I gained quite a bit of weight having 2 babies back to back, which is totally normal and understandable. The only thing is, that weight can be especially hard to lose – especially when I’m not being mindful. Even right after my babies were born, I hardly weighed less than when I was pregnant and breastfeeding only produced a small loss of weight. And I tend to fall in to these mental traps:
- I’m not eating THAT much
- I don’t snack, so why am I gaining weight
- I’ve been good all week so I can indulge all weekend
- I don’t need to track what I eat because I just know and tracking is annoying
- I’m not making progress so I may as well give up because, what’s the point?
Instead of accepting reality – the reality is that what I was doing didn’t work for some reason and I need to move on to something different. I had to accept overeating only 300 calories a day (which is VERY easy to do) is STILL overeating and will contribute to weight gain.
I’ve tried Paleo. I’ve been Vegan. I did the Keto thing. All of them work, and all of them are great, by the way, but not for me. And that’s okay. You have to find what works for you, your lifestyle,your budget and your personality. I really wanted Keto to work for me because the science behind it makes perfect sense, the only problem is with two toddlers around I have carbs all around me and I can’t afford to create two separate meal plans. So, I decided to keep it simple. I track my food on my fitness pal, and I walk. That’s it. Oh, and, I cook, clean, tidy, and chase two toddlers and a dog all over creation. No big deal.
I also joined a fitness group on Facebook where I had to weigh in each week. This really helped me be accountable and stay on track with my plan. I also learned that if the scale shows no change, or hardly any change I have to look at the scale like this:
and remain faithful to my plan anyway! Eventually I will get to where I need to go, even if the progress is slow. Ultimately, being faithful is what has helped me, not being perfect.