I have had 3 children and after each of my pregnancies I have managed to lose the pregnancy weight. How? Dieting of course. NO NO and NO. No dieting.
And it wasn’t because it was ‘all baby’ either. At my 6 week check after my first baby I was 70kg (I’m normally about 55-57kg) – I’d put on 13+ kilos. I had eaten a lot of sausage rolls and crisps to try to get on top of the nausea I had experienced all the way through pregnancy.
Having a baby is a stressful time, isn’t it? Lack of sleep. Lack of personal space. Guilt if you take time out. Guilt if you don’t. We can’t win as mums, can we? Well that’s how I often feel anyway.
I wanted to lose the baby weight for my own health but I also didn’t want to cut out the enjoyment of food (especially during the pandemic with my last pregnancy when there was not much to do for fun activities!).
But, as a Registered Nutritionist, I know that diets don’t work long term. I also know that I need to nourish my body in order to help me keep my immune system in the best possible shape during the pandemic, to recover from the birth, to give quality breastmilk to my baby and generally to be healthy.
What did I do?
Well, each week for the next 4 weeks I am going to unpack a bit more, which I hope will be helpful.
Firstly, I didn’t say I couldn’t have chocolate. You weren’t expecting me to say that, were you?
I tried not to go overboard but if I needed chocolate after a long day, I let myself have it. I tried to be fussy about the type of chocolate I had. I am more of a dark chocolate girl but I like my chocolate. I like specific brands (fortunately not all the expensive ones!). So I let myself have chocolate but I was picky about the type. By being choosy about my chocolate I was giving myself something I really liked but also not eating what I didn’t.
If I was really hungry at the time I had my chocolate, I’d have it with some low fat plain yoghurt or a slice of toast or some fruit to help fill me up. I let myself enjoy it.
Think you could have a go? Take a moment to think about the food you eat, do you eat what you really like – do you stop to think about what you really like? Do you really like the taste of something or just the look or smell of it? Do you eat it just because it is available?
Come back next week to learn what else I did.
Disclaimer: I am not saying just eat chocolate. We need to consider our blood sugar. Disclaimer – this article is intended for information purposes only and doesn’t replace personalised advice.
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