Losing Weight, Losing Stretch Marks

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So, I have been on my diet for a little over three weeks now. Right before I had Lil Bean, I was 144lbs. I am now 113lbs! He's only 2 weeks old. I am really excited that I lost all of my baby weight so quickly. I was 109lbs before I conceived Lil Bean. My weight is almost perfect. I'd just prefer it to be an even number. So, if I can lose just 3lbs to be 110lbs, I'll be very happy. I am confident I can lose those 3lbs no problem. It didn't take much for my to lose all that I have already. This diet truly worked wonders for me. I will maintain a healthy diet in order to maintain my weight.

Since I have had two babies in such a short time, I obviously have stretch marks. I hate them! Everyone says they're proof I'm a mom. Well, I have two kiddos that prove that. So, I'd like to lose the stretch marks if I can. There have been all these ads on TV for Mederma. $40 later, I am now the proud owner of a bottle of Mederma. I took one picture of some stretch marks on my thigh. I'm not brave enough to just post that picture, though. So, I will take a picture each week to show changes. At the end of it all, I may post pictures that show my progress from each week. It says I should begin to see results after four weeks, but optimal results at twelve weeks. So, here's to hopefully losing my stretch marks!

Getting Better With My Diet

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I am pretty proud of myself. I feel like I am getting better with my died. Towards the end of the night last night, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to not go over. Luckily, I managed to end my night at 1225 calories. My maximum is 1310. So, I was definitely pretty proud of myself. I know I will feel really proud of myself when I start seeing results. I am just happy that day two was much more successful than day one and day three is going pretty good too.

Harder Than I Thought

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This whole new eating less calories than I burn diet is much harder than I thought. Today was a big fat fail. I went over by 551. So, I'm pretty disappointed in myself. I am scratching eating out off my list. The only way I can eat out is if I only have granola bars for my other meals. So, right now it just won't work. I'm going to have to really strap down. I thought it would be easy and I'd be able to just mark my calories at the end of the day I was obviously wrong. So, now I am going to plan my daily meals according to calories. I really need to do this for myself. It will make me feel so much better when I see results. I know I'm not the only one to fail on the first day of a diet. Any words of encouragement to keep me going are appreciated because right now I'm pretty down.

With Colic My Diet Went Out The Window

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Last week, I found out Lil' Bean had Colic. I then got a long list of what I had to cut from my diet since I am solely breastfeeding. No dairy, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, wheat, caffeine, chocolate, garlic, spicy food, citrus fruit, cherries, and some other things I am sure I am leaving out. So, there went my diet. Once his colic is gone, I plan on going back to it. For now, I do plan on remaining healthy because I do want to lose maybe 10lbs and trim up my thighs, stomach, and waist.

So, I found one way to find out how many calories I should be taking in. Apparently, you start at 100 for 5ft. Then you add 5 for each additional inch. I'm 5'2, so that brings me to 110. If you're small-boned you add 5 more, if you're average you add nothing, and if you're large-boned you add five. I'm small boned, so that brings me to 115. If you don't exercise much, you multiply that number by 12. If you exercise 2-3 times a week, you multiply by 14. If you exercise 6 times a week, you multiply by 16. I go on walks, so I'll say I exercise 2-3 times a week. So multiplying 115 by 14 gives me 1610. Then, if you're under 5'7 you add 200. If you're over 5'7 you add 300. I'm short, so I add 200. That leaves me at 1810. I should be taking in 1810 calories a day.

After finding that out, I went off to find a calorie counter of some kind online. Well, I came across this website. I learned a lot from that link. I've never had to lose weight before, so this is all new to me. I have always been skin and bones. Basically, I need to eat less calories than my body burns to lose weight. So, I followed their link to this calorie deficit calculator. There's a bunch of different options for how much of a calorie deficit you want. I think I'll stick with 500, so that means I should only take in 1310.

Going back to the whole losing weight thing, I found out that my diet should consist of 50% carbs, 30% protein, and 20% fat. In doing this, I do still plan on being smarter about what fats I choose to take in. That I learned with the Mediterranean Diet. Unfortunately, I can't have wheat. So, being smarter about my carbs is a little more difficult right now.

Now, I am someone who needs to keep track of things in order to stick to it. I need it in front of my face, though. So, online things really don't help me. So, I printed out this food diary. I selected carbs, protein, total fat, calcium, and iron for the nutrients I am most concerned about. I printed out my diary and now I am going to utilize it. I can write down what I eat throughout the day and mark the values for my nutrients. Then each night I can come here to find out how many calories I ate that day.

So, I'm going to give this a try. I'm also going to keep track of my measurements each week to see what my progress is. I really hope this works because if not I'm going to be really disappointed. We all try to lose weight at some point in our life, what have you tried? Any success?

Mediterranean Diet: Replacing Butter with Extra Virgin Olive Oil

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So, I've begun my adventures with trying out the Mediterranean Diet. It's been alright so far. The food is good and it's easy enough to follow. However, extra virgin olive oil just can't replace butter entirely; at least not for me. I made a pasta dish tonight and the noodles were supposed to be "buttered" using extra virgin olive oil. You season the noodles using garlic and basil, and then you top the pasta with feta cheese. I believe this would have been amazing had I used butter. The first bite made me gag. All I could taste was the extra virgin olive oil. Being able to taste oil like that brought back my memories of castor oil when I was trying to induce labor with Sweet Pea. DISGUSTING! I can't stand the taste of any oil like that anymore. Cooking with olive oil is fine, but buttering noodles with olive oil; not so much. This is just my opinion and others may have a different opinion. All I can say is that when it comes to buttering noodles, I will use my butter thank you very much!

Foods You Should and Shouldn't Eat While Breastfeeding

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As a nursing mother, I know how important it is to eat healthy while nursing. Many new and expectant mothers, however, are unsure what they should change and keep the same when breastfeeding their little one. You want to take in anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 calories a day. You also want to eat more smaller meals throughout the day, rather than three large meals.

Water is one thing you definitely want to increase. Try drinking 2-3 quarts of water a day. As you are nursing, you will be more thirsty anyway. However, don't drink too much as that can reduce your milk supply.

When you are pregnant, you are told how important folic acid is. Well, the same is true when you are nursing. You can always take a prenatal vitamin or a folic acid pill. However, there are also some foods you can eat when nursing as well. These foods include corn, chick peas, spinach, wheat, and orange juice. Some other vitamins that are also vital to your baby and yourself as you nurse include calcium, zinc, and vitamin A. You can get vitamins to fill the gap, or there are foods you can eat as well. As far as calcium is concerned, while you are nursing you will need 1,200mg of calcium a day. A supplement will probably be needed to reach this goal. However, you can also find calcium in dairy products and uncooked vegetables.Eggs, meat, and oatmeal are good sources of zinc. For vitamin A, you can eat carrots, vegetables, meat, fish, and butter. 

While you do want to eat as healthy as you can while breastfeeding, there are certain fruits and veggies that may have a negative effect on your little bundle of joy. As far as veggies go; cauliflower, broccoli, onion, cucumber, celery, peppers, garlic, turnips, and cabbage are known veggies that can make your baby gassy. Also, fruits such as cherries and prunes have a laxative effect, which may also make your baby unhappy. Some other foods that may make your baby reject your milk include chocolate, citrus fruits and juices, spices, strawberries, pineapple, and kiwi.

If garlic does not seem to give your baby gas, give it a shot. Garlic is known to increase milk supply. However, if it gives your baby gas, it is not worth it. So, try it out and if he or she has no gas afterwards, keep it coming. Otherwise, it would be wise to cut back or eliminate your garlic intake.

You want to be cautious of your caffeine intake. While caffeine in moderation is okay, you want to keep in mind that too much caffeine will throw your little one's sleep schedule off track.

Alcohol is a big no-no while you are nursing. However, if you do want to have a drink or two one night; pump out a few bottles prior to drinking. Then, once have finished drinking; pump out your milk and throw it away. Do not nurse for two hours after having your last drink. The old wive's tale that beer increases your milk supply is not true, so please do take this as fact. It's called an old wive's tale for a reason.

You don't necessarily have to change your entire diet because your breastfeeding. You just want to be more aware of what you are eating and any reactions your baby has. Breastfeeding is definitely the best for your baby, so if you can do it; your baby will thank you for it when he or she is older.

Mediterranean Diet

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So, I just had Lil' Bean a month ago and I've been on the hunt for a good died and workout regimen. Well, I have been doing my research and I think I have decided on the Mediterranean Diet. I was flipping through the channels on TV the other night and I came across some cooking show about the Mediterranean Diet and everything looked really good.


Well, today I decided to actually do some research about this diet. This diet would be perfect for me for so many reasons. Anyone who knows me, knows all about my heart issues. For those of you who don't, I have a history of pericardial effusion and mitral valve prolapse. The pericardial effusion has been treated twice. What pericardial effusion means, for those who don't know, is I have fluid around my heart. However, like I said; the fluid has been drained twice. I get echo cardiograms periodically to check on the status of it. The mitral valve prolapse at first meant me left valve didn't close properly. Now it doesn't close much at all.


With my heart problems; I get extreme shortness of breath, feeling weak, etc. On top of my heart issues, I am also highly anemic. Prior to have Lil' Bean, I had to have a blood transfusion. They wouldn't allow me to deliver him vaginally because of how much blood I would lose. Before the blood transfusion, my count was at 8. After the transfusion, my count was at 10. Most people have a count of 11.5.


So, why and how would the Mediterranean Diet benefit me with my health issues? Well, the Mediterranean Diet promotes healthy hearts. The Mediterranean Diet not only reduces the chances of heart disease, but also cancer, Parkinson's Disease, and Alzheimer's Disease. If you take a look at the food pyramid below for the Mediterranean Diet, you can get an idea of the food choices available to you if you choose to try out this diet.

The main ideas of the Mediterranean Diet are pretty simple to follow. The main foods to eat include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts. You want to replace butter with healthy alternatives such as olive oil and canola oil. You also want to reduce your use of salt to flavor foods and instead use herbs and spices. You want to do your best to limit meals containing red meat to be only a couple of times a month, but try to eat meals with fish and poultry at least twice a week. 

When it comes to red wine, it okay for the Mediterranean Diet. However, if you are someone who doesn't drink; sparkling red grape juice is an alternative. The benefit is in the grapes. The grapes contain antioxidants such as transresveratrol and oligomeric proanthocyanidin that lower the chances of heart disease. They keep the blood circulation healthy and prevent blood clots from forming.

As far as dairy products go, you will want to switch to low-fat products such as skim milk, fat-free yogurt, and low-fat cheese. With the Mediterranean Diet, you are not limiting your fat intake. Instead, you are making healthy choices about the types of fat you eat. You want to try and stay away from saturated fats. With the Mediterranean Diet, olive oil is your primary source of fat, which is a monounsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fats can reduce LDL cholesterol levels. So, that's another benefit of the Mediterranean Diet. When choosing your olive oil, virgin and extra virgin olive oils contain the highest levels of antioxidants. 

When choosing your fish; mackerel, trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna, and salmon are all great choices. This is because they all are great sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids lower triglycerides, decreases blood clots from forming, improve the health of your blood vessels, decrease the chances of sudden heart attacks, and help moderate blood pressure. 

When many people think about diets, they think the food will be gross. I don't think that will be the case with the Mediterranean Diet. Just take a look at some of these images below.

 

I have found enough convincing information on this died on the WebMD and MayoClinic websites to make me want to at least give it a try. I have also been finding some really good sounding recipes on the Eating Well website. So, here's to my new diet in the making. I think tomorrow I will go grocery shopping for the change of diet. I found some great recipes I want to try. I'm actually kind of excited.