets DONT WORK! A calorie is a calorie and you can have cookies for lunch and still lose weight (you’ll feel like crap but you can still do it! )

Lindsay’s blog has a ton of rules you can do – I think she has one for each day of the month or something and then she says to just focus on that rule that day. That was a little overwhelming for me, and I didnt want to have to think about something new every day. So I decided to pick five rules and just stick to those. I was already exercising (4 pretty intense workouts/week) and then I added the following:
1. eating within parameters. I HATE counting colories so this was such a good thing to learn. Depending on how many calories you can have, you decide between 3 meals and one snack, 3 meals and two snacks or you can do 5 small meals a day. You figure out before hand the approx. amount of calories for each meal and then stick to that. For example, if you can have 1400 cal a day, plan a few different 400 cal breakfasts, 400 cal lunches, 200 cal snack, and 400 cal dinners. The most helpful thing for me is this prevents me from snacking all day, which is easy to do with little kids around. I still eat-out every once in a while and just compensate with a lighter meal later or skip the snack.
2. glass of water before every meal and snack and during every meal and snack.
3. plate method. I only doing this at dinner – 1/2 your plate is veggies, 1/4 you plate is protein of some kind, and the 1/4 can be whatever you want!
4. No eating after dinner. period. By far this is the most helpful rule for me. Your body can be in fat burning mode while you sleep, but if you eat right before bed, your body burns those calories instead. I know this was the biggest key to getting the weight off. Essentially if I go to bed a little hungry, I know I’ll see good results that week!
5. A free day. I decided that if I lost 2lbs that week (when I had 20+ lbs to lose), I got a free day that week. And then as I had less to lose, I did less weight – 1.5lbs, 1lb and now that Ive lost the weight, and I’m in maintenance mode, I’ll continue to have just one free day as long as I don’t gain!

So now my plan is to maintain but still do the above rules because I think they are good habits. The rules ensure you don’t snack all day, you drink enough water, you get enough veggies, and that you dont eat late at night! I will also continue to workout 3-4 times/week. I would like to continue to do 4 but I’ll probably relax a little and just be sure to get in 3.

So I’d love to hear your comments! What has worked for you? What hasn’t?

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