Weighting it Out.

I'm down 50 pounds since Gabe was born, and I'm back to pre-pregnancy weight. I'm certainly not shaped the same, and I have a lot more weight to lose, but I am so, so happy.

Me: 1
Evil fatness issues: 0

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And I lost it just in time for my Mom-Mom's legendary Easter Brunch, which is chock full of things that will gain me 20 pounds in 1 meal.

I'm bringing champagne cupcakes. Expect an Erin's Edibles post soon!
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A Day Late... Not Really A Buck Short

Well, so much for being negative about the possibility of losing weight. I'm down 10 pounds! This is great. Just 14 more until I reach pre-preg. (I’m down 36 from pregnancy.) I'm going to kick that 50 pounds in no time, I hope. Weight Watchers, Gym time, and Nursing are my drill. And believe me, I make sure to eat for my milk supply.Here are some of the best 'healthy' meals of the month:


Southwestern Chicken and Potato Soup
This is an altered weight watchers slow cooker recipe with chicken broth, chicken, diced tomatoes, canned corn, salsa, and sweet potatoes.


What I Call, Nursing Soup
(because it is full of veggies, protein, and carbs-- good for nursing mommies!)
It’s so easy to make!

2 lb. baked and shredded chicken, (baked in olive oil, rosemary, and garlic powder)
60 oz. msg-free chicken broth (preferably free range or organic)
1 package frozen spinach, defrosted and drained
½ package frozen string beans
¾ box Ditallini Pasta

(Bake chicken for 30-40 minutes or until juice runs clear and chicken is no longer pink in the middle.)
Boil water and cook ditallini to al dente.
When chicken and noodles are done cooking, mix all ingredients other than chicken in pot and turn on medium heat.
Shred chicken.
Add chicken to pot, heat to a boil and then lower temperature to a simmer for 20 minutes. Keep heat on low until serving or briefly reheat to serve.




Chipotle Tamale Pie
Recipe here. Next time we will not add the chipotle chiles... so I guess it will be tamale pie.

One-- er, rather, Two-- At A Time

Two Pounds Lost Per Week, that is...

This is great! I still feel like it is nothing, but I am 4 pounds less than I was 2 weeks ago. Supposedly nursing mothers aren't supposed to lose more than 1 poundish a week so I am pretty on track, and I am making sure to eat enough to keep the milk coming. And I will tell you how I am doing this-

• Weight Watchers Online. NO meetings where I feel like I a foodaholic. I just know how many points I can have with my weight, age, height, and full-time nursing mommy factors considered. Being a SAHM (for now and however long) has afforded me the ability to keep the laptop nearby with the points calculator and daily points tracker nearby. And I do eat all 38 points per day with flex points and lose weight (that sounds insane) because I am a hungry, nursing momma.
• Using Actual Weight Watchers Recipes-- they even have some recipes for the slowcooker, which is great, I reiterate here, because I need to use the slowcooker due to evil late afternoon reflux taking over my and g's lives. These ww recipes are decent, other than the casserole I made last night-- it freaked out my husband because I had to boil chicken before it was put into the mix. It pretty much ruined his night.
• Gym. I joined a Snapfitness-- you have an entry card and can go anytime you want to go. It is never crowded, I use the elliptical (just 15-17 minutes for now-- I was on bedrest for 6 weeks so I have to work up to ye olde 40 minutes), and I do some toning. I feel great afterward, and it is my nice, little break from baby, domestic life, etc.
• Nursing. I am convinced this is how I am -30 from pregnancy. (I gained 50 so I still have a lovely 20 to go to get to pre-pregnancy AND then I still need to lose more, but -30 sounds great anyway.)

I still need to get to the gym more, though. And my diet is seriously lacking enough veggies.
So this week, I need to...

• Kick up the gym time.
• Eat more of the green food.

Hopefully this 2 per week trend continues...

slowcookermania

Take that, dinnertime!

I'm tired of not being able to have a warm home-cooked meal ready for dinner on a regular basis. But frankly, cooking in the late afternoon and evening is pretty near impossible with an angry infant.

And he's not always angry, and he is not angry every evening even, but he is not predictable and more often than not, he's a malcontent once 4:30 p.m. comes along.

Why? REFLUX. It hits him hard by dinnertime, and it means one thing.
I.WANT.MOMMY and I.WANT.HER.NOW-- NO, do not pass go. Do not sit down. And do not put me in my swing.

Conundrum! How does one safely cook with le bebe attached? It's just not happening for me. And I NEED to cook healthy food.

But he's happy in the morning ALWAYS. He's a one-stop smile monster at 9:30 a.m. sharp. If only I coulc cook then; he would sit in his bouncer and laugh at me as I told him about bell peppers.

It dawned on me. SLOW COOKER. Not such a novel idea for the busy Mom, but a new one for me-- love that crock pot, but mostly use it if a fave recipe needs to stay warm long-term.

And here's another great thing-- Weight Watchers (I joined online to help with the mcfatness) has a stash of low-point-per-serving slow cooker recipes that will be easy to make and healthy to eat!

So... healthy, easy, warm, and wonderful. Slowcookermania, I'm in.

Tomorrow's menu? 3-bean Pork Chili. I'll let you know if the mania works out.

My Big, Fat, (Not Greek) New Years Resolution

It's the first business day of the new year, and I suppose that means it is time to get down to my personal business for 2009 . . .

Losing Weight.

I have done the weight loss thing before-- I even lost over 50 pounds-- but a little thing called, oh, pregnancy fouled up the minus weight and packed on just about everything I lost.

I have lost just about 25 of those pregnancy pounds, and I credit that to breastfeeding and the fact that Gabe's placenta was supposedly the same size as him (Gabe was 8-7, so...).

But "it is time," as they said quite dramatically in The Lion King, to lose the rest and more. And as I sit here post Lean Cuisine lunch thinking about the left over chocolate chip oatmeal cookies in the kitchen, I know this is not going to be an easy journey.

As per my last weight loss success, I am going to be gym-happy. I need the elliptical machine-- actual running never bodes well for a girl with large breasts, and well, right now, with the nursing, I am at my wits end dealing with their giganticness. I fake-did Weight Watchers last time, but I am not sure that is going to be my plan for now. I need to just straight eat well, as in veggies, veggies, veggies. I love the color green otherwise so I should probably start loving it in my food.

My goal? To be in EXCELLENT backpacking shape by June.
What does this mean? I need to lose at least 25 pounds by June.
What is my end goal for 2009? I want to lose at least 40 pounds.
Will I do this? I have to.
Why? For my health. For my sanity. And let's just be honest, For the sake of sexual confidence!

And what is my one solace right now?? That I am not going on this quest alone. If ya'll read TheHeirToBlair, and you probably do, McFatty Mondays have started, and there are lots of post-partum Mommas taking the weight loss plunge and posting the grueling grossity of it all online for the world to read.

THIS WEEK I intend to get to that gym, put my money where my mouth is and join. I need to figure out what I am going to do about sports bras, because I very well may need to wear 7 at once in order NOT to offend other gym go-ers. And the husband and I are going to be stocking the fridge with healthy food.

I shall call this week the 'establishment' week. No weight loss expected, but the serious lifestyle swing is to get going.

So there's my entry to kick my McFat Butt into gear.
Time to shine.

A Moment of Triumph

I am sharing this to give hope to other new breastfeeding moms:

Among the many worries I have had since Gabriel was born, my biggest has been my concern for his weight gain, weight loss, food intake, etc. He was born 8 lb. 7 oz., and when we were sent home from the hospital he weighed 8 lb. By Friday of last week, he weighed 7 lb. 8 oz., and I became somewhat internally frantic. I have wanted to breastfeed my whole life, and I knew that looking in the face of his weight loss (just over 10%), I was coming to that place where the pediatrician says it is time to supplement.

What was somewhat comforting on Friday was his sudden increase in stools and wet diapers (rising from 0 to 3 stools, and from 3 to 6 wet), and I was happy to say I was heading into engorgement. Just let me say being engorged really is definitively unpleasant... your breasts are hard, leaking perfusely and filling breast pads like crazy, you are super duper sore, your nipples become smaller as they are stretched by the great increase in milk-- making it hard for your little one to latch on, and oh, on top of that, I was already wearing a very plus size bra size... I don't even want to know what cup size I would have been that day if measured. I would HONESTLY guess it would be somewhere around J or K, if those sizes even exist.

In any case, my pediatrician was very nonchalant about his weight loss, saying he would be fine as long as his stools increase and his wet diapers number at least 6 per day. Well, then this weekend, on Sunday, he had 12 wet diapers and 5 stools, and yesterday he had 12 wet diapers with 4 stools. He was weighed again yesterday at our home nursing visit (one very awesome perk of my husband's insurance plan), and he had gained a WHOPPING 14 ounces! He is now 8 lb. 5 oz., and I was given the go ahead to sleep up to 5 hours straight without waking him in the middle of the night because he is thriving.

I was nearly devastated and terrified on Friday that he was not going to hit his markers in creating 'waste,' and then suddenly everything came together for us. Seeing him on the nurse's scale yesterday with the number 8-5 was a moment of triumph for me as a first time Mom, and I had to share it. Am I still worried about weight gain? Yes! I count his diapers like a nutcase, and I sit anticipating his next bowel movement. I feel comforted and a bit more confident, but I still feel like this is a critical time to be cautious and meticulous in making sure Gabriel is hydrated and well-fed. I finally got him to sleep for 4 hours straight after his 5:30 feeding today (I had hopes of this happening earlier in the night, but he wanted some food!), and now I feel nervous about him making enough diapers today because of a 4.5 hour break between feedings instead of his 'usual' 2-3. And I guess that is why they say Moms worry, no matter what.

BUT my point is in all of this...
If breastfeeding seems not to be working at first, and you really want it to work, please keep fighting!!